BACKGROUND
It was official. High School Musical 3: Senior Year was coming to a cinema near you.
It was time to end this trilogy, which had actually only been in our lives for less than three years, but it was still a momentous occasion for all the fans that had been following the journeys of Troy, Gabriella, Chad, Taylor, Sharpay, and Ryan. It all came down to this one moment: senior year, and what was coming next for the Wildcats.
The fact that High School Musical as a film franchise became as big as it did is crazy. The first two were only TV movies after all, but they went stratospheric, so those dedicated fans probably felt that High School Musical 3: Senior Year not only deserved to be released theatrically, but that it absolutely had to be – I was just one of those fans.
This wasn’t even the first time a movie that would be considered a Disney Channel Original Movie, rightly or wrongly, was released into cinemas first. The first of this hybrid was The Lizzie McGuire Movie back in 2003, and it was modestly successful. High School Musical had a much bigger fanbase so it could only do better than that. Hannah Montana: The Movie followed in those giant footsteps in April 2009 and was also a financial success, although not at the same level as High School Musical 3: Senior Year.
I remember seeing High School Musical 3 at the cinema. It felt great to be in a room full of other High School Musical fans, mostly tweens and teens, even hearing the collective screams as the titles rolled, followed by more screams as we saw an intense close-up of Zac Efron’s sweaty face. At least, I thought there was screaming; maybe I imagined it!
I went to see High School Musical 3 with my mum and my sister. It was October 2008, so October half-term for UK schools. I was 15, getting ready for my GCSE exams, whilst my sister was a school year older than me, and was starting to think about university, kind of mimicking the storyline that played out before us. This plot point caused my mum to cry throughout the movie, as she thought about my sister leaving the family home and heading off to uni. To be fair, my mum cries at pretty much any film she watches, but there was something more personal to it this time. I’m sure many teenagers watched Troy’s confusion and related to it, as well as parents thinking about their children’s college futures.
I wasn’t thinking about university at this stage, I still had time to revel in the delights of Disney Channel movies without taking them too seriously, and yet High School Musical 3 was an emotional turning point for me – because it was the first movie to really make me cry.
PLOT
High School Musical 3: Senior Year begins as the East High Wildcats take on the West High Knights in what is the last game of Troy, his best friend Chad, and the other seniors’ high school basketball careers. They’re losing, 47-26.
The dejected team return to the locker room at half-time. Coach Bolton leads a motivational speech, telling the team to ignore the scoreline and to focus on the fact the seniors only have 16 more minutes left to play in Wildcat uniform. Troy and Chad then lead the team back out onto the court, pumped up and ready to give the last few minutes their all. The Wildcats fight to get back in the game, although Troy is pushed to the ground at one point. He sees Gabriella in the crowd, who wills him to continue. With seconds to go, the Wildcats need one more shot to win. Troy gets the ball, but passes it to a freshman player, Jimmie Zara, also known as “Rocket Man”. He takes the shot, and they win the game.
Their championship win is celebrated with a victory party at Troy’s house, attended by East High students, parents, and even college recruiters from the University of Albuquerque, here for Chad and Troy. The two are late to the party, as they have to push Troy’s truck home! Once there, they are immediately surrounded by well-wishers, but Troy just wants to speak to Gabriella. He takes her to his treehouse so they can talk. They discuss their college plans, with Troy not so sure about following in his father’s footsteps and playing basketball at his alma mater. Gabriella has already been accepted to Stanford University, but she isn’t too excited about it. The two wish for everything to slow down.
The next day at school, as the school celebrate the championship, Sharpay is too self-absorbed to notice! At her locker, Sharpay finds a freshman girl there. This girl is Tiara Gold, an exchange student from England, who wants to be Sharpay’s personal assistant. Sharpay agrees to let Tiara have the job. Meanwhile, Rocket Man has asked Troy for his gym locker, since he expects to be the basketball captain soon. Troy says he’ll think about it.
Heading into homeroom with Ms. Darbus, we hear that senior year is looking busy, with finals, prom, yearbook committee, and the spring musical. Sharpay excitedly talks about her plans for the musical to be a one-woman show, featuring her, which concerns Ms. Darbus, wondering why more people didn’t sign up. This causes Kelsi to panic and write down the name of just about every student in homeroom. They are annoyed at Kelsi, even Troy, Chad, and Taylor, who don’t believe they have time to fit in rehearsals for a musical. Kelsi and Gabriella club together to try and convince the others to do this last school musical. It’s not until Troy says he’ll do it that the others reconsider. Ms. Darbus then arrives, with Sharpay and Ryan, and says the musical will be about them; a recreation of their senior year, with Kelsi composing the music, and Ryan doing all the choreography. She also announces that representatives from Juilliard will be attending the musical, as they consider four students for scholarships: Kelsi, Sharpay, Ryan…and Troy. Troy is shocked to hear this, as he didn’t apply, but he can’t deny being at least a little bit interested.
At lunch, Sharpay talks to Ryan about how and why Troy is being considered for a Juilliard scholarship, wondering if Troy is threatening her chances of getting this one coveted scholarship. Sharpay tries to get Ryan to focus, by thinking about their futures on Broadway. She tells Ryan to get close to Kelsi, so they can get the best songs, since Kelsi normally writes those for Troy and Gabriella, but they’ll need the edge over Troy this time.
The next day, Taylor and Gabriella discuss the musical, as Taylor reminds Gabriella that if she gets on to the Stanford honors program, then she won’t even be here to do the musical. Gabriella would rather not think about that right now, and goes to the school’s rooftop garden to meet Troy. Troy asks Gabriella for her opinion on what colour jacket he should wear to prom, and presents her with two tickets, which, as Gabriella says, is almost like asking her to prom! He then asks Gabriella if they’ll have to waltz at prom, because the theme is “The Last Waltz”. She says she can teach him, and the couple proceed to waltz in the rain together – until they realise they’re late for class.
Chad and Troy then head to the gym locker room, where they take Rocket Man and friend Donny’s clothes, telling them it is locker switch day. However, this isn’t going to be a simple switch as Chad and Troy remind the freshmen that they had to “earn” their lockers. So, naturally, Chad and Troy lead the two on a chase through the school, with Rocket Man and Donny only in their towels. They end up at the school theatre, interrupting a warm-up exercise. Rocket Man and Donny are suitably embarrassed, and to make it worse, Taylor and Gabriella take a photo of them for the yearbook. Ms. Darbus tell the boys to get dressed, so Troy and Chad hand back their clothes, and gives them detention. After school, Troy takes Gabriella home, although his truck is still struggling. There, the two talk about college again, but their conversation is interrupted by Gabriella’s mother. Troy goes home.
Back at school, Chad and Troy meet up with Taylor and Gabriella in the yearbook office. They arrive with brownies, in order to “bribe” them for good yearbook coverage. Chad starts talking about prom, assuming that Taylor is going to go with him. This annoys her, as she wants Chad to properly ask her to prom. At lunch, Troy helps Chad, by silencing the cafeteria, so Chad can ask Taylor to prom, in front of everyone. This seems to be embarrassing enough, so Taylor accepts, saying she’d be honoured to be his date to prom. We then see the Wildcats preparing for prom; however, it turns out this was all just a rehearsal for the musical as they stage the perfect prom. At the end of the dance, Rocket Man and Tiara are tasked with being understudies for the musical by Ms. Darbus. We also see Sharpay pressuring Ryan to speak to Kelsi about music again.
The next day, Gabriella shows Taylor a letter saying she got onto the Stanford honors program, but she admits she hasn’t decided what to do about it yet, not even telling her mother. This conversation is overheard by Tiara, who is dropping off Sharpay’s yearbook photos. She alerts Sharpay to this update. They research the program further, printing the information off so they can tell the whole school about it. Meanwhile, Ryan hears Kelsi playing a new song. He asks to hear it, and sings along with her, also asking her to be his date to prom. This song is then rehearsed by Troy and Gabriella as their big duet for the musical, making Sharpay jealous, as it is a big hit.
After school, Troy and Chad head to the salvage yard to try and finally fix Troy’s truck. Whilst there, the two talk about college, as Troy is continuously being reminded of the fact he’s expected to play basketball for the University of Albuquerque next year, but he still doesn’t know if he wants that. This makes Chad concerned that Troy would potentially go to Juilliard if he got the scholarship, and tries to talk him out of it because that U of A has always been the plan. Troy reminds Chad of their childhood, where there weren’t any plans or expectations, and they could pretend to be whoever they wanted to be.
At Gabriella’s house, Gabriella and Taylor talk about Gabriella potentially deferring her place at Stanford for a year, and not going on the program that starts the following week. Taylor tells Gabriella that is all a mistake and she can’t put her life on hold just to be with Troy, no matter how great he is. Gabriella’s mum comes into the room, and Taylor leaves so they can talk. Her mother reminds her that high school might feel really important now, but it won’t in the future, and she should focus on what is coming next. Gabriella is heartbroken about the idea of having to say goodbye to everyone so soon. Troy is having a similar problem, as his parents discuss with Chad and his parents over dinner their excitement about Chad and Troy’s college future in Albuquerque. Troy and Gabriella fear that everything is happening too quickly, and they just want to focus on right now. This sequence appears in the extended edition of High School Musical 3: Senior Year.
The following day, Sharpay tells Troy the good news, about Gabriella being accepted onto the Stanford honors program. Troy doesn’t know anything about it, so Sharpay says he clearly doesn’t know because Gabriella isn’t considering going on it. She knows Troy will feel obligated to talk her into going. That is exactly what he does that evening, going to her house with a picnic of pizza and chocolate-covered strawberries. He reminds Gabriella that she can always come back for prom and graduation. Gabriella accepts that as a compromise, and goes off to Stanford with her mother, although she is rightly devastated.
The musical must go on without Gabriella though, as she won’t be returning for that, so Ms. Darbus instructs Sharpay to now play Gabriella, as they were all playing themselves, and Tiara will now be Sharpay. Nothing feels right though and rehearsals are a bit of a disaster… That evening at home, Troy is confronted by his father about why he has a brochure for Juilliard, not believing that Troy is going against their plan of Albuquerque. Troy reminds his father that Albuquerque was always his plan, not Troy’s, and angrily, Troy goes to the school, puts on his basketball jersey, and tries to stop himself feeling so conflicted. He ends up on the school stage and screams into the darkness. Except he isn’t alone, as Ms. Darbus is still at the school, working out how to get the musical back on track. She tells Troy she applied to Juilliard on his behalf, wanting him to consider other options now whilst he still had time to. He appreciates what she has done, but he is still confused.
Later, Troy and Chad pick up their tuxedos for prom in a few days. Troy then gets a call from Gabriella, saying she won’t be coming back for prom, as she’s only just gotten used to being away from him and doesn’t want to keep saying “goodbye”. Troy tells Chad all this, with Chad simply saying Troy will have a nice time at prom with his friends, and they’ll still have each other next year at the University of Albuquerque. Troy says he doesn’t plan on missing his prom – but forgets to mention that his prom is actually going to be in Stanford with Gabriella. He drives all the way there to surprise her, and the two dance around a tree on the campus. This leads to a fantasy sequence, where we see all the Wildcats dancing at prom together, including Troy and Gabriella, despite them being miles away. Troy tells Gabriella that East High changed when she arrived, and that it has changed again now she’s gone. Nobody wants to say goodbye to her, so they head back for the musical.
On the night of the musical, Rocket Man gets a text from Troy, saying he won’t be there for the first act, but hopes to be there for the rest of it, so as the understudy, Rocket Man will have to go on as him. He is in shock. Sharpay is warming up, and keeps asking for Troy, but despite Donny trying to tell her that Rocket Man will be going on for Troy, she doesn’t listen and gets ready for her big duet. The rest of the students go on, with Ryan and Kelsi introducing the show; Chad recreating the basketball game; and Ryan mimicking his potential future Broadway performance. We then get to Troy and Gabriella’s duet. Sharpay arrives on stage as Gabriella and starts to sing, but Troy does not show up, and Rocket Man misses his cue. As Sharpay stands there panicking, in front of her parents and the Juilliard representatives, Rocket Man finally shows up on stage, dressed completely inappropriately and acting way too excited! The audience laugh but Sharpay is horrified and runs off stage. She then sees Troy and Gabriella arrive and sarcastically tells them to go and save the day.
Back in her dressing room, Sharpay sees Tiara has stolen her dress for the show and plans to go on as Sharpay. Sharpay learns that Tiara was using Sharpay to get to grips with how the school works, so she can take over the drama club next year. Sharpay is surprised, but learns that Tiara transferred here from London Academy of Dramatic Arts. Troy and Gabriella do their duet as this is going on and all the Wildcats join them on stage in a tearful reunion. It is then time for Sharpay – I mean, Tiara’s – number. Tiara begins the performance, only for Sharpay to rock up and take the spotlight away, having gotten over her pity party!
The musical ends with all the seniors lining up on stage, as it is announced where they are all going to college. Here, Ms. Darbus announces that both Ryan and Kelsi got scholarships to Juilliard, with Juilliard accepting both of them due to the quality of their work. Taylor is going to Yale to study political science, and Sharpay is attending University of Albuquerque for performing arts, also being available to help Ms. Darbus with the drama club at East High, upsetting Tiara. Then, it is time for Troy to make his decision. Troy announces that he will be doing both theatre and basketball, but not at Albuquerque. He’s decided to go to the University of California, Berkeley, so he can be close to Gabriella as she studies pre-law at Stanford, which will only be 32.7 miles away. It’s actually more like 40 miles but who’s counting! Chad is announced as having a basketball scholarship to the University of Albuquerque, but he’s not on stage. Troy finds him on the basketball court. Chad is just a little disappointed Troy won’t be at the same college, but he is pleased to find out that their two colleges will play against each other in November. Coach Bolton comes in to tell the two to get back on stage, the first time he’s ever said that!
Then, it is time for graduation, where Troy gives a speech, about how the students here are taught to break the status quo, whether that is a basketball player who likes to sing, or one who likes to bake. He also mentions how the right person, i.e., Gabriella, can change everyone for the better. Troy ends his speech by saying they will always be friends, and they will always be Wildcats. The graduating class comes together, making the famous Wildcats logo, before throwing their caps in the air. They all celebrate.
The movie ends with Troy, Gabriella, Chad, Taylor, Sharpay, and Ryan separating themselves from the group on the field, and a red curtain falls in front of them. They are then transported to a stage, where we see the High School Musical logo come down, and we get a close-up of each of the six, as they say goodbye to all of us, giving their final curtain call.
CHARACTERS & CAST
Continuing on from his struggles in High School Musical 2, Troy debates his college future in High School Musical 3: Senior Year. As the end of senior year comes closer and closer, Troy starts to panic at the big decision he has to make: whether to go the University of Albuquerque for his basketball scholarship, or consider something closer to Gabriella’s choice of Stanford, and whether it should involve theatre. Theatre doesn’t seem like an avenue Troy was ever considering, but that was before Ms. Darbus submitted an application on his behalf for Juilliard. Eventually, Troy decides he can’t just go to Albuquerque because his father went there and Chad is going; he has to decide what’s best for him. Troy chooses to be close to the girl he loves, and pursue what interests him.
Zac Efron returned to round out his role as Troy Bolton in the High School Musical trilogy. Shortly after High School Musical 3: Senior Year, Efron played Young Mike O’Donnell in the teen rom-com 17 Again (2009), which also starred Leslie Mann, Matthew Perry, and former Disney stars Michelle Trachtenberg and Sterling Knight. He went on to try out a more dramatic role with the title role in Charlie St. Cloud (2010). He also voiced Ted Wiggins in the animated film The Lorax (2012). Efron has since gone on to star in a variety of movie genres, with just a few of these being Teddy Sanders in Neighbors (2014) and its 2016 sequel; Matt Brody in the remake of Baywatch (2017); and portraying serial killer Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019). Efron also did not turn his back on movie musicals after High School Musical either, as he played Phillip Carlyle in the smash-hit The Greatest Showman (2017), alongside Zendaya and Hugh Jackman. He also had his own travel documentary series called Down to Earth with Zac Efron (2020-22), which streamed on Netflix. Efron recently starred as Chris Cole in the Netflix film A Family Affair (2024). We all knew Efron’s acting future was going to be bright.
In contrast to Troy, Gabriella has her whole future mapped out for her, starting with a place at Stanford University to study pre-law. Although Gabriella debates whether she should go to Stanford or go to University of Albuquerque to be near Troy, it’s never really a serious proposition, as she knows, her mother knows, and her best friend Taylor knows that she should never give up her future for a boy, especially as Gabriella is too intelligent to let an opportunity like Stanford pass her by. It would’ve made no sense to have Gabriella change colleges to be near Troy, so I am glad that it is Troy that changed his college plans to be closer to Gabriella – although, to be honest, I think they would’ve managed a long-distance relationship had Troy decided to stay in Albuquerque. Gabriella’s importance to the whole gang of Wildcats is also shown further in High School Musical 3, as her leaving school early to start at Stanford causes everyone to feel deflated and low. With her return for the musical and graduation, everything goes back to normal, and it is clear that Gabriella is the glue that keeps the group together, bonding them all for life.
Vanessa Hudgens reprised her role as Gabriella here. After High School Musical ended, Hudgens also appeared in a variety of screen roles. For example, one of her first was as Sa5m – the “5” is silent – in the teen comedy Bandslam (2009). She also appeared alongside Dwayne Johnson, as Kailani Laguatan in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012). She later appeared in the crime film Spring Breakers (2012) with James Franco, Ashley Benson, and fellow former Disney Channel star Selena Gomez. She was also cast as Kelly in Bad Boys for Life (2020) and Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024). More recently, Hudgens was cast in numerous Netflix films, like The Princess Switch trilogy where she played three different roles: Stacy De Novo, Lady Margaret, and Fiona. Another was playing Karessa Johnson in the musical film Tick, Tick…Boom! (2021), which was directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda and starred Andrew Garfield. This came off the back of her roles in stage musicals, such as starring as Mimi Marquez in the 2010 Hollywood Bowl performance of Rent, and as Vanessa in the Kennedy Center production of In the Heights in 2018. In 2024, Hudgens won Season 11 of The Masked Singer (2019-present) in the US, as Goldfish.
Sharpay Evans seems to believe that senior year is going to be a breeze for her, not anticipating any upstaging in “her” spring musical for a start, as she believes everyone will be too busy with other school activities to take part. Yeah, that didn’t happen. She then thinks that the Juilliard scholarship is basically already hers. Things later fall into place for Sharpay when Gabriella leaves East High early to begin a programme at Stanford, but even that falls apart when Troy doesn’t come back in time to sing with her in the debut. She hates Rocket Man, and she even sneezes whenever he gets close to her. This chaotic performance ruins her chances of a scholarship at Juilliard, and then to make matters even worse, she finds the girl who wanted to be her P.A. is actually planning to replace her once she graduates! Sharpay won’t let that happen and shows she’s the true diva at East High, as she upstages Tiara in the final performance of the spring musical. Go, Sharpay! Ashley Tisdale reprised her role as Sharpay, and more was lined up for her within this franchise.
Ryan Evans’ main task through High School Musical 3: Senior Year is to choreograph the musical. He doesn’t want to get involved in Sharpay’s games, but yet again, he is ordered to get the best music from Kelsi so she can shine in the musical, and not Troy or Gabriella. Ryan sort of plays along, more so he can spend time with Kelsi though, as they become good friends, despite being in “competition” for the Juilliard scholarship. Ryan even asks Kelsi to prom which is sweet. Ryan doesn’t like Gabriella leaving East High early, like everyone else, and actually seems to enjoy his sister’s humiliation as she attempts to play Gabriella in the musical, only for Rocket Man to come up and upstage her with his odd outfit and behaviour! Ryan does succeed in getting a scholarship to Juilliard, along with Kelsi, so they can continue putting on musicals together for years to come.
Lucas Grabeel returned to play Ryan in this third instalment of High School Musical. After his time on Disney Channel, he went on to be cast as Toby Kennish in Freeform’s series Switched at Birth (2011-17) and voiced Deputy Peck in the animated Disney Junior series Sheriff Callie’s Wild West (2014-17). Grabeel also voiced the title role in Netflix’s animated series Pinky Malinky (2019).
Taylor McKessie is very busy in her senior year, with yearbook committee and being Class President. She is all set to go to Yale University to study political science, so she is well on her way to becoming the first female President of the United States. Taylor spends much of High School Musical 3 trying to convince Gabriella that she should go to Stanford, even if that means saying goodbye to everyone at school and to Troy, understanding how much of a big deal it is and how hard Gabriella has worked for it. Taylor is also going to college without her boyfriend, Chad, so she knows what she’s talking about. Luckily, Taylor’s calm reasoning encourages Gabriella to go to Stanford. Taylor’s other mini plot point in High School Musical 3 is her wanting Chad to ask her to prom properly. It’s not a big “promposal” or anything, but she doesn’t want him to assume she’ll just go with him, unlike Troy who did just that with Gabriella, though she didn’t care. It’s quite a fun, but kind of mean, moment from Taylor, as she really makes Chad sweat over that!
Monique Coleman came back to play Taylor, going on to appear in the television series Here We Go Again (2016), and to be cast as school guidance counsellor Katina Howard in Season 3 of the web series Guidance (2015-17). She also starred alongside fellow High School Musical cast member Corbin Bleu in the festive TV movie A Christmas Dance Reunion (2021); Coleman played Lucy, whilst Bleu played Barrett.
Chad Danforth believes throughout the course of High School Musical 3 that he and Troy are heading to the University of Albuquerque together, on basketball scholarships. He doesn’t feel like all that much can change for him as long as he has his best friend by his side. He has no worries or doubts. However, when Troy starts talking about potentially going to Juilliard or doing theatre, Chad becomes a bit like his character in High School Musical, telling Troy just to focus on basketball and the plan they’ve already got, which isn’t right. Chad doesn’t want to talk Troy through some of the concerns in his head, so they get forgotten about. However, after the musical, Chad learns that Troy is not going to Albuquerque with him, but Chad knows him and Troy can keep in touch, and they should both be happy and comfortable with their college choices.
Corbin Bleu returned to his role as Chad in High School Musical 3: Senior Year. Bleu has had much success with theatre work since starring in the High School Musical franchise. For example, he played Seaweed J. Stubbs in the 2011 Hollywood Bowl production of the musical Hairspray, going on to star as Jesus in the 2011/12 Broadway production of Godspell. Bleu also played Ted Hanover in the musical Holiday Inn on Broadway in 2016. He even played Seymour Krelborn in an Off-Broadway version of The Little Shop of Horrors around 2023/24. Most recently, he starred as Nick Carraway in the stage musical adaptation of The Great Gatsby for London’s West End in 2025. Bleu was also the runner-up in Season 17 of Dancing with the Stars (2005-present) in 2013, and won the dance competition series The Real Dirty Dancing (2022) with celebrity chef Cat Cora.
Kelsi Nielsen’s main role during High School Musical 3: Senior Year is to compose the music for the spring musical, ensuring everyone is involved, and making sure her music is good enough to impress the guests from Juilliard. Kelsi once again writes a brilliant duet for Troy and Gabriella, only for it to seemingly be given to Sharpay after Gabriella leaves for Stanford. Kelsi cannot change this decision, so has to grin and bear it as Sharpay changes the sense of her romantic song, as she had done in every other High School Musical film! Kelsi did avoid outright sabotage though, thanks to Ryan, as he chose to build a real friendship with Kelsi during the course of this film, instead of just using Kelsi to help his sister, making it all the more sweeter when Kelsi and Ryan are the two to get Juilliard scholarships, because they deserve it the most, for keeping themselves out of school drama.
Olesya Rulin reprised her role as Kelsi in High School Musical 3: Senior Year. After this, Rulin went on to be cast in the recurring role of Abby in the ABC Family series Greek (2009-11) and starred as Calista Secor in the PlayStation Network series Powers (2015-16).
Outside of these main characters, many other characters returned in High School Musical 3. These include Martha, played by Kaylee Stroh, who is excited to get dancing in the musical; Zeke, played by Chris Warren Jr., still honing his baking skills and playing basketball; and Jason, played by Ryne Sanborn, who is just happy he graduated! For the adults, many of them also returned from their roles in the previous two movies. For example, Bart Johnson and Leslie Wing Pomeroy were back as Mr. and Mrs. Bolton, who are looking forward to their son playing at the University of Albuquerque, however, when Troy changes his mind about college, they are supportive of him regardless, even Mr. Bolton, who had been uncertain about Troy’s love of theatre until the end of this film. Ms. Darbus, played by Alyson Reed, also returned as the drama teacher and director of the spring musical, as did Gabriella’s mother, Ms. Montez, after appearing in the first film; she was played by Socorro Herrera. Ryan and Sharpay’s parents make a brief appearance, as audience members of the musical, after their roles in High School Musical 2. Robert Curtis Brown and Jessica Tuck were once again back as Mr. and Mrs. Evans.
There are new characters to mention as well. Two of these are Chad’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Danforth, who attend the championship victory party and the spring musical, and have dinner with Troy and his parents, as they celebrate their sons’ basketball scholarships at the local university. Mr. Danforth was played by David Reivers, Corbin Bleu’s father. Reivers was cast alongside his son in the Disney Channel Original Movie Jump In! (2007), playing Bleu’s character’s father, Kenneth Daniels. Yolanda Wood was cast as Mrs. Danforth. Wood has had smaller roles in other DCOMs, including as Christine in Read It and Weep (2006) and as Ursula’s Mom in Den Brother (2010).
For the students, there are three freshmen that High School Musical 3: Senior Year introduces, as they cross paths with the seniors. One of these is Jimmie Zara, also known as “Rocket Man”. He is part of the basketball team, so met Troy there, where he instantly began to look up to him. Rocket Man is a little bit annoying, interrupting Troy’s conversations and bothering him occasionally, and being quite immature, but really, he just wants to follow in Troy’s footsteps by being an East High legend eventually. And he literally gets to do that, by playing Troy in the spring musical – to Sharpay’s utter shock and horror! Rocket Man was played by Matt Prokop. He guest-starred in some episodes of Disney Channel series, such as Hannah Montana (2006-11) and Good Luck Charlie (2010-14), and later starred as Josh in the DCOM Geek Charming (2011) opposite Sarah Hyland. He has not acted since 2013.
Rocket Man’s best friend is Donny Dion. Donny is also on the basketball team and looks up to Chad, wanting himself and Rocket Man to have that same friendship and dynamic as Troy and Chad do. Donny finds himself in awkward situations thanks to Rocket Man, for example, Rocket Man tries to negotiate him and Donny getting Troy and Chad’s gym lockers, but Troy and Chad seem to think they have to embarrass them first to get them to “earn” them, and because of this Donny is photographed just in a towel, alongside Rocket Man. He also gets roped into working on the spring musical as a stage hand because this escapade led to them getting detention from Ms. Darbus! Donny Dion was played by Justin Martin. Martin was cast as Young Simba in the Broadway production of The Lion King in 2006, prior to his role in High School Musical 3: Senior Year. Recently, he was cast as Young Guy Simmons in the 2023 crime miniseries Legacy, with Ving Rhames as Guy Simmons.
Tiara Gold initially seems to be a sweet girl from Britain. She wants to help Sharpay organise her life for senior year, and she is very good at it, getting her coffee and her lunch, as well as being on hand to snoop on the fellow Wildcats to ensure the musical spotlights Sharpay instead of the others. Everything seems to be fine, until Sharpay discovers that Tiara has taken over her private dressing room during the spring musical and plans to take over the drama department after Sharpay has graduated. It’s meant to seem like this ultimate betrayal, but you’d think Sharpay wouldn’t really care, as she has her sights set on bigger and better things than her high school drama club… But apparently not. Sharpay ends up outshining Tiara on stage and is announced as Ms. Darbus’ assistant for the coming year as Sharpay will be attending college locally, so Tiara does not get her way. Jemma McKenzie-Brown was chosen to play Tiara Gold, after other actresses, including Selena Gomez, were considered for the role. Prior to her role in High School Musical 3, McKenzie-Brown had appeared in the BBC drama series The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard (2006) as Georgina Pritchard. Her on-screen sister in the series was played by Carey Mulligan. It would seem that McKenzie-Brown is currently the lead singer of the band About Bunny.
MUSIC
High School Musical 3: Senior Year consists of 12 new songs that appear in the film, making this the most original songs on the soundtrack of any High School Musical movie.
The first song in High School Musical 3 is “Now or Never”, which takes place as Troy, Chad, and the rest of the basketball team get back onto the court to finish their championship game against the West High Knights. It is performed by Zac Efron as Troy, Corbin Bleu as Chad, Chris Warren Jr. as Zeke, and Ryne Sanborn as Jason mostly, although I think Bart Johnson as Coach Bolton can also be heard on this track, as well as Vanessa Hudgens as Gabriella during one moment in the song. It was written by Matthew Gerrard and Robbie Nevil. “Now or Never” is a brilliantly high-energy song to focus all on attentions on the Wildcats and get ready for what is to come.
“Right Here, Right Now” is the first of three Troy and Gabriella duets. It is first heard as the two discuss college in Troy’s treehouse whilst at the victory party. They just want to enjoy their time together now, instead of thinking about college and how they’re likely going to be significantly separated from each other for the first time in two years. It is performed by Efron and Hudgens, and was written by Jamie Houston. The song makes a return during the extended edition of the film. In the extended scene, Troy and Gabriella are struggling to get their parents to understand their conflict about college, with Troy ending up in his treehouse and Gabriella on her balcony. They then sing “Right Here, Right Now”.
Next up is Sharpay’s “look at me” song – and it’s a good one. This song is “I Want It All”, performed by Ashley Tisdale as Sharpay and Lucas Grabeel as Ryan. It was written by Matthew Gerrard and Robbie Nevil. Here, Sharpay is trying to get Ryan excited about their future on Broadway and being famous. They just need to give amazing performances during the musical in front of the Juilliard reps, and their careers are set. This is all Sharpay’s fantasy about what her life is going to be, with Ryan joining her for the ride. It’s full of big sets, backing dancers, multiple costume changes, and moments where their fellow Wildcats are working for them, It’s a real spectacle – only to then be transported back to the cafeteria!
“Can I Have This Dance” follows on from that, and it is a quiet ballad for Troy and Gabriella this time, performed by Efron and Hudgens, with the song being written by Adam Anders and Nikki Hassman. This sequence takes place on the school’s rooftop garden as Gabriella teaches Troy how to waltz. It’s a very sweet song, as we see just how in love the couple are. A rainstorm suddenly appears midway through the song as well, but that doesn’t slow them down, as they dance around in the rain together.
A little while later, just after Chad finally asks Taylor to prom, the song “A Night to Remember” is performed. It is a group number, since the Wildcats are rehearsing this song as part of their spring musical, where they are staging their senior prom. The song involves all the main cast, including Monique Coleman as Taylor, Olesya Rulin as Kelsi, and Kaycee Stroh as Martha. “A Night to Remember” was written by Matthew Gerrard and Robbie Nevil. This song sees the cast getting ready for prom, being picked up by their dates, and then arriving at prom, where Kelsi gets to have a glow-up as she arrives to prom with Ryan looking beautiful, and very unlike herself.
“Just Wanna Be with You” is the other duet for Troy and Gabriella, although it is first sung by Kelsi and Ryan, as Ryan overhears Kelsi practising this song. Troy and Gabriella then rehearse the song on the stage, where the set is being built and painted around them. “Just Wanna Be with You” is therefore performed by Rulin and Grabeel, then Efron and Hudgens. This is my favourite of Troy and Gabriella’s duets throughout the franchise. It was written by Andy Dodd and Adam Watts.
Following that, Chad and Troy get to have a moment to perform together. This song “The Boys Are Back” takes place at the salvage yard, as they reminisce about their times there where they’d play about as children. We even see Young Chad and Troy run about this yard. There is some impressive choreography within this performance, and it is a very bold song. This is my favourite song in the film, and I like that Chad and Troy finally had a song together, just about their friendship. “The Boys Are Back” was performed by Efron and Bleu, and written by Matthew Gerrard and Robbie Nevil. It is also the second end credits song.
Then, we get to the really emotional moments in High School Musical 3: Senior Year. As Gabriella is leaving Albuquerque and heading to Stanford, she sings “Walk Away”. This is a difficult time for her, as she is saying goodbye to all her friends and to Troy. She is used to moving around frequently, but she didn’t expect to have to leave them all before prom or graduation. Gabriella is just trying to stay strong and move forward before she gets too upset. “Walk Away” was written by Jamie Houston and performed by Hudgens.
Now that Gabriella has left and everything feels different, Troy starts to struggle without her. After a fight with his father, who doesn’t want to believe that Troy is considering Juilliard or even a college future that involves theatre and not basketball, Troy heads to school late at night, which isn’t really allowed, but it sets up a song for him. This song is “Scream”. As Troy goes through the school, the anger builds up in him, about Gabriella leaving and not knowing what to do about college. The song involves some big choreography, like leaping down staircases, and being in a revolving corridor, before ending on the theatre stage where Troy literally screams his heart out. “Scream” was performed by Efron and written by Jamie Houston.
After that, we get the “Senior Year Spring Musical”, which is its own track on the soundtrack, giving the highlights of the musical, even though it only actually involves one new song. That song is “Last Chance” performed by Rulin and Grabeel as Kelsi and Ryan open the show. It was written by Randy Petersen and Kevin Quinn. Other songs performed in the musical are “Now or Never”, by Chad and the basketball team; “I Want It All”, by Ryan; “Just Wanna Be with You”, first by Sharpay and Rocket Man, so Matt Prokop, then Troy and Gabriella; ending with “A Night to Remember”, performed by Jemma McKenzie-Brown as Tiara, and Sharpay. Even though we’ve already heard these songs throughout the film, I still like this track where we hear it all together for this musical.
The next number “We’re All in This Together (Graduation Mix)” is actually used twice in High School Musical 3. First, it is used at the end of the musical as the seniors line up to announce their college futures, and then again at the actual graduation just a few minutes later as Troy gives his touching speech. I don’t particularly like this version of the song, as they’ve managed to make an upbeat song sound quite melancholic, but I can see what they wanted to do with it. It was written by Matthew Gerrard and Robbie Nevil, originally for the first film’s finale sequence. It was apparently performed by the main six cast members.
These same six are credited as performing the final song of the film, “High School Musical”. It was also written by Matthew Gerrard and Robbie Nevil. “High School Musical” is an incredibly positive song, as the Wildcats think about how brilliant their high school experience was, knowing they’ll never forget it. Despite it being a cheery song, it still makes me cry, because it is, after all, a goodbye from the cast to the fans in music form.
There is also a song that doesn’t appear on every version of the High School Musical 3: Senior Year soundtrack, but it is the End Credits song. This is “Just Getting Started”, written by Jamie Houston and performed by Stan Carrizosa. A mini-music video starring Carrizosa is also playing alongside the credits. Stan Carrizosa was a contest in the ABC reality contest High School Musical: Get in the Picture, which aired from July to September 2008. The prize was a record contract with Disney and to perform the original song and be in a music video for High School Musical 3’s end credits.
There were also a couple of reappearances of songs from High School Musical 2 here. As Sharpay walks into East High for her big entrance, and first appearance in the movie, an instrumental version of her song “Fabulous” is used. You’ll also hear Gabriella’s ringtone is “You Are the Music in Me” if you listen very carefully.
Along with the film’s main songs, there were some additional tracks credited. Three of these are songs that are playing at the victory party at Troy’s house after the basketball championship win. The first song used, as Troy and Chad arrive, is “Like Whoa”, performed by Aly & AJ, who had some history with the Disney Channel as they had both starred in the DCOM Cow Belles (2006). The pop duo was signed to Disney’s own recording label Hollywood Records at the time of High School Musical 3’s release. “Like Whoa” was written by Antonina Armato, Tim James, Amanda Joy Michalka, and Alyson Michalka. It had earlier been used in the DCOM Minutemen (2008).
The second song briefly heard at this party, just before we see Troy and Gabriella in Troy’s treehouse, is “Freaky”, performed by Jesse McCartney. McCartney also seemed to be with the Hollywood Records label at this time, and had made guest appearances in some Disney Channel series before that. In 2008, he also began to voice the character of Terence in Disney’s Tinker Bell animated movie series. “Freaky” was written by Theodore Thomas, Theron Makiel Thomas, Timothy Jamahil Thomas.
The party continues after Troy and Gabriella sing “Right Here, Right Now”, with the song “My Shoes”, performed by Jordan Pruitt, playing briefly in the background. Pruitt also has a history with the Disney company and its recording label. Her song “Outside Looking In” featured in the DCOM Read It and Weep (2006), and she also toured with The Cheetah Girls and the High School Musical cast for their concert tour as their opening act, before performing the song “Jump to the Rhythm” for the DCOM Jump In!.
Outside of that, two instrumental tracks seemed to have been used to complement the movie’s music. One of these is “Dillon Cadence”, written by Rob Walker. It appears to be the drum beat playing as the Wildcats make the school logo after graduation. I’m not sure where the other song, “Snareway to Heaven”, written and performed by Bart Hendrickson and Stix Randolph, is, but it could be the drum music during the basketball game.
David Lawrence returned to compose the score for High School Musical 3: Senior Year, after his work on both High School Musical and High School Musical 2. By 2015, Lawrence would begin working on the music for another Disney Channel musical movie franchise, Descendants, also directed by Kenny Ortega. Lawrence wrote the music for all three of the Descendants original trilogy, just like he did for High School Musical.
High School Musical 3: Senior Year’s soundtrack was released on 21st October 2008 in the US. Sadly, it did not perform as well as the previous two movie soundtracks had, even though I think the music here is superior to the other two. It debuted at No. 2 on the US Billboard 200 chart, whereas the other two had topped this chart. However, it did still top the US Billboard Soundtrack Albums charts, along with the comparable charts in countries like the UK, Spain, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, and Austria. It sold around 3.5 million copies worldwide, and a few songs also charted in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including “Now or Never”, “I Want It All”, “Right Here, Right Now”, and “A Night to Remember”.
PRODUCTION
With the unprecedent success of High School Musical 2’s premiere on Disney Channel, it was pretty much a guarantee that a third film was going to be made. In fact, quite soon after High School Musical 2 premiered, in August 2007, it is believed that this third movie was being discussed by Disney Channel executives.
It wasn’t particularly common for Disney Channel movie franchises to reach three movies at this point. There had only been a handful prior to High School Musical 3: Senior Year, and they were Zenon, Halloweentown, and The Cheetah Girls, all popular franchises; Halloweentown actually made it to four films, with its fourth and final film, Return to Halloweentown, premiering in 2006. But, a third High School Musical film was very likely.
It wouldn’t be long before confirmation of the next High School Musical came. By the end of 2007, it had been announced that the script had been written and the music was in development. It was just a question of exactly when they could get all the cast together to start filming, with Disney planning pre-production to start around January 2008.
Other specific details we knew before filming began were that Peter Barsocchini would be returning as the screenwriter for High School Musical 3: Senior Year and that Kenny Ortega would once again be the director. They were also heading to Utah, back to where the previous two movies had been filmed[1]. It was also later confirmed that the third film would be showing in movie theatres in October 2008, not on Disney Channel.
There were a couple of other rumours swirling around about High School Musical 3. One of these was that Disney had been discussing the potential of making this third movie Halloween-themed, something along the lines of “Haunted High School Musical”. This idea did not last long, before it was settled that the film would follow the Wildcats during their senior year and into graduation. It has been said that the reason a Halloween-themed High School Musical was floated is because Disney Channel was aware of the fact their Halloween Disney Channel movies have been some of their best performers, and are popular each and every year as the Halloween season begins. I don’t think this plan was popular with either the cast or the crew though! It would also seem that a 3D version of High School Musical 3: Senior Year was considered for its theatrical release. 3D movies were becoming more frequent around this time in the 2000s, but this never materialised[2].
Filming for High School Musical 3: Senior Year took place from May to June 2008, in what was the longest shooting schedule of the movie franchise at around 40 days. This followed five weeks of dance rehearsals, more than the cast had done for High School Musical or High School Musical 2, showing that returning choreographers Bonnie Story and Charles Klapow had increased the difficulty and performance level for this next film, set to be the final one for most of the cast. The budget was also much higher than the previous two films, at a reported $30 million. The cast and crew returned to some familiar locations for this film, since, unlike High School Musical 2, the story takes place predominately at the high school. This meant they came back to East High School and its now-famous locations like the school cafeteria, as well as Murray High School for its auditorium.
Another important filming location was Stanford University itself, in California. It’s apparently quite uncommon for Stanford to allow access to its campus for filming crews, but the university felt the storyline within High School Musical 3: Senior Year reflected its own views and opinions about college life, and inclusivity. The areas Vanessa Hudgens was spotted walking through for Gabriella’s scenes at Stanford included the New Guinea Sculpture Garden, Lasuen Mall and the Quad, and History Corner[3].
The production design for High School Musical 3: Senior Year was of a much higher standard than for the first two films. Mark Hofeling, later the production designer of the ZOMBIES franchise, another set of Disney Channel movie musicals, was the production designer on this trilogy. There were a huge amount of highly detailed sets for use in the filming process, like Troy’s treehouse, the big sets for the in-movie musical, the junkyard, the Broadway-musical-stylised “I Want It All” mini-sets, and even the spinning box that Zac Efron navigated for a portion of “Scream”. Nothing looked too over-the-top, but it was sleek, colourful, and professional, not feeling like sets for a low-budget TV movie.
There were also two different proms that had to be staged for this film. “A Night to Remember” is shown to be a rehearsal of the “perfect prom” for the spring musical, as we see the Wildcats on stage in their school theatre. It was meant to show the excitement of the girls about prom, and the boys’ nervousness about it! The other prom, “The Last Waltz”-themed prom takes place as more of a fantasy. The school hall was decorated with a large tree in the centre and lots of lanterns, again following what a traditional high school prom might look like to make the film feel realistic. The fantasy element comes from the fact that this prom is also accompanied by a song, a reprise of Troy and Gabriella’s duet “Can I Have This Dance”, and sees all the Wildcats dancing a waltz together, with real ballroom technique, despite Troy and Gabriella actually being in Stanford at the time. This prom was simple, beautiful, and calm, not like the energetic prom for the musical. This sequence was the last scene to be filmed inside the East High School gym.
The other vital thing about these proms was the costuming, with the characters wearing the same outfits in both. Gabriella’s dress was made to look ethereal, using feathery, flowing fabric, to match her angelic character. Taylor’s dress was a 50s inspired dress, complete with checked fabric and even the addition of a bow tie. This perfectly reflects Taylor’s character as the dress is serious and classy. Kelsi’s dress ended up being ballerina-themed, with a twirly skirt. Sharpay’s dress is hot pink, because she loves pink, and is shorter at the front than the back, complete with extra crystals across the waist and back of the dress. It’s a standout dress, because Sharpay does like to be the centre of attention, even at prom[4]. Their respective dates, of Troy, Chad, Ryan, and Zeke, have their own spectacular outfits, although arguably Troy’s is the most traditional, as it is just a grey suit. Chad has a white suit with purple detailing, to match Taylor. The most interesting thing to note though is that on the back of his suit jacket it says “8 Danforth” to represent his basketball jersey. Ryan gets a three-piece suit in beige or cream to coordinate with Kelsi’s dress, whilst Zeke wears a tailcoat, with a hot pink satin sash. Mattel seem to have made dolls of these characters in their prom outfits, showing how popular these costumes were with fans. Like the sets, the costume design was taken up a notch for this finale as well.
High school graduations are basically the same throughout the US, at least from what I can tell from my extensive viewing of teen and high school films! Some take place in school halls and auditoriums, and others are outside, but the students all wear gowns and caps in their school colours. For High School Musical 3, they chose to stage graduation outside on the East High school field, and the students wear either red or white gowns. This graduation scene was also accompanied by the song “High School Musical”. The final shot on this field was of the main six walking forward, turning towards the rest of the graduating class, and then a red curtain falling between them. This was an emotional day of filming for the cast, as their High School Musical journey was almost at an end and they were basically graduating themselves, onto different projects and potentially away from Disney. Apparently the very last scene shot with the main cast members was the final scene of the film, where they are all stand on stage as the camera pans to each of them. You can see tears in some of their eyes, showing how big a moment this was for High School Musical to be ending[5].
High School Musical 3: Senior Year was destined to follow the characters as they end their time at high school, because nothing can last forever, no matter how much you might want it to, but with something ending, that also means a new beginning and a chance for a fresh start. The young cast had matured over the course of those three years, and now it was time for them to have their own new beginning.
RECEPTION
High School Musical 3: Senior Year came to theatres in October 2008. The official US release date was 24th October 2008, although some countries, such as the UK and Europe, may’ve released the film a day or two earlier, likely for previews. It had reached most countries by the end of 2008, although some parts of Asia didn’t get to view it until 2009.
Because High School Musical 3 was to be the end of this trilogy, following the main six of Troy, Gabriella, Chad, Taylor, Sharpay, and Ryan whilst at East High, naturally, there was a lot of promotion in the build-up to its release. There were multiple red-carpet premieres too, with the UK one being held in Leicester Square on 7th October, and the Los Angeles one being held at the Galen Center on 16th October.
Although those at Disney knew there was an appetite for High School Musical as a franchise, choosing to release the third film theatrically was considered a slight risk, as they had no way of gauging their expectations, since the previous two movies had only premiered on television, where viewing figures were exceptionally high, especially for the second film.
But Disney executives didn’t have anything to worry about because on its opening weekend in the US, from 24th to 26th October 2008, the movie took an estimated $42 million at the box-office, making it the best ever showing for a movie musical at the time, outdoing Mamma Mia, which came out earlier that year, with $27.8 million and 2007’s Hairspray, which also starred Zac Efron, with $27.5 million. Even better, High School Musical 3: Senior Year was top of the box office that weekend, beating out Saw V’s figure of $30 million in sales. High School Musical 3 took in around $40 million from overseas that same weekend[6].
It was a good opening weekend for High School Musical 3: Senior Year, though don’t go thinking that it topped the box office in 2008, because it didn’t. The film made a total of just under $253 million, which is a respectable number. It ended the year at No. 23 on the worldwide box office listings. It was in a similar position to the popular rom-com Marley & Me, further proving High School Musical 3 held its own at the box office that year. The Dark Knight topped the list in 2008 with a little over $1 billion though.
High School Musical 3: Senior Year’s potentially surprising arrival to movie theatres helped boost Disney’s takings that year, since both Pixar’s WALL-E and Disney Animation’s Bolt had been outdone by two different DreamWorks films: Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. Disney had also struggled with their live-action film The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, which didn’t do as well as expected.
As with any High School Musical film, there were a mixture of comments about it, both positive and negative, from both fans and casual viewers. Overall, it received similar audience reaction to the previous two movies, potentially slightly worse than the second. Amongst fans, it is split just where High School Musical 3: Senior Year fits in the ranking of the trilogy. Personally, it’s the best for me, followed by High School Musical 2. Some agreed with me, others said it was worst, and some said it was in the middle of three.
Some specific comments on the film ranged from praise for the staging, thanks to its increased budget, and the improved choreography, particularly in “The Boys Are Back” sequence. I felt that High School Musical 3 did feel very cinematic and suited being on “the big screen”. The set design and costuming were a real step-up from the previous two films. Many critics said it was a good choice to put Zac Efron front-and-centre of this third film, as he had been for the second. This was always going to be Disney’s way of ensuring they pleased the High School Musical fans, who were – let’s face it – predominately teenage girls! It was considered by those who liked the film that High School Musical 3: Senior Year brought the trilogy to a solid conclusion.
However, others weren’t so happy with the film. Professional critics called High School Musical 3 things like “dire” and “stale”, without acknowledging that they were quite clearly not the target demographic. Some felt the music was forgettable, and inferior to the previous two films. I disagree with this point; I think the music in High School Musical 3 has quite obviously matured from the catchy pop of the previous two. It was felt that High School Musical 3 was too “squeaky clean”, to which all I can say is: it’s Disney; what did you expect? The worst critique is the comment that High School Musical 3: Senior Year lacks a central dilemma. I don’t understand why anyone would think that. Sure, the central dilemma is about where Troy wants to go to college, and that might not be particularly ground-breaking, but it was wholly relevant and relatable to the teenagers watching. Every year, teenagers have to decide where they want to go to college, and teenage relationships factor into that in many cases, as they fear what being long-distance might do to them, and just whether they want to go to university at all. It might be a bit of a superficial dilemma, but it is a problem that we follow throughout the film and watch Troy figure out.
In terms of awards, the success really came from the fans, with wins at teen-centric award ceremonies. For example, at the US Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, High School Musical 3: Senior Year won awards for Favorite Movie and Favorite Movie Actress for Vanessa Hudgens. At the 2009 Teen Choice Awards, High School Musical 3 won two awards: Choice Movie: Music/Dance and Choice Movie Actor: Music/Dance for Zac Efron, with Corbin Bleu also being nominated in this category. Ashley Tisdale and Vanessa Hudgens were both nominated for Choice Movie Actress: Music/Dance, but lost to Miley Cyrus in Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009). It was clear there was a rivalry brewing between High School Musical and Twilight (2008) at this time, as High School Musical 3 lost the Choice Movie: Liplock award to Twilight – gasp! Actors from Twilight also swept other categories at this award show. Plus, at the Australian Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, although Zac Efron was nominated for Fave Movie Star, he lost out to Robert Pattinson. The Twilight movies were all set to replace High School Musical now they were over…
Also at the MTV Movie Awards, Twilight won the award for Best Movie, with High School Musical 3: Senior Year being nominated. But Zac Efron and Ashley Tisdale did win awards for Best Male Performance and Breakthrough Performance – Female. Efron and Hudgens once again lost Best Kiss to Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart though. Other awards for High School Musical 3: Senior Year included the Jackie Coogan Award being given to Kenny Ortega at the Young Artist Awards for his work on High School Musical.
As with any Disney Channel-related movie, of course High School Musical 3: Senior Year would make its way to our TV screens for a Disney Channel premiere – after its DVD release with its extended edition, deleted scenes, and behind-the-scenes moments. It apparently premiered on the US Disney Channel on 4th April 2010. Internationally, High School Musical 3 premiered in 2010 as well in many cases. It is unclear what its viewing figures were from the premiere, reportedly about 4 million, so not topping any viewing records, but that isn’t surprising as the film had been available to view for over a year.
LEGACY
Immediately after watching High School Musical 3: Senior Year, even though I knew this was likely it for the main cast, although maybe not Sharpay as they had written it in that she could return to East High’s drama department to work with Ms. Darbus, I thought Disney Channel would make more movies with the High School Musical title. I even remember discussing it with my mum on the car ride home from the movie theatre.
It felt like, with the introductions of Tiara Gold, Jimmie “Rocket Man” Zara, and Donny Dion, Disney Channel was setting us up for more stories to come from East High featuring these three characters, plus many opportunities for new ones to come in. They could’ve gone round in an endless loop of trilogies, following the pattern they’d just created. I can’t honestly say I was excited by the idea, since I didn’t particularly like any of the new characters in High School Musical; they were just there, in and around the story, but luckily not on screen enough to take away from the main cast that we actually bought tickets to see.
Strangely enough, this next High School Musical movie did not happen. There was reportedly an unaired pilot called Madison High, made for Disney Channel in 2011, which was meant to be a spin-off to High School Musical, and could’ve seen Alyson Reed return as Ms. Darbus, in a new school, I presume. The cast included some familiar Disney Channel names, such as Luke Benward and Katherine McNamara, who both starred in the DCOM Girl vs. Monster (2012), and G. Hannelius, who had roles in the Disney Channel series Sonny with a Chance (2009-11) and Dog with a Blog (2012-15), along with a leading role in the DCOM Den Brother (2010). Madison High was meant to air in 2012, but never did. The reason it was cancelled remains unknown to this day.
But we did get an actual High School Musical spin-off, just not what we were perhaps expecting. This was Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure (2011), which saw us follow Sharpay Evans’ journey after her graduation from East High. This was not a reunion for all the High School Musical cast, as only Ryan and Mr. and Mrs. Evans make a return for this film.
After that, a few years went by with little discussions about expansions to the High School Musical franchise. That is until 2016, when Disney Channel announced a nationwide casting search for a new sequel, which would’ve focused on the rivalry between the East High Wildcats and the West High Knights. It was debated whether this sudden announcement of a High School Musical sequel was in relation to the increase of live TV specials recreating musicals that were on our screens around this time, including NBC’s The Sound of Music Live! (2013); NBC’s Hairspray Live! (2016); and Fox’s Grease Live! (2016). This sequel was set to have Peter Barsocchini write the script with Dan Berendsen, a frequent DCOM writer. The director was meant to be Jeffrey Hornaday, the director of Disney Channel’s Teen Beach movies[7]. This sequel also did not happen for unknown reasons.
Over ten years after High School Musical 3: Senior Year had premiered, finally, a new screen project was confirmed around the franchise. This was the mockumentary style Disney+ series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, which debuted on the streaming service in November 2019. It followed students at a fictionalised version of the real East High School in Salt Lake City, where the original movies were filmed. The drama teacher wants to put on High School Musical: The Musical as her first show. Four seasons in total aired, with each season focusing on the students putting on a different musical. The cast included singer Olivia Rodrigo, known for her Disney Channel role of Paige Olvera in the series Bizaardvark (2016-19); Sofia Wylie who was Buffy Driscoll in Disney’s Andi Mack (2017-19); and Dara Reneé, who was cast in Disney Channel’s remake of Freaky Friday (2018), going on to be cast as Uliana in the rebooted Descendants franchise. Former High School Musical cast members also made appearances on the show as themselves, including Kaycee Stroh, Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, Bart Johnson, and Alyson Reed. The final season premiered in August 2023.
Back to 2008 now though. Shortly after High School Musical 3’s release, Corbin Bleu was a featured performer in the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade in 2008. He was introduced as being a cast member in High School Musical 3. Bleu sang the song “Celebrate You”, which was also used for a Disney Parks celebration around this time.
Continuing High School Musical’s presence at the Disney Parks, a new pep rally was added, this time promoting High School Musical 3: Senior Year. Replacing High School Musical 2: School’s Out! was High School Musical 3: Senior Year – Right Here! Right Now!. The new pep rally came to the US parks of Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World in Florida and Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim in October 2008, in time to promote the third movie’s release. The songs performed in this pep rally were “Now or Never”, “A Night to Remember”, “The Boys Are Back”, “Just Wanna Be with You”, “I Want It All”, and “High School Musical”. Disneyland Paris had also had the previous pep rallies; however, their third iteration was quite different. It was called High School Musical: The Party, running from April to September 2009, and included music from all three films. From High School Musical 3, the singers performed “Just Wanna Be With You” and “I Want It All”.
This third pep rally ended in the US in 2010, being replaced with Disney Channel Rocks; but no song from High School Musical 3 was used as it celebrated music from numerous Disney Channel movies and series. “We’re All in This Together” was the only High School Musical song to make it into the set. It ended in Disney’s Hollywood Studios in 2013. It is less clear when it stopped in California initially. It did make a return for the after-hours event Disneyland After Dark: Disney Channel Nite on 5th and 7th March 2024.
Also at this event was the High School Musical / ZOMBIES Pep Rally. The opening and closing song of the set was a mash-up of High School Musical’s “We’re All in This Together” and ZOMBIES 2’s “Like the Zombies Do”. Other songs from the High School Musical franchise included “Get’cha Head in the Game”, “Breaking Free”, and “High School Musical”. ZOMBIES fans could sing along to “BAMM”, “Someday”, and “Fired Up” as Seabrook High and East High students went “head-to-head”. As Disney Channel Nite is making a return in 2026, both the High School Musical / ZOMBIES Pep Rally and the Disney Channel Rocks show will be returning as well, on 12th, 14th, and 16th April 2026.
FINAL THOUGHTS
High School Musical 3: Senior Year was a real treat to watch in cinemas.
It was like Disney had decided to throw everything at it, to make this final film of the original trilogy a real last hurrah, a celebration of the craziness they’d created, with a moving story, impressive music, and a real spectacular mood. This film must’ve really affected me, because even now, I can’t watch High School Musical 3 without dissolving into floods of tears for at least the last 45 minutes.
I suppose this had a lot to do with the fact High School Musical 3: Senior Year was when the fans said goodbye to this amazing cast who’d been there for us in childhood. We all knew they’d go on to bigger and better things, but this was an ending, a finale.
However, although the first three films ended, it was never going to be the end for High School Musical. Even if Disney stop making new experiences or screen projects revolving around it, nobody will ever stop talking about High School Musical, because this franchise changed how we viewed Disney Channel and Disney in general.
They could create global phenomena. High School Musical wasn’t the first and didn’t end up being Disney’s last.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Ernio Hernandez, ‘Senior Year-Themed “High School Musical 3” to Begin Filming in Utah in Spring’, Playbill.com, 28th November 2007.
[2] Credit: Ellen Durney, ‘I Read A Book About Disney Channel, And These Behind-The-Scenes Details About The Making Of The “High School Musical” Left Me So Shocked’, Buzzfeed.com, 27th December 2024.
[3] Credit: Stanford Magazine, ‘Wildcat Spotted on Campus’, StanfordMag.org, November/December 2008.
[4] Credit: Disney, “The Prom”, from High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008) UK Extended Edition DVD (2009).
[5] Credit: Disney, “Graduation”, from High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008) UK Extended Edition DVD (2009).
[6] Credit: Michael A. Hiltzik, ‘For ‘High School Musical 3’, a trip to the head of the class’, LATimes.com, 27th October 2008.
[7] Credit: BBC, ‘Disney is reviving High School Musical with a whole new cast’, BBC.co.uk, 2nd March 2016.
The Disney Purist 