Jocelyn DeLaRosa, from Cranston High School East, plays Gabriella, the female lead. She’s shown in the dressing room with other cast members.

The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch

CRANSTON — They’re located just two miles apart, in the same city, in the heart of the smallest state. But in a world of rivalries and deep-seated loyalties and perceptions that can go too far, Cranston High School East and Cranston High School West might as well be on opposite sides of Narragansett Bay.

Cranston West, home of the Falcons, draws mostly white-collar families from suburban neighborhoods with winding roads and big green yards. Cranston East, home of the Thunderbolt, draws a mix of white- and blue-collar families from compact neighborhoods that fill the gaps around Cranston’s commercial core.

So it was something of a surprise last year when Nancy Vitulli, Cranston West’s drama director, suggested the two schools might do something together. She wanted to apply for a grant through the Disney Channel and the National Association of Music Makers, and she thought there was a better chance of winning if the schools applied together.

Vitulli, a graduate of Cranston East who teaches at Cranston West, talked to her friend, Mark Colozzi, the music director at Cranston East who happens to be a graduate of Cranston West.

“I looked at him and I said, ‘Mark, how do you feel about doing a combined production?’ ”

At the time, there was open animosity between the two schools, which face off each year in a Thanksgiving Day football game that draws alumni from across the country, all of them eager to watch the battle on the field before sitting down for a holiday meal.

The flak was over, of all things, the placement of the school names on a new banner at Cranston Stadium. The stadium had long been home to Cranston East but with the installation of a new artificial turf, the schools were sharing the field. Some Cranston East parents and students were upset that the banner read “Home of the Falcons & Thunderbolts.” Thunderbolt, they felt, should have come first.

Colozzi, unfazed by the hullabaloo, loved Vitulli’s idea.

As it turned out, Cranston won the grant, which goes to 10 schools that agree to do productions of the Disney Channel movie High School Musical.

The story takes a probing, if humorous, look at cliques and the havoc they play in students’ lives.

While that look comes through the prism of jocks and theater students, the analogy with real-life perceptions — such as those between Cranston East and Cranston West — has not been lost on the young cast.

“People definitely create boundaries whether they think they do or not,” said Brendan Macera, 17, a Cranston West senior who plays the lead male character, basketball player Troy Bolton. “They think someone is lower on the social scale.”

The musical makes fun of that and shows why it’s wrong, he said, by exploring how “social barriers prevent people from reaching their full potential, and prevent them from doing what they really want in life.”

Macera says he wasn’t too concerned when he learned this year’s musical would be a combined, two-school affair. It probably didn’t hurt that he comes from a mixed family — mixed in that his mother graduated from Cranston East and his father graduated from Cranston West.

But having performed in Cranston West’s musicals since he was a freshman, he was wondering if he would get the lead role.

“You always want to see who the competition is,” he said.

Other students in the cast and crew, which includes 61 performers and 35 production staff members, wondered how the combined effort would work.

“I was afraid it would be chaos,” said Crysta Mendes, 17, a senior at Cranston West who is the costumes supervisor. “But it just turned out really cohesive.”

Indeed, a rehearsal on Tuesday night saw Colozzi and others critiquing the singing, acting, sound, lights and everything else. Altos were told to be more solid, jocks were told to look at each other when the coach yells, everyone was told to stay away from the sides of the stage.

“If you can see a seat they can see you,” Vitulli admonished.

Disney crews will be on hand next Friday to interview students and film the fruits of such labors.

The female lead in the musical went to 15-year-old Jocelyn DeLaRosa, a Cranston East sophomore.

Vitulli said choosing the right person for each lead role took precedence over dividing roles between the schools. But for supporting roles, she and Colozzi looked for a balance to make sure one school did not dominate.

Unlike Macera, DeLaRosa will be performing in her first musical when the show opens tomorrow night. While it is her character in the play that convinces Bolton to try out for the high school musical, DeLaRosa says it was real-life friends who convinced her to break down a barrier and try out.

“I’m always singing,” she said.

—Staff writer Channing Gray contributed to this report. See the Show

•Performances are scheduled for Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. this weekend and next at Cranston High School West auditorium.

•Tickets are $12 at the door and $10 in advance and can be

reserved at http://cranstonticketsales.ramseynetwork.net/Tickets

redgar@projo.com