The "craziness" (that's the word educator Ken Stromberg uses) began in October, three months before opening night. 

Stromberg had decided his students at Palatine High School would perform the stage adaptation of " High School Musical "--the wildly popular Disney Channel movie, last year's top-selling album, the three words that elicit euphoric shrieks from millions of kids. 

Though Stromberg withheld announcement of his spring musical selection, a few parents--whose children didn't even attend Palatine High--discovered the news through a Web site that licensed Broadway musicals to schools and theater groups. Word leaked. 

Then the leak turned into a raging current, with phone calls from parents of pre-teen children who, in simplest terms, demanded to see the show. 

Stromberg, in his second year as musical director at Palatine High, remembers receiving one call from a frustrated-sounding mother. In the background, he heard a little girl crying. 

"You understand why my daughter is crying right now?" the mother asked. "Because she wants to go to ' High School Musical ,' and I need to get tickets." 

"We haven't even cast the show," Stromberg replied. 

Now, this isn't for some Broadway production in the Loop. This is a student show in a high school auditorium, near the cafeteria serving sloppy joes and carton milk. 

It's rare for high school drama productions to sell out every seat, but, then again, few schools have performed " High School Musical "--yet. 

Here in Illinois, a few dozen high schools and children's theaters are performing " High School Musical " this spring. Theater programs pay for the licensing rights to most of the popular musicals today. 

And in Palatine, the buzz in the community around Palatine High's shows has been a gift from the publicity gods, reaching amazing levels of fervor (tickets for the school's six performances, which began Wednesday, are long gone). Just from cast ticket requests, before anything went on sale to students and the public, enough tickets were sold to fill two shows. 

Marilyn Wolter, Palatine High's switchboard operator, said three of four calls she's received since November have been about "High School Musical ." A few weeks before opening night, 403 names were on Wolter's waiting list--some requesting 20 tickets each. Four shows became six, which unofficially became seven after a dress rehearsal was opened to elementary school students. 

A phenomenon such as " High School Musical " comes perhaps once a generation. Since the movie premiered on the Disney Channel in January 2006, " High School Musical " has reached more than 100 million viewers worldwide. The movie's soundtrack was the top-selling record of 2006. For a recent, sold-out concert at Allstate Arena a few weeks back, tickets were selling for as much as $600. 

The storyline? Ask anyone in America between the ages of 6 and 14: A boy jock (Troy) and a scholarly gal (Gabriella) step out of their comfort zone to audition for the school musical, battling peer pressure from friends to stick to their cliques. Throw in some bubble-gum pop songs, the seeds of romance between attractive teens, bring the story to a satisfying conclusion, and you've got the biggest youth pop-cultural hit of the past year. 

Striking while the iron's hot, Disney Theatricals Productions rushed to adapt the movie for stage, doing so in six months--twice as fast as most Disney Theatricals stage adaptations. Two new songs were added and lines of dialogue were revised, though the storyline stayed true to the film. 

When " High School Musical " (upper case) was released as a high school musical (lower case) in October, schools and community theater groups applied for the performance license in record numbers. In 12 weeks, more than 1,000 groups had made requests for the musical's rights, an "absolutely unprecedented" rate, said Disney's vice president of theatrical licensing, Steve Fickinger. 

"Schools across the country who said they've had sleepy, insular or slightly moribund theater programs--suddenly when this show came to their school, it exploded," Fickinger said. "They've had people coming out of the woodwork to audition. I've had teachers say you can't believe how this has galvanized the community." 

At Palatine High, in addition to the extra shows, Stromberg was forced to add 40 folding chairs to the 600-seat theater (the maximum capacity that the fire department allowed). But even that didn't meet demand. 

Palatine staff and students began trading tales about ill-tempered parents and the brazen techniques they'd use to try obtaining tickets. 

Mothers--ones who didn't have children attending Palatine High--would line up in the school cafeteria during the student-only sale. 

Another woman called Stromberg three times a week for a month, saying she'd already sent out birthday invitations with promises of attending the show. She demanded 24 tickets. 

One mother tried bypassing the operator and asked to speak to Stromberg directly. When she was told her name would be added to the waiting list, the woman called other teachers in the music and arts department hoping for a different answer. Then she demanded to speak to Stromberg's supervisor. 

"You've gotten to the top," Stromberg told her. 

Calls to the school took on an especially heated tone the week leading up to opening night. 

"I want to know where my tickets are," yelled one lady. Another simply left her credit card number on the voice mail. 

"Why was my friend called [from the waiting list] and I wasn't?" 

"How do I break it to my kids that they not going?" 

"I'm just gonna come that night and hope people don't show up," said one voice mail. Stromberg has consulted with the school district's police about patrolling the theater. 

The over-the-top reaction in Palatine wasn't completely unexpected. Stromberg was warned by Nancy Suwalski, executive producer of Footlighters Theatre in Des Plaines, a community group that performed the area's first full-length production of " High School Musical " in December. The ticket stories were eerily similar. 

"There were a lot of angry people," Suwalski said. "People were begging for tickets, saying that they'd pay anything. They'd say, `Can I have a ticket for my daughter? I'll wait in the lobby. I'll sit on the stairs. I'll stand. That's all my daughter wants for Christmas.'" 

In more than 30 years, Footlighters has never sold out their entire run of a show. Even after adding three additional performances, they had enough people on the waiting list to fill at least two more shows. 

If ticket demand were any indication, those who got in would certainly be an appreciative crowd. When Stromberg attended the Footlighters' production in December, he was astounded by the crowd's reaction. Parents and children alike sang along to every word. Cast members said the energy was unlike any show they've ever acted in. 

"Instead of a couple of hundred people ... it sounded like there were 2,000," said Courtney Clauer, who played Gabriella in Footlighters' production. 

After the response on opening night, Footlighters' staff set up autograph tables on stage after shows. The line would stretch dozens deep. The teenage actors signed " High School Musical " T-shirts, backpacks, hats and other movie merchandise. 

"Kids that age were in awe because they weren't in the frame of mind that we're [amateur] actors," said Clauer, a 16-year-old sophomore at St. Charles East High School. "They thought we were the real deal, like from TV. They were like, `Oh my gosh, it's the real Gabriella.'" 

Kevin Winters, a 17-year-old senior at Palatine High, is bracing himself to become the town's new pre-teen idol, if only for two weeks. Playing the role of Troy, he's already become a star in the 2nd-grade classroom he volunteers at each day. 

"They've started calling me Mr. Troy," said Winters, whose mop-like hairstyle resembles his on-screen counterpart. 

While the ticket situation has been a healthy distraction, the cast realizes it's added pressure for them to deliver to an uncompromising audience. 

"My goal is to have people getting out of here thinking not only it's a great high school production, but a great show overall," said Katerina Georgiafentis, who plays Sharpay, the show's wretched antagonist. "I think that's a pretty realistic goal right now."