Corbin Bleu thrills county fair crowd

By Amanda Stewart

Published: August 13, 2008

To say 10-year-old Jasmine Morton was excited to see “High School Musical” star Corbin Bleu perform at the Prince William County Fair on Tuesday night would be an understatement.

“I think it’s the only great thing that’s going to happen to me in my whole entire life,” Jasmine said, drawing laughter from her mother, Shawn.

Sitting in their front row seats, Jasmine and her sister Leah, 8,  wore matching “High School Musical” T-shirts and matching grins as they waited for the concert to start.

“This is just amazing,” Jasmine said.

Tuesday night the fair’s grandstand area was packed with thousands of the Disney star’s fans (and their parents).

The enthusiastic fans started screaming about two hours before the concert when Radio Disney hosted dance and trivia contests with a “High School Musical” theme, continued when warm-up act Justin Stein came on stage around 8 p.m. and peaked when Bleu himself took the stage.

Right before Bleu made his appearance, shortly after 8:30 p.m., chants of “Corbin, Corbin, Corbin” filled the grandstand.

“Hello Manassas,” Bleu shouted after his first song.

The crowd screamed in response.

“Wow, you’re loud. I like that,” Bleu said.

Bleu is perhaps best known for his role as Chad in the Disney Channel’s “High School Musical” movies. But his dedicated fans were quick to rattle off his other claims to fame, including the TV movie “Jump In” and his solo album.

So what’s the teen idol’s appeal?

“His hair!” friends Lydia Coyner, 11, Olivia Ayers, 12, and Meghan Randolph, 11, said in unison.

“Oh, that’s why we came all this way?” Lydia’s mother, Sandy Coyner, of Herndon, asked, with a laugh.

The girls’ friend, 11-year-old Malorie Stewart, had a different answer.

“His music,” she said.

“Oh, yeah, his music’s pretty good too,” Olivia agreed.

For 10-year-old Brooklyn Russick, it’s all about his personality.

“He seems really nice and concerned about his fans and what his fans like,” said Brooklyn, who wore a T-shirt proclaiming the future “Mrs. Corbin Bleu.”

Most of the girls in attendance said they’ve seen the first two “High School Musical” movies more times than they can remember.

“I’ve seen it ... um ... maybe seven times,” said Woodbridge resident Rachel Harvey with a shrug.

The concert was an early birthday present for soon-to-be 9-year-old Rachel, who attended with her sister Naomi, 6, brother Trevor, 3, mom Natasha and aunt Marsheela Hines.

Before the concert, Rachel and Naomi were hopeful that they would get an up-close-and-personal encounter with Bleu.

“Maybe you’ll get a birthday kiss on the cheek from Corbin Bleu,” Hines suggested.

“No,” giggled Rachel. “I just want his autograph.”