1. BACKGROUND
2. PLOT
3. CHARACTERS & CAST
4. MUSIC
5. PRODUCTION
6. RECEPTION
7. LEGACY
8. FINAL THOUGHTS
9. REFERENCES

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 19^th 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 6^th 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 19^th 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 22^nd 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 2^nd 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, 4^th August 2011.

[2] Credit: Nellie Andreeva, ‘Disney Channel Taps Director, Cast For HSM Offshoot ‘Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure’’, Deadline.com, 8^th June 2010.

[3] Credit: The Irish Examiner, ‘Hudgens looking forward to ‘High School Musical’ spin-off’, IrishExaminer.com, 19^th April 2010.

[4] Credit: Becca Rhodes, ‘Visit Carla Santini’s House from ‘Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen’’, TheFilmTripper.com, date unknown.

1. BACKGROUND
2. PLOT
3. CHARACTERS & CAST
4. MUSIC
5. PRODUCTION
6. RECEPTION
7. LEGACY
8. FINAL THOUGHTS
9. REFERENCES

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 21^st 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 24^th 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 7^th October, and the Los Angeles one being held at the Galen Center on 16^th 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 24^th to 26^th 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 4^th 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 5^th and 7^th 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 12^th, 14^th, and 16^th 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, 28^th 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, 27^th 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, 27^th October 2008.

[7] Credit: BBC, ‘Disney is reviving High School Musical with a whole new cast’, BBC.co.uk, 2^nd March 2016.

1. BACKGROUND
2. PLOT
3. CHARACTERS & CAST
4. MUSIC
5. PRODUCTION
6. RECEPTION
7. LEGACY
8. FINAL THOUGHTS
9. REFERENCES

BACKGROUND

High School Musical took the world by storm in 2006.

So, what happens after a movie is shown to be a huge success? Do you just leave it alone, not wanting to push your luck? No, of course not! You make a sequel obviously!

If you were watching Disney Channel during the mid-2000s, it was almost impossible to get away from High School Musical as clips and music videos from the movie filled up any available space between its scheduling. During the summer of 2007, these spaces were filled with promotion for High School Musical 2. Disney Channel knew that High School Musical 2 was going to be highly anticipated after the first film, so they had to whip viewers up into a frenzy, to ensure the second film outshone the first.  

Sequels aren’t always very popular, as fans can think that the original film is so pure that a sequel will only ruin the film’s legacy and change how you feel about that first movie that you love. Others like sequels because they give an opportunity to improve upon the world where the first film is set, and in many cases, more minor characters get a chance to shine in a sequel. But sometimes a sequel is simply a rehash of an original and nobody wants that, because that is lazy filmmaking, although sometimes it can still be entertaining.

In my case, I actually prefer a lot of sequels over their originals; not all the time, but quite a lot of the time. I think I like the increased production budget that comes with most sequels so the overall look of a sequel is just better. That was definitely the case with High School Musical 2 and is a big reason why I like this sequel so much more than the first film. I also like how other characters outside of Troy and Gabriella get some screen time in High School Musical 2, particularly Ryan who finally sees his sister for the villain she can be.

I hadn’t avoided the interest in High School Musical 2, and threw myself right into it, getting excited for the sequel, which only came to UK screens a month after the US premiere, much better than the nine-month gap between the US premiere and UK premiere of High School Musical. It still missed summer, as we were back to school by that point, but it didn’t matter. High School Musical 2 made us all feel summery regardless of when we watched it. I also got the soundtrack for the film on CD prior to seeing the film. I got it in a Tesco supermarket, and my sister asked why I’d want to spoil the film for myself by listening to the CD obsessively over the summer.

Easy. I had to be prepared. It was that much of an event in my life.

PLOT

High School Musical 2 begins back at East High, on the last day of school before summer. Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez, along with Sharpay, Ryan, Chad and Taylor, and their other classmates are counting down the minutes, the seconds even, until summer break, while their homeroom and drama teacher Ms. Darbus drones on about…something. The bell finally rings and it is officially summer! 

As the gang walk through the corridors, they discuss their summer plans. Sharpay offers Kelsi a job as the pianist at her family’s country club, and starts wondering how she can use the summer to get Troy to be interested in her. Gabriella has regularly moved every summer, so Sharpay has hope that Gabriella is about to leave again, but Gabriella tells Sharpay she is staying in Albuquerque until she graduates. Bad luck, Sharpay! Gabriella thought Sharpay was starting to warm up to her after helping her with the school musical; obviously not! The others are hoping to find jobs over the break, because with college coming up, they’re looking to earn some extra cash and have something to put on their college applications, however, Gabriella and Taylor have both been struggling to find anything. Troy tells Gabriella not to worry as he has plenty of plans for their summer together. He then gives her a necklace with a “T” on it, as in Troy. They are about to kiss but are interrupted by a student wanting Troy to sign his yearbook… After that, they head home.

The next day, Troy has been playing basketball with his friends when he gets a phone call. It is from Mr. Fulton, the manager of the Lava Springs Country Club, offering Troy a job. He accepts, also saying that he has plenty of friends who would be great employees for the summer, especially Gabriella.

At Lava Springs, Sharpay and Ryan have arrived in Sharpay’s bright pink car and are greeted by Mr. Fulton. Lava Springs is owned by Sharpay and Ryan’s family, and it turns out Sharpay asked Mr. Fulton to hire Troy. She is happy to hear that Troy has been hired, and starts thinking about “her” summer talent show that the country club put on for members and employees alike. The prize for winning is called the Star Dazzle Award, something Sharpay – and Ryan – have won every year for years. This year won’t be any different.

Sharpay heads down to the pool and meets up with her girls, Jackie, Lea and Emma, also known as the Sharpettes. Sharpay starts to moan about how her drama club was infiltrated by other kids at school, but Ryan reminds her it’s summer now, so she can forget all that. Sharpay soon gets into the summer spirit when she sees Troy arrive at the club, however, she spots him waving at someone. Following that wave, Sharpay is horrified to see Gabriella here, working as the lifeguard, as well as all the others from East High. In her shock, Sharpay falls into the pool, and is “saved” by Gabriella. Sharpay then heads directly to Mr. Fulton, and asks why he hired them. Mr. Fulton was told to hire Troy whatever it takes; I guess it took the hiring of all the Wildcats! Mr. Fulton said the board did clear the hiring of them, so Sharpay goes directly to her mother, who is on the board, interrupting her yoga class. Sharpay’s mother refuses to fire them and doesn’t see the problem, thinking this is a good thing to have their classmates here. Not getting anywhere, Sharpay tells Mr. Fulton to get the others to quit. But not Troy, obviously.

In the kitchen, Mr. Fulton gives everyone their jobs. Zeke is assisting the chef, and Martha and Jason are also kitchen help; Taylor is head of member activities; and Chad and Troy have been hired as waiters, and occasional golf caddies. Kelsi is the pianist. Mr. Fulton warns them all that he runs on the “three strikes and you’re out” rule. Just at that exact moment, Gabriella comes into the kitchen for lunch three minutes earlier than she should do. Mr. Fulton says he’ll overlook this one timing issue, but no others. Suddenly, jobs don’t sound much fun, do they? Troy tries to encourage the others, saying summer will be great.

Later that day, Troy and Gabriella have a romantic picnic on the golf course, which Sharpay and Ryan watch over. Sharpay asks maintenance to turn on the sprinklers to ruin their date, but instead of ruining it, Troy and Gabriella simply run through the sprinklers together. They are then caught by Mr. Fulton, who tells them that is strike one.

The next day, Gabriella and Troy arrive at Lava Springs and hear Kelsi playing something new on the piano. They go over to her, and she tells them she’s been working on something for the employee talent show, hoping Troy and Gabriella will sing the leads. Troy doesn’t want to focus on singing anymore now that the school musical is over, but Gabriella convinces him to try out the song. The others hear their performance and join in, deciding this has to be their talent show number.  All this has been heard by Ryan, who reports back to Sharpay. Sharpay has a plan to stop the employees from ruining her talent show and taking her Star Dazzle Award; it all starts with Troy.

That afternoon, Sharpay has Troy and Chad caddy for her family as they head out on the golf course together. Troy and Chad therefore meet Mr. and Mrs. Evans. Midway through, Troy asks Gabriella on a date, a poolside picnic, for later that evening. She accepts, shortly before Sharpay whisks Troy back to the golf course on her golf cart. Sharpay gets Troy to take a shot, and Mr. Evans is impressed. Sharpay asks her father to consider Troy for a scholarship to the University of Albuquerque, since Troy has talent in both basketball and golf. Troy isn’t so sure, but appreciates the support, being concerned about college.

After golf, Troy and Chad are rightly exhausted. Troy is then told he will be dining as a guest of the Evans’, giving Troy suitable attire to wear. Jason and Chad will be the waiters for the evening. This makes Troy uncomfortable, but he feels he has no choice. Also joining them for dinner are board members at the university, who want to talk to Troy about his college plans. They feel he would be a suitable candidate for a scholarship. To top it all off, Sharpay also reveals Troy’s singing abilities. Putting him on the spot, Sharpay says Troy should sing with her sometime. Troy has no choice but to say he will, before making his excuses and leaving the table. He apologises to Gabriella for being late for their date. He just needs to change out of the suit and he’ll be ready. Gabriella tries not to let it bother her.

At this point, Troy is led away by Mr. Fulton to a dark room and placed in a chair. He is then subjected to an over-the-top performance by Sharpay, her brother, and the Sharpettes. This is going to be her talent show number, but she wants Troy to sing in place of Ryan. Troy doesn’t want to sing with her, not liking how excessive all Sharpay’s performances are. This makes Sharpay think that if she tones it down, Troy will want to sing with her. He doesn’t, and makes a hasty exit! This is actually an extended scene that did not appear in the original film premiere. In place of this, it moves right to Troy getting back to Gabriella at the pool. Back at the pool, Troy immediately jumps right in. Gabriella tells Troy he’s not supposed to be in the pool as it is for members only. He then pretends to drown, forcing Gabriella to jump in and “save” him. They swim around for a bit – before getting caught by Mr. Fulton. He orders them out of the pool. That’s strike two.

Back at home, Troy talks to his dad about how strange dinner felt with his friends being his waiters. Coach Bolton tells Troy not to worry about it, because college is important and sometimes you need to focus on yourself. Troy isn’t so sure about that.

The next day, Troy is called to Mr. Fulton, who promotes Troy to a golf assistant. He is given membership privileges, his own locker, golf caddy, and fancy clothes to match this new job title. Troy is also placed in charge of the kids’ golf lessons. At his first class, Troy doesn’t do a whole lot of teaching, until Sharpay arrives. He sees Sharpay is really bad and teaches her a good golf swing. Sharpay asks Troy to sing with her in the talent show, knowing it would be a good opportunity to impress people from the college to help his scholarship chances. Troy reluctantly agrees to sing with her. Meanwhile, Taylor and Gabriella have seen all this play out and are suspicious of Sharpay’s intentions. It also becomes clear that Sharpay actually plays golf really well, so was only pretending to be bad to get Troy’s attention. Troy then sees Mr. Evans with some basketball players from the university. They invite Troy to practice at the university and have lunch with them. During lunch, Chad continues to be the waiter. Seeing Troy with basketball players, Chad hopes to be introduced, however, Troy only calls Chad back to hand his order back: he ordered Swiss on his burger, don’t you know! Chad is furious and complains to Taylor and Gabriella about how weird Troy is being, not recognising him at all anymore.

Sharpay goes to Kelsi and tells her to transpose her talent show duet into Sharpay’s key as she will be singing it with Troy. Ryan overhears and asks Sharpay what he’s going to do in the talent show. She tells him to figure it out himself. Gabriella then goes to Troy who asks her to a movie that evening, after he’s done with practice at the university. Gabriella warns him to not forget who he is, which confuses Troy. He then sees Chad and the others who ask if the college players want to play basketball against them at the club. Troy says they wouldn’t want to do that and leaves with them. Troy also forgets the employee baseball game he promised to attend, alienating the Wildcats further.

Heading to the baseball game, Gabriella and Taylor see Ryan on his own. They invite him to the game, where Chad is surprised to see him there. Ryan is thinking about helping the employees with their talent show performance, but Chad tells him not to bother and just to focus on the baseball. When Ryan is proven to be a great baseball player, Chad comes round to the idea of performing, cementing Ryan as part of their group now. Meanwhile, Troy tries to call Gabriella during basketball practice but she doesn’t answer, as she is enjoying herself with the employees after the baseball game.

The next morning, Troy finds himself feeling like an outsider, as nobody is talking to him normally. Troy is then called over to rehearse with Sharpay for the talent show. He is stunned by her extravagant performance yet again and just can’t get into it. It’s too intense, but Troy feels he has no choice, especially now that he sees the employees rehearsing their own number without him. Sharpay sees this too, and accuses Ryan of trying to ruin the talent show for her. He ignores her, liking being with the employees more. Not liking how little control she has over her brother, Sharpay goes straight to Mr. Fulton and orders him to ban the employees from the talent show, as they’ll need to work that night. Mr. Fulton doesn’t want to do that, but delivers the news to Taylor, clearly uncomfortable with the position he’s been put in. She sympathises before breaking the news to everyone else. Gabriella immediately realises this is Sharpay’s doing and confronts her. She asks Sharpay why she is going to so much effort to ruin everyone’s summer. Sharpay thinks Gabriella is just sore because she has “won”. Gabriella doesn’t know what Sharpay is talking about, but knows this was either about Troy or the Star Dazzle Award, probably both. Gabriella then quits on the spot. Troy tries to change her mind, but she tells Troy he’s acting too differently now that he has a college scholarship on the line. This isn’t working for her.

At home, Troy talks to his father about how he’s been acting like a jerk, and that nobody is talking to him. His father doesn’t understand, only telling Troy to figure out what will make him be a better person. Troy has a lot to think about.

Back at work, Troy gets the cold shoulder from everyone, except Kelsi who shows him the memo stating that staff are banned from the talent show. Knowing this was at least partially his fault, Troy starts to fix everything. He tells Sharpay he’s an employee so he can’t sing with her anymore. Sharpay is annoyed, telling Troy he is basically a member so that doesn’t apply to him. Troy responds that he asked for his old waiting job back, so that isn’t the case now. He’d rather be a good person than spend all his time stepping on other people to fight for a university scholarship.

On the night of the talent show, Sharpay tells Ryan to get ready as their original number is back on. Ryan refuses to perform with her, putting Sharpay’s chances of winning the show at jeopardy. She can’t understand why nobody is doing what she says! Troy apologises to the Wildcats for his behaviour and for them not being allowed in the show. Chad and the others accept his apology. Ryan then says he doesn’t want his sister to be embarrassed on stage so asks Troy to sing with her. He goes to Sharpay and says he will sing, but only if the others are allowed to perform. She understands and agrees. Kelsi and Ryan say that Sharpay switched songs, so Troy is taken away to a last-minute rehearsal.

On stage, Troy is about to go on and asks Sharpay why she changed songs. She says she didn’t, and learns this was all part of Ryan’s plan. Sharpay won’t be performing with Troy tonight. Troy sings alone with Kelsi accompanying on the piano. He then hears Gabriella’s voice. Looking to the line of employees, he sees Gabriella and she walks to the stage. They sing together, and the employees join in too. Troy even invites Sharpay to join them. At the end of the song, Mr. Fulton is about to hand the Star Dazzle Award over to Sharpay, as this was technically her slot in the show, but Sharpay interrupts and hands it over to Ryan instead. Well, at least someone in the family won it, I suppose!

After the show, the Wildcats, with Ryan and Sharpay, walk through the golf course together with lanterns. Troy and Gabriella finally have their first kiss, and as they do, fireworks are set off. The sprinklers are also set off, shocking everyone, but they don’t care! At the end of summer, the employees are given a pool party for all their hard work. Ryan and Sharpay also join, and the movie ends with Troy and Gabriella jumping in the pool together.

CHARACTERS & CAST

After seeing their romance develop in High School Musical, if you thought things would be smooth sailing for Troy and Gabriella in High School Musical 2, you’d be wrong. Although they begin the movie with high hopes for their first summer together, everything goes badly for them when they arrive at the Lava Springs Country Club. Whilst Troy spends all his time with Sharpay, Sharpay’s parents, or with college people, Gabriella is left to wonder just who Troy really is, as he rejects his friends, breaks dates, and starts to believe his own self-importance. Eventually, everything gets too much for Gabriella and she leaves Lava Springs, signalling that her and Troy are better off apart, at least for the time being. This causes Troy to snap out of whatever college-obsessed trance he was in and comes to his senses, apologises to all his friends for being a jerk to them and reconciling with Gabriella in the usual way: with a romantic duet, written just for them. Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens reprised their roles as Troy and Gabriella in High School Musical 2.

Troy and Gabriella aren’t the only High School Musical pairing to have their dynamic change either, as twins Sharpay and Ryan also grow distant from each other over the course of this film. Sharpay has decided that this summer she will put all her focus on Troy and winning the Star Dazzle Award for another year running; that’s it. Ryan, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to like all these mind games that Sharpay likes to play and just wants to have a relaxing summer. He doesn’t hate the Wildcats being at Lava Springs like Sharpay does, but he wants to keep his sister happy. When he discovers that Sharpay has excluded him from her talent show performance in favour of Troy, it hurts and upsets Ryan. Luckily for him, Gabriella includes Ryan in their group, despite not being an employee, but still being a Wildcat. Here, he finds people that respect him and his worth, unlike his sister, helping them to create a show-stopping number for the talent show instead. When things fall apart for Sharpay, and Troy decides not to sing with her, Ryan stands strong and refuses to sing with Sharpay as her second-best alternative. Sharpay sees the errors of her ways and hands the Star Dazzle Award to her brother at the end of the show – and rightly so. Ashley Tisdale and Lucas Grabeel returned to play their roles of Sharpay and Ryan.

Sharpay is also joined in High School Musical 2 by a group of three girls, who are dubbed the Sharpettes. I guess I’m supposed to say these girls are Sharpay’s friends, except she doesn’t have friends; she has a posse. These girls, Jackie, Lea, and Emma, are there to sing back-up for Sharpay during her performances, as well as suck up to her, and make her feel like the most important person in the world. They don’t have much screen time to develop their own identities – and that’s probably the point.

Jackie was played by Tanya Chisholm, who might look familiar, thanks to her role as Kelly Wainwright in the Nickelodeon series Big Time Rush (2009-13) and its television movie Big Time Movie (2012). She was also recently cast as Jenna in Season 4 of Tyler Perry’s series Sistas (2019-present) and appeared as Holly in the Hallmark movie Dial S for Santa (2023). Lea was played by Kelli Baker, who is credited as being a dancer in the other two High School Musical films as. She was also a contestant on Season 4 of So You Think You Can Dance (2005-24). Baker is the daughter of High School Musical choreographer Bonnie Story. Emma was played by McCall Clark, who, shortly after High School Musical 2, appeared as Justine in The Adventures of Food Boy (2008), which starred Lucas Grabeel.

Taylor and Chad also return in High School Musical 2, this time as a couple. We don’t see Taylor and Chad spend all that much time together at Lava Springs, aside from lunchtimes, as they are kept very busy by their respective jobs at the club. They are also too busy worrying about their best friends, with Taylor warning Gabriella about Troy’s changing behaviour and Sharpay’s intense focus on him, and Chad trying to get Troy to see that he is isolating himself from his friends in place of getting a college scholarship. Because of Taylor’s warning to Gabriella, she stands up to Sharpay, and to some extent to Troy, not allowing herself to be walked over, and Chad’s words clearly affect Troy enough to get him to reconsider what is most important to him: his friends, or Sharpay and her promise of a college scholarship. Monique Coleman and Corbin Bleu were back as Taylor and Chad.

Alongside the main six High School Musical cast members, others have also returned from the first movie. Kelsi is one of those. In High School Musical 2, Sharpay has hired her to be their pianist in the club restaurant, although she finds the music she is told to play quite boring! So, in her spare time, she is of course, composing new music. Two of these songs are for the talent show, with the first originally being for Gabriella and Troy, until Sharpay gets wind of it and alters it to be for her and Troy. Kelsi then writes the second as a new secret duet for Gabriella and Troy. Olesya Rulin reprised her role as Kelsi here.

There are also three other characters that return: Zeke, Chad and Troy’s basketball teammate who likes to cook; Martha, the smart girl-turned-dancer; and Jason, another basketball player who is a little bit dim, but kind to everyone, even their teacher Ms. Darbus. In High School Musical 2, all three of them work in the kitchen, with varying levels of enthusiasm. Zeke is very excited to be working alongside an amazing chef, whereas Martha would rather be dancing, and Jason would rather not be washing dishes. Who can blame him! All three of them are part of the employees’ activities over the summer, like the pool party, and the talent show, and get slightly more screen time compared to the first film.

Chris Warren was cast as Zeke. Shortly after the end of the High School Musical films, Warren appeared as Xander in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009), before going on to be cast in various television series, including in the recurring role of Ty Hensdale in Seasons 3 and 4 of The Fosters (2013-16) on Freeform. Recently, he was cast as Hayden Moss in Tyler Perry’s comedy drama series Sistas (2019-present). Martha was played by Kaycee Stroh, who has had guest roles in various Disney shows like The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005-08), Andi Mack (2017-19), and The Disney Family Singalong (2020) since the end of High School Musical. Stroh was also in Season 7 of Celebrity Fit Club (2005-10). Ryne Sanborn was cast as Jason. Prior to High School Musical, he appeared in the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, which Kenny Ortega also happened to direct. After High School Musical, Sanborn was cast as Mike in The Adventures of Food Boy, before retiring from acting and pursuing other career paths, such as being an ice hockey player for the Utah Outliers.

Then, we have the adults. Mr. Fulton is the manager of the Lava Springs Country Club. Since Sharpay’s family own the resort, Mr. Fulton has become accustomed to taking orders from Sharpay herself. In the case of High School Musical 2, Mr. Fulton is tasked by Sharpay with hiring Troy Bolton. Sadly, his hiring of Troy was not “good enough” for Sharpay, because he had to hire all Troy’s friends to get him to consider a job at Lava Springs. This leads Sharpay to wanting Mr. Fulton to be so harsh on the others that they want to quit, so it can just be Troy at the club that summer. Mr. Fulton doesn’t seem to mind being strict, since most managers are, especially with younger employees, but he is pushed to breaking point by Sharpay when she insists he bans all the junior staffers from participating in the talent show simply because she’s scared she’ll lose the competition. Mr. Fulton clearly doesn’t want to do this, to the point that Taylor has to calm him down with a cup of tea! In the end, Mr. Fulton seems to have enjoyed working with the teenagers over the summer – and I’m sure he’s glad to be getting a break from the demands of Sharpay!

Mark L. Taylor was cast as Mr. Fulton. He may familiar to DCOM fans as he had previously played Hank Ogden, Eddie’s father, in Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off (2003), and was also the dad in The Other Me (2000). Outside of this, Taylor was cast as Don Forrester in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) and as Dr. Niles in Innerspace (1987).

Then, we have Mr. and Mrs. Evans. Vance Evans clearly adores his daughter, spoiling her and letting her get away with anything, even ordering staff around! He is also convinced by Sharpay to consider Troy for a college scholarship, without any sort of application or interview process. Troy only needs to keep Sharpay happy and he’d be offered it, which sounds very dodgy to me. I think it’s just easier for Vance to let Sharpay have what she wants so she doesn’t complain, because an angry Sharpay is not something anyone wants to deal with! Darby Evans, on the other hand, seems to be stricter with Sharpay, by not bowing to her demand of firing all her classmates from the club just because Sharpay doesn’t want them there. Darby seems to be closer to her son, Ryan, doing yoga classes with him, and appreciating his mellow attitude, which is the complete opposite of Sharpay.

Vance Evans was played by Robert Curtis Brown. He had previously been cast as Todd in Trading Places (1983), which starred Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd. He has also appeared as reporter Phil Sidleman in Bruce Almighty (2003); as Kyle van de Klok in Halloween II (2009); and as Peter in It’s Complicated (2009). In series, Robert Curtis Brown played Commander Andrew Pryce in early seasons of The Handmaid’s Tale (2017-25), going on to have a recurring role as Paul Montgomery in Seasons 4 and 5 of the drama series Station 19 (2018-24). For Disney Channel, he was also cast as Mark Kar, Zenon’s father, in the Disney Channel Original Movie Zenon: The Zequel (2001).

Darby Evans was played by Jessica Tuck. Prior to High School Musical 2, Tuck was cast as Brooke Anders in the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen film Billboard Dad (1998), before going on to star as Gillian Gray in the legal drama Judging Amy (1999-2005). Since High School Musical 2, Tuck has been cast in the recurring roles of Nan Flanagan in the HBO series True Blood (2008-14) for HBO, and Christine Francis in Seasons 3 and 4 of the Apple TV series For All Mankind (2019-present).

Finally, a few other cast members return to the High School Musical franchise for the sequel. One of these is Bart Johnson as Troy’s father. In High School Musical 2, Coach Bolton is there to listen to Troy’s worries as he fears that going after a college scholarship is making him a different person, and isolating him from his friends. Coach Bolton seems to think focusing on the scholarship is a perfectly fine thing to do, but Troy decides he’d rather salvage what’s left of summer with his friends, rather than spend it thinking about college. Mrs. Bolton also returns for a small scene towards the start of High School Musical 2, where she asks Troy, his father, and his friends to help her bring in the groceries from her car. Mrs. Bolton was played by Leslie Wing-Pomeroy, who played Mrs. Bolton in the first High School Musical, and was also cast as Dr. Goodwyn in a different 2006 DCOM: Return to Halloweentown. Alyson Reed also returned as Ms. Darbus very briefly in the opening sequence of the film, as she tries to keep her students’ attention during the last few minutes of school before summer break starts.

MUSIC

The High School Musical 2 soundtrack was released in the US on 14^th August 2007, with the CD coming to other countries around this date or even the day before, meaning many High School Musical fans were able to hear the music days, weeks, or even months before the sequel had come to their respective Disney Channels.

The soundtrack consists of eleven songs, ten of which feature in the original edit of the film, and one other, listed as a “bonus track”, was used in a deleted sequence, which was later included in the Extended Edition of the film.

In movie order, the first song we hear is “What Time Is It”, which is the song the gang sing as soon as the bell rings to signal the end of the school term and the start of summer break, only a few minutes after the film begins. It shows how excited they all are for summer, detailing their plans for it. It’s a perfect tune for anyone’s summer, with its bright and breezy feel. This is performed by the main cast of Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, and Zac Efron, who does sing all the vocals for Troy Bolton in this film after Drew Seeley was used as the vocalist in High School Musical. It was written by Matthew Gerrard and Robbie Nevil, who also wrote songs for the first movie.

After the setting of the sequel moves from East High School over to Lava Springs Country Club, a song that showcases Sharpay quickly hits the screen. This song is “Fabulous”, explaining how Sharpay wants everything to be perfect this summer and for everyone to understand just how important – and demanding – she is. I love “Fabulous”; it is my favourite song in the sequel, simply because hearing Sharpay talk about things like having towels imported from Turkey, and turkey imported from Maine, as essential parts of her summer vacation are just so funny! She also claims to have iced tea imported from England, despite the UK not being known for drinking iced tea, just hot tea. “Fabulous” is also used in its instrumental form during the End Credits, as some bloopers roll, and gets a regal composition as Sharpay’s father lands his helicopter on the golf course for a family round of golf. The song was performed by Tisdale and Grabeel as Sharpay and Ryan predominately, and written by returning composers David Lawrence and Faye Greenberg.

Next is another group song, performed by the East High gang as they start to stress that their summer jobs aren’t going to be quite as wonderful as they thought, after hearing how strict their manager Mr. Fulton is. Troy and Gabriella perform “Work This Out” as a way of convincing them all to stick together to make the summer great, with the rest of the group joining in by the end of it. This is my least favourite song in the film, although it does have a good beat. “Work This Out” is performed by Efron, Hudgens, Coleman, and Bleu, as Troy, Gabriella, Taylor, and Chad, as well as Chris Warren Jr., Olesya Rulin, Ryne Sanborn, and Kaycee Stroh as Zeke, Kelsi, Jason, and Martha. It was written by Randy Petersen and Kevin Quinn, who also wrote music for the first High School Musical film.

Following that is the expected Troy and Gabriella romantic duet. This song is “You Are the Music in Me”. In the film, it has been written by Kelsi specifically for the couple, so they can lead the employees’ performance at the Lava Springs Talent Show. Efron and Hudgens sing this song brilliantly, as does Rulin as Kelsi sings the opening few lines to encourage them both to sing it. “You Are the Music in Me” easily surpasses the Troy and Gabriella duets in High School Musical for me. This number also returns towards the end of High School Musical 2, as Troy and Gabriella have their first kiss – before being shocked by the sprinklers turning on to water the golf course that evening! “You Are the Music in Me” was written by Jamie Houston, who previously wrote “Breaking Free” for the first film.

 In the Extended Edition of High School Musical 2, the next song is “Humuhumunukunukuapua’a”. In this deleted scene, Troy is brought to an outdoor stage by Mr. Fulton to watch Sharpay, Ryan, and the Sharpettes perform this song, which is meant to be their talent show entry, although Sharpay is using her performance to try and convince Troy to replace Ryan as the prince in the song. The song title, “Humuhumunukunukuapua’a”, comes from the name given to Hawaii’s state fish, also known as the reef triggerfish. The song, though, states that this fish is actually a prince that a princess wants to ask the Gods to make human again. “Humuhumunukunukuapua’a” is performed by Tisdale and Grabeel. It is quite a random song. I wouldn’t say it’s bad, but it is such a strange song and performance, with lots of elaborate costumes, smoke, a fake volcano – and “fish noises” … It was written by David Lawrence and Faye Greenberg.

If you’re still following the story by this point, and “Humuhumunukunukuapua’a” hasn’t made you cringe so much you want to stop the film, the next song performed is much better. It is “I Don’t Dance”, performed by Corbin Bleu and Lucas Grabeel as Chad and Ryan. This takes place during the employee baseball game, as Chad tries to get Ryan to give up on creating a routine for the employees’ talent show, since Ryan has been kicked out of his sister’s performance, and Troy is too busy thinking about his future college. “I Don’t Dance” is quite jazzy and kind of hip-hop at times, suiting the frequent dance breaks. My only criticism is silly really, but for someone who apparently doesn’t want to dance, Chad certainly does a lot of choreography in this sequence, going head-to-head with Ryan at times. Perhaps the title should’ve been “I Don’t Dance – But If The Beat is Right Then Maybe I Will”. The song was written by Matthew Gerrard and Robbie Nevil.

After that, we get “You Are the Music in Me (Sharpay version)”, which is exactly as you’d expect it to be – Sharpay’s over-the-top, fast performance of a romantic song that was meant for Troy and Gabriella. She has changed the song to apparently keep the audience awake, but Troy is clearly uncomfortable with Sharpay’s version of the song, having to keep up with her dancing and special effects. Although I generally like Sharpay’s songs, in this case, the original version with Troy and Gabriella is much better. It was written by Jamie Houston and performed by Tisdale and Efron.

Then, we get to the emotional crux of High School Musical 2, as we wonder with Gabriella’s heartfelt number whether her and Troy are over for good. It is the perfect song for this scene, as Gabriella dramatically quits Lava Springs and walks away from her job and Troy, and I love it. “Gotta Go My Own Way” was sung mostly by Hudgens, although Efron as Troy does sing a portion of the song as he tries to convince Gabriella to stay at the country club. It was written by Andy Dodd and Adam Watts.

Troy follows this up with his own emotional breakthrough, but instead of being sad and disappointed like Gabriella, Troy is pumped up and ready to do what’s right with “Bet on It”, running all over the golf course, jumping onto rocks, and splashing water as he sings. “Bet on It” looks great on screen and signals a turning point for Troy. It was performed by Efron and written by Antonina Armato and Tim James. The duo have also written songs for other Disney projects including for the series Hannah Montana (2006-11) and Shake It Up (2010-13) as well as original movies, like some of the Descendants and ZOMBIES movies.

At the Lava Springs Talent Show towards the end of the film, we get a final duet from Troy and Gabriella, as they sing “Everyday” together after Gabriella returns to the club and the two reconcile. It’s a very sweet song that regularly makes me cry, and it’s great to see Troy and Gabriella back together after their little tiff. I also like seeing how all the gang – including Sharpay – come together at the end. “Everyday” was mostly performed by Hudgens and Efron and was written by Jamie Houston.

The final song in High School Musical 2 is another group number, reminiscent of “We’re All in This Together”, as the Wildcats once again realise they are a strong team when they work together. This is “All for One”, which is performed during the end of summer pool party, put on for the employees at Lava Springs. It’s a brilliant way of wrapping up the film, with something so upbeat and party-like. “All for One” was performed by the entire cast. It was written by Matthew Gerrard and Robbie Nevil.

There are also a couple of additional songs that can be heard in High School Musical 2. One of this is a throwback to the first film, as an instrumental version of “Get’cha Head in the Game” is used as Troy’s ringtone early on in the film when he gets the call from Mr. Fulton about getting a summer job at Lava Springs. Another is the song that briefly plays as Sharpay drives into Lava Springs with Ryan in her bright pink car. This song is “You Got It” and was sung by none other than Lucas Grabeel.

The score for High School Musical 2 was composed by David Lawrence, returning after working on High School Musical. Lawrence went on to compose the music for various other Disney Channel Original Movies, including StarStruck (2010), Freaky Friday (2018), and Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! (2011).

The High School Musical 2 soundtrack became one of the best-selling albums of 2007, although it would seem that Josh Groban’s album Noël beat the Disney movie out for top spot that year in the US, despite selling almost 3 million copies there. This means that High School Musical 2’s soundtrack did not beat out its predecessor in terms of sales. There were around one million less copies sold than the High School Musical soundtrack of 2006.

However, the soundtrack was still successful in other ways, for example, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and staying there for four consecutive weeks, and hitting the top spot in the US Billboard Soundtrack Albums chart. The album also topped the charts in other countries, such as the UK Compilation Albums chart; the Italian Compilation Albums chart; and the Billboard Canadian Albums chart. Many songs also made it into the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including “You Are the Music in Me” and “What Time Is It”. This was a slight underperformance from the success of the first movie’s soundtrack though. However, High School Musical 2 did win the Favorite Soundtrack award at the American Music Awards, after going up against two other very worthy musical film soundtracks: that of Hairspray (2007) and Dreamgirls (2006).

PRODUCTION

The cast of High School Musical had been busy after the premiere of High School Musical in January 2006. They’d had numerous public appearances, interviews, photoshoots, new work opportunities with Disney, like albums and TV projects. Monique Coleman had even been a contestant on Dancing with the Stars (2005-present) back in 2006 in their third season, coming in fourth place. It was an intense rollercoaster of emotions, I’m sure.

But they weren’t about to get any less busy, because they had a sequel to film. Shortly after the US tour of High School Musical: The Concert had finished, running from December 2006 to the end of January 2007, the cast were all back together for the sequel filming to take place in Spring 2007. Only one of the six main cast members did not participate in the concert tour and that was Zac Efron, but don’t worry; he wasn’t being lazy, as he’d been filming the musical Hairspray from September to December 2006.

Despite the tiring schedule, the cast all returned with plenty of energy and enthusiasm, wanting to outdo themselves by making High School Musical 2 even better than the original film. Peter Barsocchini returned to pen the sequel after writing the original film, and Kenny Ortega was also back, in the director’s chair, as were his choreographers, Bonnie Story and Charles Klapow, who had upped the ante with the dancing this time, meaning the cast, although still in shape from the tour, had quite a difficult time during their few weeks of dance rehearsals before filming began!

There were some fun moments to come from rehearsals though. One of these was that, in a similar way that basketball had been incorporated into the choreography of “Get’cha Head in the Game” from the first film, this time baseball was being used in the dance steps for the song “I Don’t Dance”. Another thing to come from rehearsals was that the cast sat in a long line, making a “massage train”, during one of their breaks. Ortega then came into the room and thought he could do something with that for the song “What Time Is It”. He got all the cast whilst still sitting to move to the left and the right, creating a wave. Ortega had them all stand up and do it again, and that is how that specific moment came to be in “What Time Is It”, during the point the whole group are dancing in the school corridor.

For High School Musical 2, the cast and crew returned to East High School in Salt Lake City in Utah for part of filming. The cast enjoyed seeing the cafeteria still decorated from when they’d filmed High School Musical there almost two years before, and liked finding their desks and lockers again. The school is only used for the first ten minutes of so of the film, as the gang sit in Ms. Darbus’ classroom, waiting for summer to start and then head out across the school, into the corridors and the cafeteria, performing “What Time Is It”. They also welcomed visitors to this set, including children from the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and the Governor of Utah at the time, Jon Huntsman Jr., who brought his young daughter to meet the cast as she was a big fan of the first film.

The other main filming location used for High School Musical 2, to be the setting of Lava Springs Country Club, was actually a real country club. Entrada at Snow Canyon Country Club first opened in St. George, Utah in 1996, consisting of an 18-hole golf course, set across 710 acres of desert landscape. It later opened a Sport and Fitness Center in December 2000, before opening its main clubhouse in May 2005. It became Lava Springs Country Club for High School Musical 2 in Spring 2007, with filming apparently completed by May. The cast and crew stayed at The Inn at Entrada, the on-site hotel, during filming and many residents of the country club were extras in the film[1]. The majority of High School Musical 2 takes place at Lava Springs Country Club, meaning that many areas of the country club were used, including the golf course and the pool.

Speaking of the pool, for the final pool party scene and the song “All for One”, Ortega wanted to film every cast member jumping into the pool at the country club for the last shot of High School Musical 2. However, Monique Coleman did not know how to swim prior to filming and had to take lessons in preparation. When it came time for her to jump into the pool, she sweetly asked if Corbin Bleu could jump in with her to make it easier for her. Sadly, after all that effort, her and Bleu’s jump into the pool didn’t even make it into the final edit of the sequel; we only see Troy and Gabriella jump in[2]!

Many behind-the-scenes moments and cast interviews were recorded as part of a mini-series titled The Road to High School Musical 2, which aired on Disney Channel throughout the summer of 2007 to promote the movie to its regular viewers. These were only short episodes, roughly three to five minutes long, that followed the cast through dance rehearsals into filming, and they aired in between the channel’s regular programming.  

Another way Disney Channel cleverly promoted the sequel was to encourage viewers to be a part of making the film. This was done via online polls, asking viewers to select just what they wanted to see in High School Musical 2. Some questions that were put to them were what sandwich they wanted Troy and Gabriella to eat at their picnic; which Hannah Montana star should make a cameo in “All for One”; and what should Chad’s shirt in “What Time Is It” say. The winners of these polls were peanut butter and jelly; Miley Cyrus, which is why she can be seen in that final sequence; and “I majored in vacation”. It would seem the polls were open on the US Disney Channel website throughout January 2007.

RECEPTION

Just over a year and a half after the premiere of High School Musical, High School Musical 2 premiered in the summer of 2007, perfect timing considering the sequel’s summer setting.

Unlike the original film, High School Musical 2 did receive an official world premiere, and it was held at the AMC Theatres in Downtown Disney at the Disneyland resort in Anaheim, California on 14^th August 2007, attended by the cast. This was the first time a movie made for Disney Channel had premiered at the resort[3].

For everyone else, they had to wait for the television premiere in their respective countries. Obviously, the US Disney Channel premiered High School Musical 2 first, on 17^th August 2007. It would seem that the movie was then distributed out to other countries within the next month or two. For example, in the UK, High School Musical 2 premiered on Disney Channel on 21^st September 2007. I guess it would’ve been seen as unfair to leave viewers waiting too long between the premiere and the international broadcast date, especially as High School Musical 2 was the most-anticipated DCOM premiere of all time.

High School Musical 2 premiered alongside a telecast hosted by the main cast members and Kenny Ortega. The US premiere of the sequel was also followed by a preview of the new animated series Phineas and Ferb (2007-15), which Ashley Tisdale voiced a character for, and a new episode of Hannah Montana (2006-11), starring the Jonas Brothers. The premiere date was followed by a re-run on 18^th August, with an interactive viewer chat with the stars, and a singalong edition premiered the following night[4].

All the attention and hype was worth it though and it paid off in a big way for Disney Channel in terms of viewing figures because High School Musical 2 became the most-watched premiere of a Disney Channel Original Movie of all time. 17.2 million viewers watched High School Musical 2 on its premiere, almost ten million more than the 7.7 million viewers who watched High School Musical on its first showing. High School Musical 2’s viewing figures have never been equalled on Disney Channel. The closest DCOM premiere of any was Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie in 2009, which gained the attention of 11.4 million viewers. There is then another drop compared to third place Camp Rock (2008) with 8.9 million. There were three other DCOMs released in 2007 as well, with the first being Jump In!, starring Corbin Bleu, which got 8.2 million interested viewers. Twitches Too in October ended with a total of 6.9 million viewers. Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board, the channel’s June premiere, didn’t even reach 2 million viewers apparently.

High School Musical 2’s premiere beat even more records. It became the most-watched basic cable telecast of all time, beating the 16 million who watched ESPN’s Monday Night Football game on 23^rd September 2006. It would appear that High School Musical 2 has not been beaten in this specific record in the years since. It was also the most-watched TV telecast ever in the Kids 6-11 demographic, with 6.1 million, and the most-watched entertainment telecast ever in Tweens 9-14, with 5.9 million[5].

For High School Musical fans, High School Musical 2 was a hit. The sequel had more energy, it had catchier music, and a better production value, by taking the movie away from the school setting and placing it somewhere fairly exotic– at least in the minds of tweens and teens – in a fancy country club. It was also appreciated by viewers that it highlighted some real teen issues, like college plans and the anxiety that comes with that. Others felt that some of the “secondary” cast members, particularly those who aren’t Sharpay, Troy, or Gabriella, got to have more opportunity to shine in High School Musical 2, especially Ryan, who actually got to develop his own personality here, instead of just being his sister’s lapdog. Ironically, she actually had her own real lapdog this time, her Yorkshire Terrier, Boi, who was director Kenny Ortega’s dog, Manly. It is debated though whether High School Musical 2 was considered better than the first movie, with fans being divided over this, even though most agree they like both of them. I most definitely prefer High School Musical 2 to High School Musical, basically forgetting the first one even exists now, because the other two films are so much better in my opinion.

However, High School Musical 2 wasn’t only limited to being watched by its most dedicated fans, so negative comments remained. Some commented on the fact this movie shouldn’t have even had “high school” in the title, since the sequel is not set in the school for the most part; we only see East High School at the very start of the film for around ten minutes. Others said Disney Channel was clearly milking the High School Musical franchise, and were unable to come up with an original story or decent choreography or staging. That seems a little unfair, although one review did make me reconsider the uniqueness of the story. Someone rightly pointed out that the story of High School Musical 2 does seem to have some similarities to the episodes of hit teen sitcom Saved by the Bell (1989-93). I believe this must have been referring to the set of six episodes from Season 3 that take place at a country club, where all the gang – except Lisa – get jobs. I must say, despite being a huge fan of Saved by the Bell, I hadn’t realised this – and it is a good point. But it doesn’t stop me liking High School Musical 2 because of some potential “borrowing” of storylines.

High School Musical had a fair amount of awards success for a television movie, and High School Musical 2 was no different, although it did not measure up as well. For example, the first movie had won two Primetime Creative Emmy Awards, for Outstanding Choreography and Outstanding Children’s Program. Although still nominated in these categories, High School Musical 2 actually lost out to So You Think You Can Dance in the Choreography category, and to a Nick News Special and the HBO show Classical Baby (I’m Grown Up Now) for Outstanding Children’s Program. Kenny Ortega also won the award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children’s Programs at the Directors’ Guild of America Awards for High School Musical, but was only nominated for the sequel; the award was won by another regular DCOM director, Paul Hoen, for Jump In!

But it certainly was not all doom and gloom for High School Musical 2. Ortega did win the ALMA award for Outstanding Director of a Made-for-TV movie, and the film won the ASTRA award for Favourite International Program over in Australia, as well as the Choice TV: Movie award at the Teen Choice Awards. Plus, Zac Efron proved that his star was still on the rise as he won for Fave Movie Star at the Nickelodeon Australian Kids’ Choice Awards.

LEGACY

After the success of High School Musical, many new experiences and live shows were created to capitalise on the famous franchise. Some of these experiences were not ready until after High School Musical 2 had already premiered.

One of these was High School Musical: The Ice Tour, which was, as you might expect, an ice-skating show where performers came out to dance along to songs from High School Musical, with High School Musical 2 also being included in this show, since it had just premiered. The Ice Tour originally toured the US from 31^st August 2007 to 25^th May 2008. The show also toured South America in 2007 and 2008, even heading to other continents to hit countries like Australia, the UK, and Spain in 2008 and 2009. I did actually see this in the UK and it was pretty good. I think we still have the glittery hats we purchased there. It would seem in later tour dates of High School Musical: The Ice Tour, a pre-show featuring some songs from the third film was added. Although I can find clips of the ice show online featuring songs from the first two films, I cannot find a video of this “pre-show”.

Following on from the stage production of High School Musical, a stage production of the sequel, titled High School Musical 2: On Stage, was also produced. It would seem that the plot is basically the same as the sequel movie. A new character named Jack Scott was added, though he may simply be an altered version of Jason from the movies. The Sharpettes’ names were also changed, to Violet, Blossom, and Peaches here, and the song “Humuhumunukunukuapua’a” was included into the main story, whereas it was only included as an extended version of High School Musical 2. It would seem that High School Musical 2: On Stage was licensed out for use in both school and professional productions. A UK tour of the show took place from Summer 2009, ending its run in February 2010. The US professional premiere took place in Atlanta in November 2008[6].

Continuing High School Musical’s presence at the Disney Parks, a new pep rally was added, this time promoting High School Musical 2. Replacing High School Musical Pep Rally was High School Musical 2: School’s Out! The concept was still the same, with dancers and singers performing some of the biggest hit songs from the movie. In this case, the songs included “What Time Is It”, “Work This Out”, mixed with “Get’cha Head in the Game” from the first film; “I Don’t Dance”, and “All for One”. It came to Disney-MGM Studios, now Disney’s Hollywood Studios, at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida in August 2007, the same time as it appeared at Disney California Adventure Park at the Disneyland Resort. It appears that Disneyland Paris also got this same pep rally, however, they may’ve been a few months behind in terms of switching between the first movie’s pep rally and the sequel’s one. In the US parks, High School Musical 2: School’s Out! ended in September 2008, ready to be replaced with a new pep rally the next month. In Paris, the High School Musical 2 pep rally ran throughout 2008, not being replaced until Spring 2009.

Also at the Disney Parks, some of the cast of High School Musical 2 made an appearance during the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade in December 2007. Here, Vanessa Hudgens, Corbin Bleu, Ashley Tisdale, and Monique Coleman recorded a performance of the sequel’s song “What Time Is It” in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle at the Disneyland Resort. Olesya Rulin and Kaylee Stroh were there too. However, this was not just any performance of “What Time Is It” because instead of saying “summertime”, the answer to the question “what time is it?” was of course “Christmastime”. The opportunity was also taken for Disney to promote the High School Musical 2 pep rally at their US parks.

Disney continued to produce new editions of High School Musical 2, like dance along and singalong editions, to air on Disney Channel, novels, video games, and merchandise featuring the High School Musical brand after the premiere of High School Musical 2.

Finally, the biggest announcement to come from High School Musical 2 was the confirmation of a third film. In 2008, we would be getting High School Musical 3, and the plan was for this “threequel” to have a theatrical release, not just a Disney Channel premiere.

FINAL THOUGHTS

High School Musical 2 has a way of evoking a summery atmosphere, because of its setting and its lively soundtrack, regardless of what time of year you’re watching it. It also makes some nostalgic for their own school summer breaks, when watching Disney Channel, rightly or wrongly, may’ve made up a majority of their summer activities! Many think that High School Musical 2 easily outperformed the original film, as I do.

There was no stopping the High School Musical hype train, and with a third film in the works that would be coming to cinemas, it felt like High School Musical 3 was going to be a moment for movie history, as Disney Channel broke out from our television screens into major cinema. Ok, that’s a bit much, but it was still a big moment to see the Wildcats head to the big screen, in a similar way that Lizzie McGuire had in The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003).

We were going to be expecting even more from this third film now, and Disney had no choice but to accept the challenge and not disappoint us.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Entrada at Snow Canyon, ‘Club History’, GolfEntrada.com, date unknown.

[2] Credit: Disney Channel, ‘The Road to High School Musical 2’, Kayla Ybanez YouTube Channel Playlist, June 2007.

[3] Credit: Ernio Hernandez, ‘Disneyland Hosts World Premiere of ‘”High School Musical 2” Aug. 14’, Playbill.com, 14^th August 2007.

[4] Credit: Kimberly Nordyke, ‘TCA: Disney sings along with “High School Musical 2”’, HollywoodReporter.com, 16^th July 2007.

[5] Credit: Ernio Hernandez, ‘Most Likely to Succeed: “High School Musical 2” Draws Record-Breaking 17.2 Million’, Playbill.com, 20^th August 2007.

[6] Credit: Adam Hetrick, ‘Homecoming: Disney’s High School Musical 2 Premieres in Atlanta Nov. 6’, Playbill.com, 6^th November 2008.