In short:
Wil Merchant is good at baseball but, until the premiere of Grant High School’s version of High School Musical, he had kept his singing voice hidden from the public.
He has received praise for his voice after being confident enough to ignore his nerves.
What’s next?
Wil will sing and play guitar with his father this weekend and has formed a band with friends.
In the movie High School Musical, Troy Bolton is the captain of the basketball team, but he struggles with stepping out of the status quo when he realises that he also has a talent for singing.
The role made Zac Efron famous and now a Mount Gambier boy is following in the footsteps of Efron’s character Troy Bolton in stepping off onto the main stage.
Wil Merchant, 15, recently starred as Troy in Grant High School’s production of Disney’s High School Musical.
It was the first time that Wil had sung in front of an audience.
“I’ll probably be called Troy Bolton for a while,” he said.
Wil plays for the local Tigers Baseball Club and has represented Mount Gambier in baseball, and has previously taken to the field for the South Gambier Football Club.
His father sings and plays guitar, and Wil entered the Mount Gambier Eisteddfod when he was nine years old, but the musical earlier this month was the start of something new for him in front of a large crowd.
“I just didn’t feel confident doing it,” he said.
“I worried about what people would think because it’s not what I used to do.
“It was completely different to what I’m not known for, but what I do.”
Talent shining through
Wil’s mother, Krystal Merchant, said her son often sang at home as a child but he did not let them hear his singing for High School Musical until he took to the stage.
She said there had been lots of positive comments since then.
“It was amazing — I knew he would pull it off, but it was wonderful to see,” Ms Merchant said.
“It was stressful for the six months, but the personal growth that has come out of this for him and going forward has been huge.”
Grant High School drama teacher Abbey Marston-Kleemann said all four leads — not just Wil — “absolutely smashed their roles out of the park”.
She said it was good to see everyone playing their roles to make the production a success.
“The cast has always been a really inclusive bunch of students, something that is so special about them,” Ms Marston-Kleemann said.
“Even though they all come from very different friendship groups outside of the musical, when they are all together they work so well and they are so supportive of one another and the production week was definitely proof of this.”
New opportunities
Wil will sing and play guitar with his dad at the South Gambier Football Club this weekend.
He has also formed a band with some friends.
He urged others to give new things a try.
“Just do it,” he said.
“I was terrified to sing in front of the people at the start, but once you do it a little bit and be louder every time, then it’s easy.”
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