Same here - theater was THE source of social capital at my high school, at least among the college-bound set, and yes, being a lead in the spring musical = being A Popular Kid.
(I think this is partly because, while the theater kids were at school all the time during the run-up to a play, they actually did have time to do stuff other than that most of the year, and the theater kids were involved in, on average, three or four other clubs or activities each. Whereas band kids were actually forbidden by the band director to do any other extracurriculars, and while the sports kids did have seasons, most of the ones who took it seriously did enough sports that they always had a practice for something. But also theater really was bigger than both band and sports at my school and I don't really know why, except that the theater director was very good at social engineering.)
no subject
(I think this is partly because, while the theater kids were at school all the time during the run-up to a play, they actually did have time to do stuff other than that most of the year, and the theater kids were involved in, on average, three or four other clubs or activities each. Whereas band kids were actually forbidden by the band director to do any other extracurriculars, and while the sports kids did have seasons, most of the ones who took it seriously did enough sports that they always had a practice for something. But also theater really was bigger than both band and sports at my school and I don't really know why, except that the theater director was very good at social engineering.)