Was there any doubt that the fictional Gabriella and her beau-hunk Troy would finally find romance in last weekend's sequel to the Disney Channel's hit movie "High School Musical"?

Get real. Good things had to happen to them. It is Disney, after all.

But the Magic Kingdom's spell has the power to reach farther than we thought. It grazed Raleigh, too.

Jenny Gulley -- who played Gabriella in Raleigh's sold-out 11-day run of the "High School Musical" stage show at Memorial Auditorium in April -- has landed the lead role of Christine in the touring production of Broadway's "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels."

And Cameron Wade, who played Gabriella's nemesis Sharpay in Raleigh, got the title role in the touring "Evita."

The is the first national tour for both actresses, who performed for years with Raleigh's N.C. Theatre and its Kids on Broadway program, co-producers of the Raleigh "High School Musical."

Both tours are nonunion, and they don't currently have stops scheduled in the Triangle.

But "Evita" will come to Greensboro Coliseum on Oct. 12 and 13. "Scoundrels" heads to Chrysler Hall in Norfolk, Va., Nov. 13 to 18.

"I'm pretty excited," says Gulley, 20, who rose quickly in the N.C. Theatre ranks. She starred in Kids on Broadway shows while at Athens Drive High School and also played Dorothy in NCT's mainstage "The Wizard of Oz."

Wade played Patty Simcox in NCT's mainstage "Grease!" in May, and she also performed in "Evita" and other NCT shows.

Neither actress spent the usual months, or years, slogging to auditions in New York while waiting tables and living on ramen noodles. Both nabbed their roles quickly. In fact, Gulley had no sooner tied the strings on her Starbucks apron than her magic began.

Gulley auditioned just four days after moving to New York, at the tail end of the months-long "Scoundrels" star search. Three days and two callbacks later, she had the role of the conniving Christine.

Wade arrived in New York just before the "Evita" final callbacks. "High School Musical" director Tim Bennett helped her get an audition for the Eva understudy. Three weeks later, the 21-year-old Riverside High School grad got the call: She was in -- not as understudy but as the star.

Casting agent Dave Clemmons, who cast both Gulley and Wade, says he is eager to audition NCT alums when they arrive in New York.

"I've always just kind of thought there's been something in the water down there," says Clemmons, who has acted and directed for NCT. "The kids that come out of there are very talented and polished and kind of just know what's going on."

NCT Producer William Jones is quick to to dismiss the water theory, or even Disney magic, as the cause of his alumni's success. It's hard work, he says.

Gabriella and Sharpay demonstrated that in "High School Musical." And local fans seem to have taken the message to heart. Enrollment in this season's NCT theater conservatory is at a high of 290, up from last season's 220, Jones says. Signups spiked after the April performances of "High School Musical."

"After the show closed and during the next week, the phone was ringing off the hook," he said. The starry-eyed tweens are especially excited about Gulley and Wade and eager to follow their path. "That's all in the back of their minds."

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