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High School Musical

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High School Musical
File:Highschoolmusicalposter123.jpg
The main cast of High School Musical
Directed byKenny Ortega
Written byPeter Barsocchini
Produced byDon Schain
StarringZac Efron
Vanessa Anne Hudgens
Ashley Tisdale
Lucas Grabeel
Corbin Bleu
Monique Coleman
CinematographyGordon Lonsdale
Edited bySeth Flaum
Music byGreg Cham
Roy Cham
Andy Dodd
Faye Greenberg
Jamie Houston
David Lawrence
Adam Watts
Distributed byDisney Channel
Release dates
January 20, 2006
Running time
93 min.
CountryUnited States of America
LanguageEnglish
Budget$5 million (est.)

High School Musical is an Emmy Award-Winning Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) with choreography by Kenny Ortega, Charles Klapow, and Bonnie Story. Along with Edit:Undo it is one of two musicals premiering in 2006 about high school decisions. 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 who excels in mathematical fields. 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.


Troy and Gabriella, at first complete strangers, both go to a 'young adults' New Year's Eve Party while on vacation. They both get chosen for a karaoke contest and receive much acclaim for their pair 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).

Plot

Template:Spoiler

The Transfer Student

A week 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 the 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 result of Ms. Darbus's very (un)welcoming and harsh note on the homeroom students just before was the detention of numerous students for a cell phone spree in the middle of class, some of them being Sharpay, Ryan, Gabriella, Taylor McKessie, Chad Danforth and Troy. Detention is assigned after school, consequently at the same time of Troy and Chad's basketball practice, which brings Coach Bolton and Ms. Darbus at bay for a continuing dispute with the principal. The issue gives the students enough time to converse during detention, including Gabriella's impromptu initiation into the Scholastic Decathlon Club by the captain, Taylor, who discovers by a hidden plot of Sharpay and Ryan that Gabriella is a capable 'Einsteinette,' as Ryan coined her. Sharpay's plan is executed in order to 'help' Gabriella become acquainted with the school before she or Troy get a chance to foil hers and Ryan's hopes of being the stars of the winter musical.

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, apparently for the same reason, not knowing that either was going to secretly show up and see each other. They are just in time to watch Sharpay and Ryan Evans, the coed sibling superstars of the drama class at school, audition. After Ms. Darbus approves their lead role audition and is about to leave for the end of free period, Gabriella deliberately decides she wants to sing, as well as Troy. Though late for the auditions and they are rejected a chance by the teacher, the two sing the same song Ryan and Sharpay sang ("What I've Been Looking For") with the piano music of the bashful composer Kelsi Nielsen. Not knowing that Ms. Darbus was actually listening to them sing, she gives both of them parts in the final auditions for the musical.

Gabriella and Troy begin to feel the pressure that their stubborn associates place on them. As Gabriella is considered the stereotypical super-braniac at previous schools, fearing the students at East High will view her the same way, and Troy is the star basketball player and team captain, 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 his singing in the musical, part of the reason being that Bolton and Darbus always had conflicting arguments about the importance of fine arts and sports.

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).

In addition, the dynamic duo Ryan and Sharpay, 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 ravine between especially Sharpay and Gabriella deepens with an accident in the school cafeteria while the other students, confronted with mixed feelings for the sudden switcheroo in the ordinary status quo. It is revealed that Zeke, one of Troy and Chad's jock friends from drama class and basketball, loves to bake, while a brainiac desires dance and a skater dude confesses he plays the cello--in formal attire. Gabriella consults with Taylor to describe what she should do to confess to Sharpay, though Taylor has trouble relating with her friend, and Chad is angrily and anxiously accusing him of throwing the entire school off the ranked balance to make them believe they can do things that he claims, 'isn't theirs.' In the meantime, Troy and Gabriella endeavor to squeeze in all the time they can donate to rush in between school hours to rehearse their callback song with Kelsi, never revealing their secrecy to the coach, basketball team and others. Everybody at East High had already know what happened to Troy and Gabriella.

The Plan

Chad (Troy's best frend on the basketball team) decides that in order to keep Gabriella and Troy in their places, and for the school to gain glory at the championships, Troy and Gabriella must not audition for the musical. He teams up with Taylor McKessie and the Scholastic Decathlon Club, and they meanly trick Gabriella into thinking that Troy doesn't want to sing with her. The basketball team meets Troy in the locker room and relentlessly nag him until he says that Gabriella and "the singing thing" mean nothing to him. With the help of a laptop hooked to a connection in the boys' locker room where the rally was taking place, they send the recording of what Troy said to Taylor who shows it to Gabriella. Deeply hurt, Gabriella tells a clueless Troy that she too doesn't want to sing. After that, she continually avoids him in school. Taylor and Chad realize that they have made a big mistake and that they hurt their friends for their own selfish desires. Chad confronts Troy, disclosing the ongoing plot about trying to separate him and Gabriella and also tells him why Gabriella is not talking to him anymore. He finally acts like a friend by telling Troy that no matter what he does, he will always support him. At the same time, Taylor and the Scholastic Decathlon team are trying to persuade Gabriella that what Troy said days before wasn't the truth, but she doesn't believe them. Troy, now knowing the real solution, goes to Gabriella's house. After briefly talking with her mom, he slips into the backyard to Gabriella's balcony to convince her that he still wants to sing in the musical and sings a couple of lines from the reprise of "Start of Something New." She gives in and accepts the offer for the audition, and both of them, with the newfound support of the jocks and the decathlon club, resume solo and pair rehearsals with Kelsi.

The Other Plan

Things progress smoothly with singing for the auditions until Sharpay and Ryan figure out Gabriella's and Troy's competition schedules (both on Friday at 3:30) have to match with the time of the musical callbacks in order to shut them out of qualification completely. Ms. Darbus agrees unknowingly, changing the time of the callbacks to everyone's dismay. This begins the enforcement of a new plan launched by Troy. When Gabriella and the brainiacs were supposedly busy with the Decathlon, Taylor found the opportune time to send a viral code to the electrical box that was wired to the scoreboard of the gym, causing the board and the overhead lights to malfunction. Right after, Taylor sends the same virus to a flask at a desk nearby full of chemicals to overflow. By this time, both the decathlon competitors and the basketball players have been ordered to make an orderly exit, and Troy and Gabriella are hurrying to the auditorium.

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 Mr. Bolton and Mrs. Montez watch the song backstage and are visibly proud. Everyone realizes that Troy and Gabriella are meant to sing together as Troy kisses her lightly on the cheek.

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 kiss when they are interrupted by Chad, coming to give Troy the game ball. They try again but are interrupted by an excited Taylor, who was asked out by Chad.

Sharpay then comes up to Gabriella to congratulate her for beating her out, informing her that she can serve as an understudy if she misses something or two, telling her to "break a leg," which scares Gabriella until Sharpay tells her that that means "good luck" in theatre lingo. Everyone finds an even more suitable place in the student chain, as they are no longer judged by stereotypes and Kelsi gets a new guyfriend, Jason Cross. 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," which Sharpay hugging Zeke with bubbling excitement and possibly a new love interest. Template:Endspoiler

Release Dates

  • The movie premiered on the Disney Channel in the U.S.A. and on the Family Channel in Canada on Friday January 20, 2006.
  • The movie premiered on Disney Channel Asia on Sunday, June 25, 2006 (with record ratings in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore) after its success in other countries.
  • It was dubbed into Spanish and Portuguese and premiered in Brazil on Sunday, July 30, 2006 and in Latin America on Sunday, August 6, 2006. The songs remained in their original English versions.
  • The movie premiered on Disney Channel Germany on Saturday, September 2, 2006 at 6.30 pm.
  • The movie premiered on Disney Channel Sweden and Denmark on Friday, September 8, 2006 at 7pm.
  • The movie will premiere on Disney Channel UK on Friday, September 22, 2006 at 6pm.
  • The movie will premiere on Disney Channel Italy on Saturday, September 30, 2006.
  • The movie will premiere on Disney Channel Portugal on Saturday, September 30, 2006.
  • The movie will premiere on Terrestrial TV on BBC One (UK) on Boxing Day
  • The movie will premiere on Disney Channel Taiwan in October 2006.

Cast

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 party 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 Kelsi Nielsen, and win the roles of Minnie and Arnold. He has a crush on Gabriella.

Gabriella Montez

Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Anne Hudgens) is the shy and brainy new student at East High. She originally meets Troy Bolton at a Ski Lodge on New Years. It is there she realizes her love for singing, previously only being 'The Freaky Math Girl'. She had previously been in church choir, but when soloing, "looked at all the people staring at her and next thing she knew she was looking at the ceiling. End of solo career." Sharpay and Ryan find out that she has won numerous Scholastic Decathlons and get her to join the Scholastic Decathlon by showing an article about Gabriella to Taylor (the leader of the scholastic decatholon) so that they can get her to focus on that rather than the musical. She and Troy, against all odds, audition for the Winter musical and win the roles that they auditioned for. She has a crush on Troy.

Sharpay Evans

Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) is an egotistic girl hooked on doing anything to get what she wants (she successfully gets Mrs. Darbus to change the date of the callbacks so that it conflicts with both Troy's basketball game and Gabriella's scholastic decatholon). In the movie she is the most known in the school, with the nickname "Ice Princess" and is rumored to spend her holidays shopping for mirrors, which given her inflated ego is very likely to be true. 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 (quite literally a hopeless crush); 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 been threatened by except Gabriella. At the end we find out that maybe Sharpay is a decent girl after all, just a little spoiled... until she acts rudely again. Then we find out that some things never change. On the other hand, in a scene shown after the credits she shows signs of liking Zeke, so at least in Zeke's eyes there may be hope for her after all.

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 couldn't read "GO DRAMA CLUB!"). 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. He has a possible crush on Taylor, evidenced by the fact that he practically asked her out.

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, by means both foul and fair, convinced her to join the scholastic club. While she at first tried to stop Gabriella from singing, she eventually ended up supporting Gabriella. Evidently she has a crush on Chad, although if she did she hid it well for most of the movie, or it may have developed while the Wildcats and science club were working to get Troy and Gabriella to the callbacks. At any rate she was certainly thrilled when Chad asked her out at the end of the movie.

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 composer of the Twinkle Town musical, which includes 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 practice 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, 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.

Jason Cross

Jason (Ryne Sanborn) is also a player in the Wildcats team and eventual love interest for Kelsi.

Martha Cox

Martha has a solo in "Stick To The Status Quo" (the only girl with one other than Sharpay) and appears in the finale. If you look closely, you can also see her in a few scenes with the scholastic decathlon team.

DVDs

High School Musical was released on DVD on May 23 2006. Entitled High School Musical: Encore Edition, the DVD includes both original and sing-along versions. The DVD broke sales records when 1.2 million copies were sold in its first six days making it the fastest-selling television movie of all time.[1] It is, however, the second DCOM on DVD to be certified Platinum in DVD sales. The first is The Cheetah Girls. A 2-Disc Special Edition, entitled High School Musical: Remix, will be released to DVD on December 5, 2006.[2]

The High School Musical DVD was also released in Australia on July 12 2006 through Walt Disney.

Bonus features

  • Learning the Moves featurette led by director/choreographer Kenny Ortega ("Bop to the Top")
  • Never-before-seen music video "I Can't Take My Eyes off of You"
  • "We're All in This Together" music video
  • The Making of High School Musical

DVD chapters

  1. Opening Titles
  2. Back to School
  3. "Get your Head in the Game"
  4. Auditions
  5. "What I've Been Looking For" (Reprise)
  6. "Stick to the Status Quo"
  7. A Private Conversation
  8. Interventions
  9. The Truth Is Revealed
  10. Working Together
  11. "We're Breakin' Free"
  12. "We're All In This Together"

Charting

Billboard also has Top DVD Sales which High School Musical has charted on.

U.S. Billboard Top DVD Sales
Week 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10
Position
1
2
6
8
8
13
10
5
6
10

Soundtrack

Main article: High School Musical Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released on January 10 2006 and debuted at number 143 on the Billboard 200, selling 6,469 copies in its first week. In the album's third week, for the chart dated February 11 2006, it climbed to number ten, and has since risen to number one on the Billboard 200 twice (on March 1 and March 22) and had shipped 3.5 million copies. Out of those copies, more than 3 million copies have been sold by August 2006; it was certified triple platinum by the RIAA.

The soundtrack was released in Australia on May 27 2006 by EMI. In the album's seventh week it reached the number one position on Australia's ARIA Album Charts for the week dated July 31 2006 and has been certified gold, selling 35,000 units in total.


Awards

  • High School Musical director Kenny Ortega was nominated for the 2006 Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries or Television Movie.
  • The songs "Breaking Free" and "Get'cha Head In The Game" were both nominated for Emmy Awards for Outstanding Music and Lyrics.
  • On August 20, 2006, High School Musical won three Teen Choice awards for Choice Comedy/Musical, Best TV Chemistry (Zac Efron and Vanessa Anne Hudgens), and Choice Breakthrough Star (Zac Efron).

Trivia

  • High School Musical is the second highest rated DCOM to date with 7.7 million viewers. It was originally the highest rated DCOM but on August 25th, 2006 it was beat out by The Cheetah Girls 2 which drew in 7.8 million viewers.
  • Corbin Bleu originally auditioned for the role of Troy Bolton but was given the role of Chad instead.
  • Matthew Underwood of Zoey 101 was offered the role but due to his contract with Nickelodeon he couldn't and had to decline.
  • The basketball team's name is the Wildcats like in Lizzie McGuire, 7th Heaven, and Life is Ruff. The opposing school, West High, were the Knights.
  • The high notes that Troy sang on the soundtrack were not Zac Efron because he is a baritone and the part was written for tenor. Those notes are sung by Andrew Seeley.
  • During the second home room scene, the way that Sharpay claps her hands may be in tribute to the way London Tipton (Brenda Song) claps her hands in certain situations in the Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Ashley Tisdale also co-stars in the Suite Life.


Errors

  • During the sequence when Troy is heading to the first audition, his shoes switch between black shoes with white accents and white shoes with black accents.
  • During the intervention scene, the screen says "Recieving Wi-Fi Signal".
  • During Start of something new, Troy's microphone jumps from the microphone stand to his hand repeatedly. This is also present in "Breaking Free'
  • During the homeroom scene, when Troy gives up his phone, he is about to close it, but in the next shot, its fully open (then closes it) and gives it up to Darbus.

Stage Musical

It was announced in Playbill on August 1, 2006 that Stagedoor Manor — the summer theatre camp made famous by the movie Camp — was to be home to the first stage production of Disney's original movie High School Musical.

Disney Theatrical Productions and Music Theater International granted the first license of the amateur stage production to the Loch Sheldrake, New York program, which was performed on August 18, 2006. [3] The part of Troy was played by Jordan Campbell and the part of Gabriella was played by Andrea Ross. Read more here [4]

Novels

A junior novel based on the movie hit number one on the New York Times best-seller list for children's paperbacks.

Disney Publishing is planning on an original book series that will come on market in April and continue with a new book every 60 days until June 2008.[5]

Wikiquote has quotations related to High School Musical.
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