High School Musical: The Musical: The Series

***High School Musical: The Musical: The Series*** is an Emmy winning Disney+ Original Series created by Tim Federle. The series revolves around a fictionalized version of East High School, where the original High School Musical films were filmed, who participate in their first staging in Season 1. *High School Musical: The Musical: The Series* premiered on Disney Channel, ABC, and Freeform as a preview simulcast on November 8, 2019, ahead of its launch on Disney+ on November 12; its first season consisted of 10 episodes. In October 2019, before the series debuted, Disney+ renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on May 14, 2021, and consisted of 12 episodes. The third season premiered on July 27, 2022, and will consisted of eight episodes. The fourth and final season released on August 9, 2023, with eight episodes.

## Plot

### Season 1

Welcome to East High’s first-ever production of High School Musical: The Musical, where a new era of high school kids and their new drama teacher attempt to remake history on stage, nearly 15 years after the Disney Original Movie was filmed there. Taking on the roles of Gabriella, Ricky and the rest of the original characters are Nini, a rising star fresh out of theater camp; Ricky, Nini’s skateboarding ex-boyfriend who joins the theater department to win her back; E.J., Nini’s posh and easy-on-the-eyes new love interest; and Gina, the ambitious new transfer student with skeletons in her closet and theater in her bones. Performing new material and remakes of classic HSM songs, these aspiring actors from East High are determined to bring their meta-version of High School Musical to the stage, along with all the real-life drama that wasn’t in the original script!

### Season 2

Joining Nini (Olivia Rodrigo), Ricky (Joshua Bassett), E.J. (Matt Cornett), Gina (Sofia Wylie), Big Red (Larry Saperstein), Ashlyn (Julia Lester), Kourtney (Dara Reneé), Carlos (Frankie A. Rodriguez), Seb (Joe Serafini), Mr. Mazzara (Mark St. Cyr), Miss Jenn (Kate Reinders), and there are several new exciting characters. Zack (Derek Hough), Miss Jenn's ex-boyfriend and former high school heartthrob, shakes things up when he returns to Salt Lake City after a successful acting career in NYC to be the new Drama Teacher at East High's rival high school, North High. Antoine (Andrew Barth Feldman), a foreign exchange student at North High, can not help but flirt with Ashlyn. Howie (Roman Banks), a hyper-smart, bespectacled, adorkable high school junior, gets close to a certain Wildcat or two while working after school as a delivery guy for Big Red's family Pizza Shop, *Salt Lake Slices*. And Lily (Olivia Rose Keegan) is a sugary sweet, energetic East High Student who wants nothing more to be on-stage with the Wildcats, but her sweetness masks her highly competitive nature.

### Season 3

In the new season, it's summer break! The Wildcats leave the hallways of East High for the ultimate summer at sleepaway camp, complete with campfires, summer romances and curfew-less nights. Camp Shallow Lake, a family-owned sleepaway camp in California. With a high-stakes production of *Frozen* and a behind-the-scenes “docuseries” of the production in the works, the Wildcats will attempt to show who is “best in snow” without leaving anyone out in the cold.

### Season 4

In season four of “**High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,**” after an epic summer at Camp Shallow Lake, the Wildcats return to East High where they will prepare a stage production of “High School Musical 3: Senior Year.” On their first day back, the principal announces that Disney has decided to make the long-awaited “High School Musical 4: The Reunion” movie on location at their beloved high school, and our Wildcats will be playing featured extras in the movie. It’s season four, and it’s now or never.

## Production

On November 9, 2017, it was announced that Disney was developing a television series adaptation of their *High School Musical* film series created by Peter Barsocchini. The series was expected to premiere on Disney's then-unnamed upcoming streaming service. The company had planned to adapt the franchise for television and approached creator Tim Federle to develop an idea for a series. Federle pitched the documentary-style series in January 2018 and went on to draft the pilot together with Disney Channel, who contributed to the production of the series. On May 30, 2018, it was announced that Federle would serve as a writer and executive producer for the series. On September 6, Disney officially gave the production a series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes. Oliver Goldstick was expected to serve as showrunner and an additional executive producer while Julie Ashton would oversee the casting process. Alongside this announcement, it was also revealed that the show would be of the mockumentary genre and a list of character names and descriptions was released. By May 2019, Goldstick had departed the series over "creative differences", having served as showrunner for the first four episodes.

In October 2019, ahead of the release of the first season, Disney+ renewed the series for a second season. Federle stated that the second season's plot would not revolve around a production of *High School Musical 2*; it was revealed in February 2020 that the featured production would be *Beauty and the Beast*. The second season consisted of twelve episodes.

On September 13, 2021, Disney+ renewed the series for a third season. It was revealed within the announcement that production of the series would relocate from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles, and would begin later in the year. The season was announced to be set at a sleep-away theater camp taking place over the summer school break.

## Trivia

* Ricky Bowen, Ashlyn Caswell, and Carlos Rodriguez are the only characters to appear in every episode.
* Gina Porter and Kourtney Greene are only absent for one episode.

## References

1. ↑ [1]
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 [2]
3. ↑ [3]