London, May 16 : An actress who renounced the idea of Oxford and Cambridge for the stage has been chosen to play the class 'geek' in a UK stage version of the hit show High School Musical.

Claire-Marie Hall's last-minute change of heart to get into theatre has landed her the role of Gabriella Montez in the stage version of Disney TV film.

"When you're brainy in school it's a lot harder to fit in. All the way up to A-levels, I was going to be a lawyer," the Telegraph quoted Hall as saying.

"I wanted to go to Oxford or Cambridge. At the last minute I decided to tell my parents that I wanted to do a drama degree. It didn't go down so well.

"Just like in High School Musical, it all turned out well in the end. It's a nice message to kids out there - to be yourself," she added.

The proceedings collected from the premiere at the Hammersmith Apollo will be donated to Great Ormond Street Hospital, as part of Disney's promise to help the children's hospital raise 10m pounds.

"This is particularly brilliant because High School Musical is so popular among our patients," said a hospital spokeswoman.

The first UK tour of the stage version of High School Musical has so far has taken more than 11 million pounds.

The second tour is set to run at the Hammersmith Apollo from June 28 to August 31.