RALEIGH - Feeling like you've been left back a grade because you didn't get "High School Musical" tickets? Maybe you can make it up next summer.

Disney is mounting a touring production that Broadway Series South would love to book for Memorial Auditorium. A Raleigh stop will depend on whether Disney's routing aligns with a vacancy at Memorial, says series producer Jim Lavery.

The professional tour is a departure from the original plans for turning the Disney Channel hit movie into a stage show. Instead of creating its own production -- as it had done with "Beauty and the Beast," "The Lion King" and other shows -- Disney's theatrical division decided to release the rights to schools and amateur troupes.

Broadway Series South and N.C. Theatre jumped at the chance to stage it as a co-production. Despite their professional status, they qualified because they operate programs featuring student performers. When tickets went on sale, they moved so fast that the co-producers squeezed in extra public performances -- there are 11 in all between Wednesday and April 30.

Lavery was already thinking about a 2008 revival when Disney decided to mount a 60-city tour. But he won't be able to get the rights as long as Disney's show is making the rounds.

The Raleigh producers did end up with one benefit from the show going pro. Disney revised the script and gave it to Lavery's team to test. This week's audience can expect a more polished text than the amateur script or the junior version of "High School Musical" for younger casts.

As for the tour, it will begin in June with preview runs in Detroit, Philadelphia and Chicago, where it will officially open Aug. 1 at LaSalle Bank Theatre. Jeff Calhoun, whose resume includes 2003's enchanting Broadway revival of the Huck Finn musical "Big River," will direct. The show will feature a live orchestra and different stars from the Disney Channel movie.

With a Raleigh tour stop uncertain and tickets to the local production virtually sold out, "High School Musical" fans might want to hedge their bets and head to Cary, where Panther Creek High School is mounting a production Thursday through Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $8. Call 463-8656 or surf to panthercreekhs.wcpss.net.