BACKGROUND
By 2011, it was probably fair to say that the majority of teenagers who had watched the High School Musical trilogy as each movie premiered were drifting away from Disney Channel.
My older sister was not really watching the channel by this point, and I was starting to give up with it, for a few reasons. One was that I was about to head off to university, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to access it for much of the year, so I had to wean myself off it. Another was that there wasn’t much programming I was interested in anymore. Sonny with a Chance (2009-11) was about to end with its second and final season; it was quite clear that a Camp Rock 3 wasn’t going to be happening any time soon; and I’d given up waiting for an expected fourth High School Musical movie, that would feature the new characters from High School Musical 3: Senior Year. Not that I’d really wanted that to happen.
So, it seemed strange to me when all of a sudden, Disney Channel announced that they were making a High School Musical spin-off, all about Sharpay. As Sharpay is my favourite High School Musical character, you’d probably assume that I would’ve been excited to see Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure. However, I was not. I did not watch it on its Disney Channel premiere and I have never owned it on DVD. I think I decided that it was unlikely that the rest of the High School Musical cast would appear in this Sharpay film, and without them, I felt that Sharpay’s character would struggle to show her true dynamism, because she would normally bounce off the other Wildcats and their differing personalities.
I turned out to be right. The cast did not make a return for any sort of reunion here, and Sharpay was very different – not in a good way. I’d initially attempted to watch Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure a few years after it came out, on the precursor to Disney+, the streaming service DisneyLife, and then again when Disney+ officially came to the UK. On both occasions, I made it only about 15 or 20 minutes into the film.
Now that I have finally watched the movie in full, I can safely say that I did not miss out on anything. The original songs were not comparable to High School Musical’s songs, as they were mostly used for rehearsals and audition pieces for the Broadway musical within the film, and Sharpay had definitely changed, reminding me more of London Tipton from The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005-08). Sharpay was not the Sharpay I had known and loved from the High School Musical trilogy, and I was not happy to see that.
PLOT
Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure starts with a musical performance, by Sharpay Evans and her dog, Boi. It is complete with lighting, staging, backup dancers, and an adoring audience.
After the show, we see that Sharpay was performing as part of the Albuquerque Benefit for the Arts annual fundraiser. She walks past the crowd of people, who congratulate her on her performance, and meets up with her parents. Sharpay is soon introduced to Jerry Taylor, a casting agent for a Broadway musical, with young starlet Amber Lee Adams in the lead role. He says he has the perfect part and would love to set up an audition. Excited, Sharpay talks to her father about the opportunity, only to discover that he doesn’t feel she’s ready to go to New York City and be in a musical. He says after she graduated from East High, she has done nothing for a year; despite claiming she wanted time to find herself. Sharpay is annoyed but plans to show her father she can handle it.
With the help of her group of friends, the Sharpettes, Sharpay gets a luxury apartment, flights, and the audition all booked for her trip to NYC. She then presents all this to her parents. After the presentation, Sharpay’s dad still isn’t sure, but her mother says her friend’s son is at New York University, so he can look out for Sharpay whilst she’s in the city. Suitably guilted into this, Sharpay’s father agrees to let her go to New York, and he’ll pay for her apartment – but this is for one month and one month only. If nothing comes from her month in NYC, then she’ll have to come home and work at their country club.
Sharpay heads to New York, determined to get her start on Broadway, because the thought of working at the country club is too much to bear! Sharpay arrives at her penthouse apartment, being greeted by the building manager, and very much likes what she sees. However, Boi comes out of a bag, shocking the building manager who says dogs aren’t allowed in the building. Sharpay, for some reason thinking she can sway the decision, says either they both stay, or they both go – so they are both kicked out!
Not knowing what to do, and not wanting to ask her father for help, otherwise she’ll be ordered to come back home, Sharpay sits on her mound of pink luggage on the side of the street… A little while later, a guy walks by her and starts filming her. Sharpay thinks he must be the paparazzi, but she soon discovers this guy is just a film student at the university. He introduces himself as Peyton, realising that this girl must be his mother’s friend’s daughter that he was on the way to meet. Sharpay confesses her apartment plans have fallen through, but luckily, Peyton knows of an empty studio in his building. It’s Sharpay’s only real option so she goes to the apartment, getting Peyton to lug all her cases over there.
On arriving at the building, Sharpay is horrified. The building is not up to her standards. She also discovers there is no elevator here, so again, Peyton has to haul all her luggage up the stairs. Finally, they get to the right floor. Sharpay opens the door to this studio apartment with a bag on her hand – because, poor people germs – and is shocked to find a tiny room that isn’t particularly clean or well-furnished. It even has a pull-down bed, which Sharpay describes as a closet with a tongue! Peyton says it might not be much, but the best thing about it is that the window to his apartment is right across from hers. That doesn’t do much to persuade Sharpay – but it’s either this, or accept defeat and go back to Albuquerque. She begs Peyton not to tell his mother about this. He agrees to keep it secret.
To try and cheer Sharpay up, Peyton takes her around the city, starting with a visit to a theatre, where he has Sharpay stand up on stage to know what it will feel like when she’s starring on Broadway. Peyton opens up and says he also had to adapt when he came to New York. Holding onto his dream kept him focused whilst in the city. They then explore the rest of New York, where Sharpay comes face-to-face with cockroaches and hot dogs, apparently for the first time ever! She also walks past a store that specialises in all things pink. This gives her an idea to decorate her studio and make it more “Sharpay”. By the end of the day, Sharpay is a little bit more settled and comfortable. She says goodnight to Boi, but struggles with that Murphy bed, as it tilts upright whilst she is trying to sleep.
The next morning, Sharpay is ready for her audition. Peyton asks to go with her so he can film her journey to stardom. At the theatre, she is told to prepare a song from the musical for an audition tomorrow, but when she is asked to make sure that Boi is perfectly groomed and has taken care of any “business” prior to the audition, Sharpay gets confused. She is told that the audition is for her dog, not for her! Since the musical is called A Girl’s Best Friend, and the girl has already been cast, it was believed that Sharpay would’ve known this. She didn’t. Sharpay storms out of the theatre, furious, but Peyton tells her go to ahead with Boi’s audition, because it could be Boi’s big chance. Sharpay agrees this would be best, only because if Boi gets famous, then she can be a star too!
The following day, Sharpay performs the audition song with Boi and the casting panel love it. Sharpay thinks it’s a done deal; however, they have one more audition set up. This audition is with a young boy called Roger Ellison III and his spaniel Countess, who apparently already has a list of Broadway acting credits. Sharpay has to admit his audition is pretty good, but doesn’t see how it could outdo hers. The lead actress of the musical, Amber Lee Adams, then arrives and says she loved both auditions, so they’ll have no choice but to try both dogs out during rehearsals. Sharpay accepts this, although Roger warns Sharpay to give up now or be heartbroken later when her dog doesn’t get the part. Sharpay isn’t scared and leaves the theatre. As the pair’s dogs are separated, they look longingly at each other. The dogs have fallen in love at first sight. Puppy love, how sweet.
After some late-night rehearsing at her apartment, Sharpay and Boi return to the theatre the next morning ready to show what they’re made of. The first scene being rehearsed is the girl getting ready to go off to New York, deciding to take her beloved dog with her. Amber Lee works with both dogs; Boi hands her a boarding pass, whilst Countess comes out of a dog carrier. They are both doing a decent job, although it soon becomes clear that Amber Lee is a terrible actress! Feeling there isn’t enough separating the dogs from each other, Roger decides it is the perfect time for sabotage. He rubs raw chicken on Amber Lee’s shoes – gross – which makes Boi lick her shoes constantly during a scene. He is promptly replaced by Countess for the next scene. Sharpay knows Roger must have done something, so she blows a dog whistle during the next rehearsal to get Countess to dance around when she isn’t meant to. Roger then releases a cat into the theatre and Boi chases it. With the rehearsals a disaster, the dogs are taken away for naps, and Roger tells Sharpay to give up again. She won’t. We also see that Amber Lee isn’t as sweet as she seems, as she tells the dogs not to upstage her. Weird.
Later that day, Sharpay gets a video call from her father. Panicking about where to take it, she is told to sit in Peyton’s window as he has a good view of the city skyline from there, so her father won’t know anything is wrong. With only two weeks left, Sharpay hides what it is really going from her father, who once again, tells her that if it doesn’t work out there, she’ll have to come home. Sharpay decides she needs some sort of advantage…
Strangely enough, as Sharpay goes to speak with Amber Lee, she sees Amber Lee’s assistant leaving the theatre. Amber Lee fired her assistant over something trivial, but she tells Sharpay that her assistant has just quit, leaving her in the lurch. Sharpay immediately volunteers to be Amber Lee’s temporary assistant, believing this will be enough to get her dog cast over Roger’s, because if the star likes her, then she’ll pick her dog, right? Sharpay is asked to get the sound engineer to look over Amber Lee’s mic as it is hurting her scalp. Sharpay goes over to him, and he tells Sharpay she’s hot. It turns out he’s referring to her mic, which is live, and that the whole theatre just heard Sharpay talking about Amber Lee’s scalp and how it must be her shampoo causing problems, not the mic. Embarrassing.
Sharpay soon learns that being Amber Lee’s assistant isn’t going to be easy, as she gets a call in the middle of the night to come to Amber Lee’s apartment. There, she finds that this was a test to see how loyal Sharpay was to her – and because she wanted help getting a bag down from a high shelf. The random tasks keep on coming from Amber Lee, and Sharpay struggles to keep up, but knows she must if Boi is going to get that part. Things get progressively worse for Sharpay when Amber Lee claims her maid just quit and asks Sharpay to do chores around her apartment, like cleaning toilets. Amber Lee promises that if Sharpay does this for her, then Boi will probably get the part, so she heads off to get it done.
Back at rehearsals, Roger is made aware of some changes for the next rehearsal and is asked to communicate them to Sharpay. He says he will, but actually just throws the rewritten script away. When it is time for Boi to rehearse, he obviously does something wrong, and Amber Lee shouts at him, shocking the cast. Sharpay realises Roger was behind it, and accuses him of sabotaging again. They then find that both their dogs have gone missing from the theatre. They immediately head out into the city to find them, and Sharpay calls Peyton to help. It turns out the dogs are just exploring the city together, taking carriage rides and walking in the park together. As Sharpay and Roger are running around looking for Boi and Countess, she ignores a call from her father, and then sees Peyton with the dogs, as they both came back to the apartment. Peyton reveals to Sharpay that the dogs are obviously in love. He also tells Sharpay that she has completely changed since she became Amber Lee’s assistant and doesn’t see how she is being manipulated. Sharpay tells Peyton she has to do this to make Boi a star, and tells him he’s not being supportive.
The next day, Amber Lee orders Sharpay to invite all her fan club to a preview of the show, and to sign more photographs of her for them. After Sharpay overhears Amber Lee arguing with the director and the writer of the musical, demanding the dogs be written out of the show, so it can be fully focused on her, Sharpay starts to realise Peyton was right. To top it all off, Sharpay hears Amber Lee laughing at her too, calling her “an obsessed fan”. Feeling hopeless and depressed, she goes back to her apartment, where she passes Peyton. She says that he was right about everything, and tearfully says she should just go home. Peyton tells her that she will be famous. Sharpay says she needs to fight for it first.
At the theatre on the day of the preview, Sharpay tells Roger that Amber Lee doesn’t want the dogs in the show, and asks him to join her in getting revenge, so they can show everyone watching what Amber Lee is really like. He agrees. As Sharpay pretends to still be Amber Lee’s assistant, she announces to Sharpay that Countess will be performing in this show, because Sharpay wasn’t there for her earlier in the day. Sharpay says there are no hard feelings, and hugs her, turning Amber Lee’s mic on before walking away.
As the show is about to get started, Roger sends both the dogs to Amber Lee. Not wanting the dogs anywhere near her, she starts yelling at them, and yelling to the crew to get the dogs away from her. Sharpay then gets the stage curtain pulled up, so it can be confirmed to all the audience that it was in fact Amber Lee ranting at the dogs. She is booed by her own fan club. Sharpay then calls Amber Lee out on behaviour. Not liking this at all, Amber Lee promptly quits the show. The director fires Sharpay for her outburst and rushes to Amber Lee, to convince her to change her mind. Roger wants to quit the show too, but Sharpay tells him he should continue on.
Back at the apartment, Sharpay packs up all her belongings to head back to Albuquerque, knowing she failed in her dream. Peyton says she still has eight hours left of her father’s one-month deadline, but Sharpay doesn’t think anything can change. She is called to the theatre to pick up her last few belongings. There, she discovers that the production is being cancelled as Amber Lee would not reconsider. Peyton then uses this as an opportunity to show the cast and crew how good Sharpay is. He plays footage he recorded of Sharpay rehearsing a song from the musical with Boi. The director and the writer are stunned by her talent, and believe Sharpay taking the lead role can keep the show alive. Sharpay is surprised to find that they really want her for the part, and she agrees to it, but only if both Boi and Countess share the role of the dog. Sharpay starts to panic that she isn’t going to be good enough, but Peyton calms her down and the two kiss.
On her opening night, Peyton and Sharpay’s parents sit in the audience as Sharpay wows the crowd with her performance. Sharpay becomes famous overnight, showing that her dream of becoming a Broadway star really did come true.
This is where Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure ends in the Disney+ version of the film, and seemingly on the DVD release too, however, there is an extended scene in the End Credits, which played during its Disney Channel showings. In this scene, Ryan and Sharpay sing “What I’ve Been Looking For”, from High School Musical, through the door of her apartment. Ryan then comes in and the two do their old warm-up routine, also from the first film. Ryan congratulates Sharpay on her success, and Sharpay congratulates him on his, as Ryan is in a touring production of a musical. Sharpay is very happy with her life, even her apartment, which Ryan thinks is cute. As the two sit on Sharpay’s bed to chat, Boi runs off so Sharpay chases after him. Ryan is left on the bed alone, which flips up. The scene ends with Ryan asking for some help in getting out of there.
CHARACTERS & CAST
In Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure, Sharpay seems to have settled for staying in Albuquerque and being a local star, putting on performances at her parents’ country club. It’s not until she gets noticed by a casting agent that Sharpay seems to think about becoming a Broadway star, even though she had done all through school. Despite her father not thinking she is prepared to go to New York City to live out her dream, Sharpay is determined and convinces her father to let her try. But Sharpay finds that even the best-laid plans go awry, as she finds herself without a luxury apartment – and without an audition, when she realises it was actually her pet dog, Boi, that the casting agent was interested in! However, Sharpay doesn’t let this slow her down and decides to make sure Boi gets the part, even if it means competing with another strong candidate and dealing with an outrageous diva in the starring role. Sharpay learns throughout her time in New York the importance of humbleness and hard work as she fights to get her chance, and it all works out for her. Not only does she get to star in a Broadway musical, but she even finds love on the way.
Ashley Tisdale returned to her role as Sharpay Evans from the High School Musical franchise after almost three years away. Since her time acting on Disney Channel, Tisdale has been an executive producer on some Disney projects, such as the DCOM Cloud 9 (2014) and the ABC series Young & Hungry (2014-18). She also continued to voice Candace in Phineas and Ferb (2007-15) after this film, returning to voice Candace in Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe (2020), and later, the 2025 reboot of the series. In more recent years, Tisdale was cast as Kayla in the Netflix series Merry Happy Whatever (2019), and was a panellist on The Masked Dancer (2020-21). She also voiced Stariana in Nickelodeon’s animated TV movie Baby Shark’s Big Movie! (2023).
Starring alongside her as her pet Terrier Boi were actually two dogs called Howie and Herbie. This was a change from Boi being played by High School Musical director Kenny Ortega’s dog Manly, who had been Boi in the second and third films.
Peyton Leverett is the son of one of Sharpay’s mother’s friends. He is a film student studying at New York University, and he has been tasked with keeping an eye on Sharpay and looking out for her during her time in the city. He actually meets her on the street just after Sharpay has been kicked out of her apartment, and films her – without permission – because he believes her story in the city could be his next film project. Peyton quickly finds Sharpay an apartment to stay in, right next to his, and even though it does not match up to her standards, she agrees to take it, not wanting to tell her father she has “failed”. Peyton follows Sharpay throughout her time with Boi’s audition and rehearsals, camera in hand, and although they have a falling out over Sharpay’s attitude, Peyton comes to the rescue as he shows the musical director and writer a video of Sharpay rehearsing a song from the musical with Boi, making them decide she is perfect to take over the lead. Peyton is the down-to-earth, patient guy that Sharpay needed in her life.
Austin Butler was cast as Peyton Leverett, having previously appeared in both Disney Channel and Nickelodeon series, including in the recurring role of James Garrett in Season 4 of Zoey 101 (2005-08) for Nickelodeon. After Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure, Butler appeared as Wilke in Freeform’s Switched at Birth (2011-17), and starred as Sebastian Kydd in The CW series The Carrie Diaries (2013-14). From this point, Butler has had various roles in major Blockbuster movies, such as playing Tex Watson in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), which starred Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie, before achieving worldwide success by portraying Elvis Presley in the 2022 Baz Luhrmann film Elvis, a role that Butler was so determined to get right that it has seemingly changed his voice for ever! More recently, Butler was also cast as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in Dune: Part Two (2024) and is soon set to star in crime film Enemies alongside Jeremy Allen White.
Roger Ellison III turns out to be Sharpay’s surprise rival in the musical, as he is also auditioning with his dog for a role in the show. His dog, Countess, is much more decorated than Boi, and Roger knows it, feeling quite confident that Countess will get the part. When she doesn’t, Roger tries everything to get Sharpay and Boi either to quit or get fired, even resorting to sabotage, which does nothing to dissuade Sharpay and only starts a tit for tat between the two, ruining rehearsals for everyone. When both their dogs go missing, Roger and Sharpay put their differences aside for that one moment, realising they both love their dogs, with the fear of what has happened bonding the two. They don’t spend anymore time sabotaging each other, and actually end up coming together to get Amber Lee fired, after Sharpay tells Roger that Amber Lee doesn’t want either of their dogs in the show. Their plan works and Amber Lee quits, but when Sharpay gets fired, Roger doesn’t feel it is fair to continue in the show without her. Sharpay tells Roger to stay in the show, so he does – until the show is set to be cancelled. Sharpay later gets the lead role, keeping the show in production, and her character growth is shown when she uses this opportunity to give both Boi and Countess a shot at stardom, by ensuring both dogs share the roles, which I’m sure Roger is very grateful for, given the difficult rivalry they faced at the start.
Bradley Steven Perry was cast as Roger. He had recently become a Disney Channel household name thanks to his role as Gabe in their series Good Luck Charlie (2010-14), reprising the role for another 2011 DCOM, the movie Good Luck Charlie It’s Christmas (2011). After getting his starring role on Good Luck Charlie, he went on to have lead roles in two further Disney Channel series. These were Mighty Med (2013-15) and Lab Rats: Elite Force (2016) where he played Kaz. Perry also voiced the character of Zevon, son of Yzma, in Season 2 of Descendants: Wicked World (2015-17). Outside of Disney, he was cast in the recurring role of Alec Raday in Schooled (2019-20) and now has a successful YouTube Channel featuring cooking videos, and a podcast called The Sit and Chat Podcast which Perry hosts alongside fellow former Disney Channel star, Jake Short. Roger’s dog, Countess, was played by a spaniel called Ginger[1].
Amber Lee Adams is the up-and-coming starlet who is cast in the lead role in the musical A Girl’s Best Friend. She initially seems friendly, as she praises both Roger and Sharpay for their dogs’ auditions, and the only thing against her is that she isn’t a good actress. However, we soon discover that Amber Lee is actually a complete diva, with temper tantrums and excessive demands of her staff, and that she seems to hate dogs, at least the two who could upstage her musical performance. Amber Lee also manipulates Sharpay into doing things for her, making Sharpay think that if she just does this one task for her, then she’ll get Boi the starring role, but these only add up over time, so Amber Lee gets all the power. Sharpay tires of Amber Lee’s behaviour and sets about getting her revenge in the best way, by showing Amber Lee’s true colours to get even her fans to turn against her. It works, and Amber Lee quits the show, not liking being humiliated by someone as lowly as Sharpay. Who knows where her career went after that!
Amber Lee was played by Cameron Goodman, who went on to be cast in the recurring role of Bree in Season 4 of the teen drama series 90210 (2008-13), the remake of the 90s series Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990-2000).
Then we have the director of the musical, Gill Samms, and the writer, Neal Roberts. Both of them don’t seem to have much authority in the show, despite their job titles, as they can’t make a simple decision over whether to cast Boi or Countess, and seem to bow to pressure from Amber Lee on numerous occasions. They clearly want to put on a brilliant show, but perhaps they have a lack of experience, at least in dealing with difficult actors, because they should know that no star is bigger than the show. Instead of grovelling to Amber Lee after she leaves, they should’ve been glad to have her quit, and probably should’ve fired her way before that – like when she tries to undermine them both by getting the dogs rewritten out of a musical all about a girl and her dog!
Alec Mapa was cast as Gill. Mapa had previously been cast in the recurring role of Suzuki St. Pierre in the comedy-drama Ugly Betty (2006-10) for ABC. He also played Renzo in the series Switched at Birth. In more recent years, he played Mr. Tennyson in the Disney Channel series The Villains of Valley View (2022-23). Jack Plotnick was cast as Neal Roberts. Plotnick appeared in the recurring role of Barrett from Season 3 of Ellen DeGeneres’ sitcom Ellen (1994-98). Plotnick later guest starred in various Disney Channel series, including Wizards of Waverly Place (2007-12); and Shake It Up (2010-13). More recently, Plotnick was cast as Paul in the Netflix series Grace and Frankie (2015-22).
There is also Jerry Taylor, the casting agent who Sharpay first meets at the fundraiser that Sharpay performs at. Jerry doesn’t give any hint that it is actually Sharpay’s dog that he wants to audition, as Boi was only in a very small part of Sharpay’s number that day, so it is no wonder that she didn’t understand that it was her dog who was the talented one Jerry was talking about and not her! Jerry seems embarrassed when Sharpay comes to the realisation that she isn’t getting an audition, believing that Sharpay would’ve understood that, given that he had told her the musical title, who was leading it, and the fact that “man’s best friend” is a well-known reference to dogs. Clearly, Jerry didn’t know how self-absorbed Sharpay can be, and really should’ve been very precise with what he meant.
Jerry Taylor was played by Pat Mastroianni, who is perhaps best known for his role as Joey Jeremiah in the Canadian television franchise Degrassi, starring in three different series: Degrassi Junior High (1987-89), where he won a Gemini Award for Best Performance by a Lead Actor in a Continuing Dramatic Role; Degrassi High (1989-91); and Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001-15), for its first few seasons.
Finally, we get a few returning characters from the High School Musical franchise, such as the Sharpettes, who we first meet in High School Musical 2 (2007), however, those friends from that film either annoyed Sharpay and she dumped them, or they moved away, because she has a new set of three friends this time: Tiffany, Dena, and Lupe. The three Sharpettes only appear for one sequence, and that is when they are tasked with organising everything for Sharpay’s trip to New York City, whilst she goes to the spa and shops for new clothes. Tiffany is told to set up an apartment, but fails to check if the building allows dogs. Big mistake. Dena books flights, which seemingly are fine, because Sharpay does arrive in the city, whilst Lupe sets up Sharpay’s audition, however, it is not made clear at this point that the audition is actually for Boi and not Sharpay. So, really, only Dena does her job properly, so Sharpay might want to consider rehiring for the other two girls in her group!
Lauren Collins was cast as Tiffany. Collins is best known for her role as Paige Michalchuk in the Canadian teen series Degrassi: The Next Generation, returning to play the role in other editions of the Degrassi television franchise. She had also been cast as Alexa in the ABC Family film Picture This (2008), which starred Ashley Tisdale, prior to her role in Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure. She recently appeared as Alma in the Netflix film Frankenstein (2025). Shadia Ali was cast as Dena. She went on to be cast as Xannan Suleman in the Canadian political and crime drama Shoot the Messenger (2016). Alessandra Cannito was cast as Lupe. She had previously been cast as Elizabeth in the Disney Channel Original Movie Jump In! (2007).
Robert Curtis Brown and Jessica Tuck also make a return to the High School Musical franchise with their roles as Mr. and Mrs. Evans in Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure. In High School Musical 2, Mr. Evans is shown to spoil his daughter Sharpay, giving her everything she could wish for, whereas Mrs. Evans is slightly harsher with Sharpay, not letting her change her decision about hiring the Wildcats. Yet in Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure, Mr. Evans seems to have realised that his daughter is not equipped for the real world and needs to get a grip on reality and get a job, so she doesn’t just spend all day shopping and singing to herself. Mr. Evans rightly says that Sharpay should only get a month in New York City to prove herself, otherwise she’ll have to come back and work at the country club, but it is quite a harsh move from him after seeing his character in High School Musical 2. Mrs. Evans’ big contribution to this story is setting Sharpay up with Peyton. Peyton is told to keep an eye on Sharpay whilst in the city, and this seems to a big factor in Mr. Evans choosing to let her go. The two later come to New York to watch their daughter in A Girl’s Best Friend, showing they are proud and supportive of their daughter’s dream.
Lucas Grabeel also makes a brief reappearance as Sharpay’s twin brother Ryan in Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure. His reappearance is only in the extended edition of the film, and is shown during the end credits. It is only about two minutes long as well, so any big fans of Ryan will have likely be very disappointed with this cameo. I also found it to be a bit awkward, like the two didn’t know how to speak to each other anymore. Whether that was to do with the actors, I’m not sure, but it could’ve just been that Ryan and Sharpay were at different stages of their lives, and perhaps hadn’t seen each other much, so it was all quite polite. But it was good to hear that Ryan was involved in a touring musical production.
MUSIC
Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure is technically a musical, as it features four original songs, however, these are used for performances and audition pieces, although they do still relate to Sharpay’s emotions and inner thoughts at that point in the story.
The first song we see being performed by Sharpay is “I’m Gonna Shine”, as part of the local fundraiser. This is the very first sequence in the movie, so we get to see Sharpay doing what she does best right from the start. It showcases Sharpay’s impressive level of self-confidence, and how she is determined to be a star. To be honest, I didn’t particularly like any of the songs in Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure, but “I’m Gonna Shine” was the best one for me. This song was written by Randy Petersen, Kevin Quinn, and Tim Heintz, and was performed by Ashley Tisdale as Sharpay Evans. Petersen and Quinn had both written songs for the High School Musical films prior to this.
Following on from that, Sharpay then performs the song “My Boi and Me” as part of her audition with Boi for his part in the musical A Girl’s Best Friend. It is a cheesy, musical theatre number, and that was probably the point because this in-movie musical definitely seems very cheesy! I don’t like this song at all, and I find it odd that, in an audition for a dog’s part, the song chosen very much showcases the owner’s singing ability. It’s another showy piece from Sharpay, and there isn’t any need for it, apart from the fact Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure is a musical and is all about Sharpay. “My Boi and Me” was written by Matthew Tishler and Amy Powers, and was performed by Tisdale.
Because this song was an audition piece, another version of this song follows soon after, as it is performed, as “My Girl and Me”, with the word “Boi” just being substituted for “girl”, by Roger and his dog, Countess. It isn’t improved on at all in this reprise, and actually, it sounds auto-tuned, which is very off-putting. “My Girl and Me” was not performed by Bradley Steven Perry, despite him being cast as Roger. It was sung by Shawn Molko.
The remaining two original songs don’t appear until close to the end of the film. One of these is “New York’s Best Kept Secret”, which was a rehearsal piece that Sharpay performed with Boi to train him up for the show. On this occasion, Peyton recorded this private rehearsal, which was handy, because after the musical gets put on hold when Amber Lee quits, and they need a new lead, Peyton just shows this rehearsal to the director, the writer, and the cast and crew. They are so impressed they immediately hire Sharpay in the lead role. This is a slower, heartfelt song that Sharpay wouldn’t normally perform; she likes big, loud, busy, jazzy numbers usually. The song is all about how the singer just needs to be discovered so she can show everyone how good she is, mimicking Sharpay’s story at this point in the film. “New York’s Best Kept Secret” was performed by Tisdale, and was written by David Lawrence and Faye Greenberg. Lawrence and Greenberg had both written songs for the High School Musical franchise previously.
The final song is used for the final sequence of Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure, as it is the opening number of A Girl’s Best Friend, with Sharpay performing the lead for the first time in front of a live studio audience. This number is “The Rest of My Life”, and it is a wholly positive song, about how the character is so excited to have finally achieved her dream on Broadway and hopes that the success will continue forever. The song was performed by Tisdale, and written by Matthew Tishler and Amy Powers. This song wasn’t terrible.
Matthew Tishler and Amy Powers had not written any music for the High School Musical trilogy; however, they went on to write songs for Disney Channel after this. Tishler contributed songs to ZOMBIES (2018) and ZOMBIES 4: Dawn of the Vampires (2025), as well as for other movies like Descendants 3 (2019) and series like High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (2019-23). Tishler and Powers both wrote the songs “Best Summer Ever” for Teen Beach 2 (2015) and “I Got My Scream On” for Girl vs. Monster (2012).
There are three other songs that appear on the soundtrack, although these are not original songs unique to this film. Two are playing during montages. In the first montage, of Sharpay and Peyton walking around New York City as he shows her around, a cover of the song “Walking on Sunshine” is used. This song was originally written by Kimberly Rew for the British rock band Katrina and the Waves’ 1983 album. In Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure, it was performed by pop duo Aly & AJ, who were signed to Disney’s recording label at the time, but also had acting careers on the channel, such as in the DCOM Cow Belles (2006).
The other montage is when Countess and Boi run off from the theatre so they can go on a date in the city together, which is…random. This song is a cover of Justin Bieber’s “Baby”, originally written by Justin Bieber himself; Ludacris, who was a featured artist on the original track; Christina Milian; The-Dream; and Christopher Stewart, and was released as the lead single on his 2010 album My World 2.0. Lucas Grabeel performs it here.
The end credits song is actually “Fabulous (Remix)”, which is, as you’d expect, a remix of Sharpay’s big number in High School Musical 2, therefore, it is performed by both Ashley Tisdale and Lucas Grabeel again. “Fabulous” was originally written by David Lawrence and Greenberg. “Fabulous” also appears in a jazzy instrumental form at other times during the film, just to really highlight that this is Sharpay’s story.
All eight of these songs feature on the official soundtrack for the movie, which was released on 19th April 2011. Some editions of the soundtrack also contained bonus tracks which are all songs performed by Sharpay in the previous High School Musical films.
Another High School Musical song to make an appearance in Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure is “What I’ve Been Looking For”, which Ryan and Sharpay sing to each other when he arrives at her apartment to congratulate her on her Broadway success. This is in the extended scene that plays during the end credits. It was performed by Tisdale and Grabeel, and the song was written by Andy Dodd and Adam Watts
There is also an instrumental song that appears during the montage of Sharpay doing Amber Lee’s household chores. This is “The Can-Can”, originally composed by Offenbach. The version used in Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure was not credited.
The composer of the score for Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure was George S. Clinton. He had previously worked on the music for a few other Disney films, including The Santa Clause 2 (2002) and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006), and was the composer for the DCOM ZOMBIES (2018). Clinton then co-composed the score with Amit May Cohen for the 2020 and 2022 ZOMBIES sequels.
PRODUCTION
After the success of High School Musical, the two sequels came thick and fast. We got a High School Musical every year from 2006 to 2008. It wasn’t a long time that the movie franchise was actually around for, but it had captured the attentions of people all around the world over those three short years. However, without anything new coming soon after High School Musical 3: Senior Year, the popularity of the franchise wasn’t going to sustain itself.
So, it may’ve come as a surprise to some, including me, when rumours started going around in early 2010 that a new High School Musical movie was coming, that was going to be all about Sharpay’s life after East High. Production on the film was confirmed around June that year, as the main cast were announced, along with the name of the director, and the names of the songwriters who would be writing new original songs for the film. The announcement also stated that the film’s Disney Channel premiere was expected in 2011[2].
There was some discussion about whether Vanessa Hudgens would be making a cameo as Gabriella Montez in Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure as this new the film was being talked about, especially after Hudgens stated that she would be interested in making a cameo in the film if she was asked[3]. It is unclear if Hudgens didn’t appear in the film because she wasn’t asked or was simply too busy, which was what Tisdale stated later on. For whatever reason, Lucas Grabeel was the former Wildcat to make a cameo appearance as Sharpay’s brother Ryan, which I think makes much more sense than Gabriella showing up. Hudgens did make an appearance at the official “pink carpet” premiere of the movie though, on 6th April 2011, as did another High School Musical cast member: Zac Efron.
Michael Lembeck was confirmed as the director of Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure, having already had some experience working for Disney, directing The Santa Clause 2 and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, for example. He had also recently directed the family-friendly comedy film Tooth Fairy (2010), which starred Dwayne Johnson, around this time. Lembeck also directed some episodes of the sitcom Friends (1994-2004) prior to this, even winning an Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for the episode “The One After the Superbowl”. More recently, Lembeck directed the majority of the episodes of the Freeform sitcom Baby Daddy (2012-17).
Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure was written by Robert Horn. Around this time, Horn was known for his work on the musical 13, which debuted on Broadway in 2008, and for co-writing the Disney Channel movie The Suite Life Movie (2011). Horn went on to co-write the Disney Channel musical Teen Beach Movie (2013) and contributed to the story of its sequel. Horn has since co-written further stage musical adaptations, such as Tootsie, where he won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical with David Yazbek in 2019, and Hercules, adapted from Disney Animation’s 1997 film, with Kwame Kwei-Armah, which opened on London’s West End in the summer of 2025. Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure is obviously also based on the characters from High School Musical, created by Peter Barsocchini.
Despite Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure being set in both Albuquerque and then New York City, neither area was used for the filming of this movie. Instead, production was actually based in Toronto, Canada. Many Disney Channel movies have been filmed in Canada, including the original Descendants trilogy. It wasn’t even the first Disney movie to have been filmed in Canada, but that is partially set in New York City. One other is Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004), which starred Lindsay Lohan and Megan Fox[4]. It has been said that Sharpay’s house was the same mansion to appear in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, as the home of mean girl, Carla Santini. However, I cannot find any conclusive evidence of this, as there are few shots of the mansion in Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure and they don’t show much. If it is the same mansion, then it is situated in the city of Mississauga in the Greater Toronto Area.
Another filming location is the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres, this being the main theatre space where Sharpay and Boi spend much of their time auditioning and rehearsing for the musical. We get to see both the interior of the theatre, and the exterior, decorated with posters and adverting for A Girl’s Best Friend. Outside of that, the rest of Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure is mostly filmed on the streets, or inside apartment sets, made to be bright pink and “fabulous” to match Sharpay and her pink, sparkly costumes.
The production designer on Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure was Mark Hofeling, the production designer on the previous High School Musical films. The costume designer here was Natalie Bronfman, although Tom McKinley is specifically credited as the costumer designer for Sharpay. McKinley had been the costumer designer for High School Musical and High School Musical 2, where he would’ve worked with Ashley Tisdale previously, but also worked on various other DCOMs including Den Brother (2010) and Cloud 9 (2014).
RECEPTION
Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on 19th April 2011. This was the first opportunity for viewers to watch this High School Musical spin-off.
To really entice people into purchasing this film, which many would’ve been expecting a later Disney Channel premiere for, the film was released with extras like bloopers and behind-the-scenes footage. There was even a 3-Disc Combo Pack Superset available to buy, which included Blu-Ray, DVD, and Digital copies, plus a pink clutch purse, though how many people actually used this purse for anything useful, I have no idea.
Those who hadn’t fallen for Disney’s tactic of trying to coax you into buying an exclusive DVD by not premiering the movie on Disney Channel first had to wait over a month for the film to finally come to their screens. It premiered on Disney Channel in the US on 22nd May 2011, officially being branded as a Disney Channel Original Movie, despite its earlier DVD release. It later came to international Disney Channels in the following months.
The viewing figures for Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure’s Disney Channel premiere has been widely reported to be 4.9 million, far below the premiere figures for either High School Musical, with 7.7 million, or High School Musical 2, with 17.2 million, making it seem like there was little appetite for this new High School Musical movie. When High School Musical 3: Senior Year premiered on the channel in 2010, almost a year and a half after its theatrical release, it only saw about 4 million viewers tune in, so this adds to that theory.
Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure was the joint lowest-watched DCOM premiere of the year, matching November 2011’s Geek Charming. Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension, the big summertime premiere in August, did the best of any DCOM in 2011, being watched by 7.6 million viewers. Ashley Tisdale voiced Candace in that DCOM. Bradley Steven Perry’s other DCOM release of 2011 was Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! It was viewed by 6.9 million viewers. Disney Channel Original Movies’ viewership was very up and down over this period though, likely as High School Musical’s success, which had brought additional viewers to the Disney Channel across the globe, wore off.
The film received a nomination for director Michael Lembeck at the Directors’ Guild Awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children’s Programs. Lembeck was recognised alongside the directors of two other DCOMs: Geek Charming’s Jeffrey Hornaday, and Lemonade Mouth’s Patricia Riggen. The award actually went to Amy Schatz for the HBO Family show A Child’s Garden of Poetry.
In terms of reviews, Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure received mixed reviews, as many DCOMs do, with viewers split over whether this film was good or bad. The music also received a mixed response, as some loved it, and others didn’t think it matched up to the High School Musical films, with the songs being largely forgettable.
For those who liked Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure, they liked how Sharpay had been humanised in this story. She does have a heart-to-heart with Peyton about how she shouldn’t lose sight of herself when achieving her dreams, whereas in the High School Musical trilogy, Sharpay mostly just stepped on other people to get what she wanted, with mixed results, so I can understand this comment. Others said the film was entertaining and a lot of fun, whilst it was admitted that it was generally aimed at specifically Sharpay fans, High School Musical fans, or tweens and teens. They’d enjoy the movie even if others didn’t, but it wasn’t seen to be as watchable by anyone outside of that.
There were other critiques on the film as well, such as comments stating that the time had come for Disney to finally move on from High School Musical, especially given that Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure was not a worthy addition to the High School Musical franchise or its legacy. Many teens who had loved High School Musical had already moved on, to more mature franchises like The Twilight Saga (2008-12) and Glee (2009-15) by this point and therefore didn’t need to see Sharpay anymore. Others said the story was predictable. Even I could guess what was going to happen and normally if I enjoy a film enough, I won’t guess ahead, so I can agree with this comment. Some missed the other High School Musical cast members, with many wanting Ryan to have had a proper role in this film, because him and Sharpay had always been together in the previous films. The dog storyline, where Countess and Boi fall in love, was also criticised as being unnecessary. Viewers had other ideas of how the story could’ve been improved, for example, seeing Sharpay try out for numerous auditions and not getting the roles, or even having Sharpay go up against Tiara Gold back at East High, the film we may’ve been expecting when it was announced that Sharpay was getting her own film. I think either plot could’ve worked out.
My biggest problem with Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure wasn’t actually the story, although I wasn’t a fan of having the two dogs fall in love because it didn’t add anything. My biggest issue with this film was Sharpay herself. She’d changed and wasn’t much like her character from High School Musical at all. Other reviewers also mentioned this.
To emphasise this point, there are a few specific scenes where I felt Sharpay wasn’t written well. Firstly, I find it quite strange that a girl who was so desperate to be on Broadway would’ve spent a year at home not doing anything. At the end of High School Musical 3: Senior Year, Sharpay had plans to go to the University of Albuquerque for acting classes, and was meant to be helping Ms. Darbus with the drama department at East High. I don’t think she necessarily would’ve stuck at these for very long, but instead, Sharpay would’ve been trying to get auditions and trying out for roles, not living at home, happy enough to just sing to her parents’ friends at local fundraisers.
Another is the point where Sharpay is sat on her luggage on the streets of New York, not doing anything. I believe that Sharpay would’ve been on the phone having a go at her friend who had booked the apartment for her and not checked that dogs were allowed, not just sat there looking sad, wondering what to do next. This would’ve made her still interesting to Peyton, so that interaction could’ve still happened. Sharpay would also never debase herself to being a PA regardless of the reason for it. She would’ve seen herself as equal to Amber Lee, and this could’ve led to an actual rivalry, not having Sharpay be the victim when Amber Lee ends up laughing about her. Sharpay never let herself be the victim.
Generally, I felt that Sharpay in Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure more closely resembled the ditzy heiress London Tipton in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, which Tisdale also starred in, as Maddie. This film even had a similar scene with a Murphy bed that exists in the episode “Poor Little Rich Girl”, where London has to live with Maddie for a bit, and Maddie has two Murphy beds in her room for space. I don’t think Sharpay would’ve been impressed with this bed she got in her studio apartment, but she wouldn’t have looked at it like it was an alien and she had no idea what it was. Basically, I felt Sharpay lacked a lot of that tough spirit she’d always had in High School Musical.
LEGACY
Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure was a spin-off to Disney Channel’s insanely popular High School Musical franchise, becoming the fourth instalment after the trilogy of films.
This meant that High School Musical became only the second Disney Channel Original Movie franchise to reach four movies, after Halloweentown. It was the first Disney Channel musical franchise to hit four films, with the likes of Descendants and ZOMBIES following in their footsteps in recent years, taking note of the popularity of musical DCOMs, and finding new ways to take their stories beyond an initial trilogy. Descendants even has a fifth film coming, and there is apparently a fifth ZOMBIES movie in the works too.
Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure also became the only DCOM to be released direct-to-DVD before premiering on Disney Channel; this was never replicated. To be honest, I find it quite strange that Disney Channel would choose to release a DCOM on DVD prior to its release on their channel, and the fact that the Extended Edition, with that end credits scene, only exists on the Disney Channel showings of the film is even stranger.
In terms of whether Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure added much to the High School Musical franchise, the answer to that is easy: not really. It might have been popular with fans, particularly younger fans, but since this movie wasn’t followed up with any other spin-offs relating to what happened to the rest of the Wildcats after they graduated, it can’t have been seen as a big money-maker for Disney, otherwise you know they would’ve done more.
Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure may’ve kept the character going just a little bit longer, but it wasn’t really an addition to the franchise and didn’t span much, if anything, of a legacy on its own, other than a few items of merchandise, like clothing and accessories.
FINAL THOUGHTS
We’d all expected there to be a fourth movie in the High School Musical franchise.
I’d always thought we’d see something from the freshmen who made their first appearances in High School Musical 3: Senior Year, and that maybe Sharpay would be included, as she was one of the popular characters from the franchise, and her story had been left open for a return to East High. So, a film with Sharpay was a likely option.
However, I did not expect to see Sharpay trying to get on Broadway being the focus of this fourth instalment of the franchise. Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure is not a great film, and I certainly don’t think it is worthy of having any link to High School Musical. If they’d changed the character name and put someone else in the main role, it still would’ve worked as a DCOM and might’ve worked out better with a new character.
Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure was nothing particularly special, and seemed to only be made to appeal to fans who wanted more Sharpay. It didn’t inspire any further films, and this was where we left Sharpay’s story. It seemed that High School Musical’s fame was not going to be revived in movie form, and this film would likely end up being forgotten by the majority of High School Musical fans, even if it did allow us to finally see Sharpay achieve her big dream of starring on Broadway.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Disney Channel, “Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure: Austin Cam’, DVDExtrasAndMore YouTube Channel, 4th August 2011.
[2] Credit: Nellie Andreeva, ‘Disney Channel Taps Director, Cast For HSM Offshoot ‘Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure’’, Deadline.com, 8th June 2010.
[3] Credit: The Irish Examiner, ‘Hudgens looking forward to ‘High School Musical’ spin-off’, IrishExaminer.com, 19th April 2010.
[4] Credit: Becca Rhodes, ‘Visit Carla Santini’s House from ‘Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen’’, TheFilmTripper.com, date unknown.
The Disney Purist 