'High School Musical's' Glee Club

Lucas Grabeel (who plays Ryan in the film) gets props for an entertaining performance as emcee, complete with multiple ridiculous costume changes (rhinestone belts, argyle sweaters, an endless wacky hat collection). Monique Coleman (who plays Taylor) and Drew Seeley, who filled in for the missing Efron, rounded out the main cast.

The concert included every song on the soundtrack CD, and much of the audience knew the words by heart. With the seemingly simple formula of a) accessible boy-falls-for-girl story line, b) catchy, upbeat music with memorizable lyrics, and c) fun dance moves, "HSM" the film managed to roll together much of what appeals to girls (and some boys) in one blockbuster package.

Toss in the presence of the film's stars onstage and the concert is a singular "event" -- and also the first concert experience for many of these kids. Unless you want to count the Wiggles.

In Northern Virginia, eight moms and nine girls ranging from 6 to 9 1/2 piled into an SUV stretch limo to make a night of it. The girls did makeup and wardrobe (ponytails, lip gloss, denim -- miniskirt or jeans -- on the bottom, "HSM" glittery T-shirt on the top, black boots preferable) for the occasion. The moms drank champagne, the girls sparkling apple juice. The "HSM" CD played in the limo.

"Hanna practically had tears in her eyes," said one of the moms, Amy Bomes, referring to the night she gave her daughter the tickets as a Hanukkah present. "Of course, I became a superhero that day."

It didn't matter that to get such a large block of tickets, the group had to sit in the uppermost tier. They'd actually taken this plunge before -- notably for another Disneyfest, "The Cheetah Girls," in concert at DAR Constitution Hall. But "HSM"? "HSM is the thing," Bomes says.

So they went all out. And they knew it. "Have we created our own monsters?" joked one mother. "What are we going to do for the prom?" added another. They didn't get to go to concerts until high school, or even college.

But it's a whole new world, one where 6 is often 6-going-on-14. At least in "HSM," it's a chaste 14. The hips thrust, the skirts can be short, but the lyrics are clean and the midriffs aren't bare. Nobody kisses on the lips.

"We call it a Girls' Night Out," Shelley Lawrence, one of the moms, said over a pre-concert dinner. "It's a win-win for everybody."

And they let the shrieking begin.