I got hooked with this musical film after watching it on DVD. It got the superb songs, actors, and plot! It will be good if one of our local theater productions would be interested to stage this… like Footloose the Musical (2005) which was staged by Jay-R and Iya Villania. I just can’t wait for High School Musical 2 to be released next year!
High School Musical is an Emmy Award-Winning Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) with choreography by Kenny Ortega, Charles Klapow, and Bonnie Story. The film tells the story of two students, Troy, who is the captain of his school’s basketball team, and Gabriella, a shy new student. Together, they try out for the lead parts in their school musical. Despite some students’ attempts to thwart their dreams, Troy and Gabriella persist and inspire others along the way.
PLOT
The Party
Troy and Gabriella, without knowing each other, both go to a ‘young adults’ New Year’s Eve Party while on vacation. They both get chosen for a karaoke contest and “rock the house” with their song, “Start of Something New”. Afterwards, Troy and Gabriella introduce themselves to each other, and then part company, but not before promising to call each other later (each having the other’s number and picture on their cell phone).
The Transfer Student
Later, due to her mother’s job being transferred to Albuquerque, New Mexico, Gabriella starts school at East High, not knowing that Troy also attends that same school. Troy is also the captain of the East High Wildcats basketball team, which is coached by Mr. Bolton, Troy’s father.
Welcoming the students back from their holiday vacation, Ms. Darbus, their homeroom teacher and the drama teacher, encourages the students to sign up for the Winter Musical auditions, announcing that there would be singles auditions for the supporting roles and pairs auditions for the two leads. After class, Troy finds Gabriella after seeing her in class. It soon becomes evident that the two (and particularly Troy) both wish to sign up or, at least, hope that the other will do so first.
The Audition
However, Troy sneaks out of doing basketball practice during free period, evading both his friend Chad and his father, to go watch the auditions. Gabriella shows up for the audition as well. Though late for the auditions, the two sing a song from the musical and both get callbacks for the show.
Gabriella and Troy begin to feel the pressure that their stubborn associates place on them. As Gabriella is a super-braniac and Troy is the star basketball player, neither is considered a singer. Although moving to a new school has given Gabriella a chance to start over before anyone can label her a math geek, Troy struggles to get his dad to accept him singing in the musical.
Troy gets in trouble with his dad and his friends when he directs his attention towards the musical instead of basketball, especially since the Wildcats are gearing up for their big championship game in two weeks against their rival (West High). Similarly, the scholastic decathlon team begs Gabriella to focus on their upcoming competition.
In addition, the dynamic duo Ryan and Sharpay Evans, who have always starred in the school musicals, are furious. Sharpay and Ryan refuse to have any competition, and will do what they can to stop Troy and Gabriella from stealing ‘their’ parts in ‘their’ show.
The Callbacks
Sharpay and Ryan have just finished performing their song, “Bop To the Top” with only a few people in the audience. Ms. Darbus calls for Troy and Gabriella, but unfortunately, as they are returning from the basketball game and the scholastic decathlon, they are not there yet. Less than 20 seconds later, they arrive, but Ms. Darbus coldly informs them that they are too late. The basketball and decathlon teams follow not far behind Troy and Gabriella. Everyone who was watching the basketball game and the decathlon competition fill the auditorium to watch Troy and Gabriella. Ms. Darbus is forced to let them sing, having seen such an excellent display of ‘showbiz’ and determination from Troy, Kelsi, and Gabriella.
At first, Gabriella gets stage fright, but Troy reminds her to be who she wants to be. They perform the song “Breaking Free”, leaving the crowd, including Ms. Darbus, cheering uncontrollably. Even Troy’s dad and Gabriella’s mom watch the song and are visibly proud. Everyone realizes that Troy and Gabriella are meant to sing together.
The End
The Wildcats return to the gym, where the lights are working again, and they win the championship with a game-winning shot from Troy, giving a final game score of 68-67. While the Wildcats are celebrating, Gabriella comes in and tells Troy that her team won the decathlon. Filled with joy, Gabriella and Troy are just about to share a romantic kiss when they are interrupted by Chad, coming to give Troy the game ball. They try again but are interrupted by Taylor who was asked out by Chad.
Sharpay then comes up to Gabriella to congratulate her, telling her to “break a leg,” which scares Gabriella until Sharpay tells her that that means “good luck” in theatre lingo. Everyone realizes that people should be able to do what they’re truly passionate about, and not just stay in the stereotypes given to them by others. With this new philosophy, the whole school decides that they should support each other, singing and dancing in the final song, “We’re All in This Together.”
After the credits roll, Sharpay is seen in the gym, complimenting Zeke’s cookies, and they both move off camera as Zeke says the final movie line: “I might even bake you a crème brûlée!”
CAST
- Zac Efron as Troy Bolton
- Vanessa Anne Hudgens as Gabriella Montez
- Ashley Tisdale as Sharpay Evans
- Lucas Grabeel as Ryan Evans
- Alyson Reed as Ms. Darbus
- Corbin Bleu as Chad Danforth
- Monique Coleman as Taylor McKessie
- Olesya Rulin as Kelsi Neilsen
- Chris Warren Jr. as Zeke Baylor
- Bart Johnson as Coach Jack Bolton
- Ryne Sanborn as Jason Cross
- Socorro Herrera as Mrs. Montez
- Joey Miyashima as Principal Dave Matsui
Main Characters
Troy Bolton
Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) is the captain of the Wildcats basketball team and his father is the coach. Troy has a magnificent voice but doesn’t know about his talent until he sings in front of a crowd at a New Years Eve with Gabriella. Later on, when Gabriella attends his school, Troy decides to try out for the school musical with her. They prepare the song Breaking Free with the composer Kelsei Nielsen, and win the roles of Minnie and Arnold.
Sharpay Evans
Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) is an egotistic girl hooked on doing anything to get what she wants. In the movie she is the most known in the school, with the nickname “Ice Queen”. Sharpay is head of the drama club and seems somewhat envious of Gabriella. At the beginning of the movie it appears that she likes Troy; however, Zeke has a crush on her, much to Sharpay’s obvious displeasure. She ends up being the understudy for Gabriella for the Winter Musical. Sharpay proudly flaunts the fact that she and her brother have starred in seventeen of the school’s productions, a position that no one has threatened except Gabriella.
Ryan Evans
Ryan Evans (Lucas Grabeel) is mostly pushed to the side to let Sharpay into the picture. Ryan is not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. He can often be very ditzy at times and is the nicer of the two. In the movie, not many details about this character are revealed, but one can conclude he is extremely flamboyant. He also goes along with Sharpay’s plans, because he doesn’t really know what to do without her. It can be concluded also that, aside from Sharpay, he has no other friends and is visibly intimidated by the jock crowd. (Sharpay cuts through the group, but Ryan goes around, he avoids eye-contact with Chad, and is more upset that the ‘Jocks rule most of the student body, but if Troy makes it to the auditions, then they’ve conquered the entire student body’ than Sharpay is about them making it to the callbacks)
Chad Danforth
Chad Danforth (Corbin Bleu) is Troy’s best friend and member of the Wildcats basketball team. From the start he’s a little selfish and isn’t very supportive of the ‘singing thing’ because he wants to win the upcoming big game more then wanting to help his friend. But then he comes to see that singing is something that Troy truly enjoys and so Chad throws his support to his best friend’s audition endeavour.
Taylor McKessie
Taylor McKessie (Monique Coleman) is the leader of the school scholary/science club. She befriended Gabriella when she came to the school and convinced her to join the scholastic club. While she at first tried to stop Gabriella from singing, she eventually ended up supporting Gabriella.
Minor Characters
Ms. Darbus
Ms. Darbus (Alyson Reed) is the harsh drama teacher at East High. Her nemesis is Coach Bolton, and she will only ease up on talented singers. Her lack of knowledge for sports is prominent (she doesn’t seem to understand the difference between a basket and a touchdown). She likes to pronounce ‘musical’ with a flourish, particularly emphasising the last syllable.
Coach Bolton
Coach Bolton (Bart Johnson) is the Wildcats’ coach and Troy’s dad. He is a former champion basketball player, and, like everyone else, expects the same thing of his son. His nemesis is Ms. Darbus.
Kelsi Nielsen
Kelsi “Playmaker” Nielsen (Olesya Rulin) who receives her nickname from Troy, is the pianist for the Twinkle Town musical, and is the composer of the songs “What I’ve Been Lookin’ For” and “Breaking Free.” Kelsi is not the most confident person as noted by her reaction to Sharpay’s comment that Kelsi’s knowledge about musicals is not very large. Kelsi is different from most of her classmates in that she cares very little for the traditional high-school hierarchy (i.e., she does what she does-playing the piano and composing musicals-simply for the love of doing it, rather than to “fit in.”) It is this character trait that makes her a natural ally to Troy and Gabriella-initially their only one, in fact-as they attempt to audition for the musical, defying the stereotypes of their respective peer groups, not to mention the vehement objections of Ms. Darbus and the Evans twins. Kelsi is of great assistance to Troy and Gabriella by playing the piano for them while they practiced for the auditions. Near the end of the movie, during the Wildcats’ victory celebration in the gym, Kelsi has a stereotype-defying “Cinderella moment” of her own when-having traded her top hat and black tie for a bright red halter top and thus revealing herself to be one of the most beautiful girls in school-she triumphantly sinks a basket with the game ball, given to her by Troy as a “thank-you” for her help and support.
Zeke Baylor
Zeke (Chris Warren Jr) is a member of the Wildcats Basketball team. He is interested in baking (revealed during Stick to the Status Quo), and at the end of the movie Sharpay starts to like him for his excellent skills – and cookies .We’re not sure if it will last though.
Martha Cox
Martha has a solo in “Stick To The Status Quo” and appears in the finale. If you look closely, you can also see her in a few scenes with the scholastic decathalon team.
