High School Musical

**High School Musical** is a 2006 American live-action film directed by Kenny Ortega. It is the first instalment in the High School Musical franchise and is a Disney Channel Original Movie.

It focuses on Troy Bolton, the basketball team captain, and Gabriella Montez, an academically-gifted transfer student, try out for the lead parts in their school musical, causing division among the school's cliques.

The film was released on January 20, 2006.

## Plot

On New Year's Eve, high school juniors Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez meet at a ski lodge party during winter break. The two are called upon to sing a duet together for karaoke. Returning to school after the break, Troy sees Gabriella in his homeroom. She explains that she has just moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and transferred to East High School over the break. As Troy shows Gabriella around the school, drama club president Sharpay Evans assumes that Gabriella is interested in auditioning for the school musical. Wanting to eliminate the competition, Sharpay discovers Gabriella's past academic achievements, and anonymously informs scholastic decathlon captain Taylor McKessie of them, so she will recruit Gabriella for the team. Taylor and Gabriella become friends over their shared interests.

During a basketball practice, Troy is distracted by thoughts of Gabriella and the idea that he might enjoy singing in addition to basketball. Gabriella and Troy go to the musical auditions where Sharpay and her twin brother Ryan Evans perform. However, Troy and Gabriella are hesitant to audition. When Gabriella gains the confidence to step forward once the auditions are unofficially declared "over", Troy offers to sing with her. However, drama teacher Ms. Darbus tells them they are too late and leaves. Kelsi Nielsen, the musical's composer, drops her music sheets on the stage; Troy and Gabriella rush to help her and sing the same song together. Overhearing their performance, Ms. Darbus gives them a call-back audition.

When the call-back list gets posted, Sharpay is furious that she has competition for the lead role, while the Wildcats basketball team is shocked that Troy has auditioned. After finding out that Troy can do activities outside his clique, other students confess their secret passions and talents. This alarms Taylor and Troy's best friend Chad Danforth. Taylor and Chad come up with a plan to divert Troy and Gabriella from singing in the musical so they can focus on their upcoming competitions.

In the locker room, Troy is tricked by his teammates into saying that Gabriella and the audition are not important to him. Gabriella watches this via a hidden webcam that the scholastic decathlon team has set up. Upset by Troy's perceived betrayal and callous disregard for her, Gabriella decides to not audition for the musical, and distances herself from Troy. Troy, confused by Gabriella's behaviour, is unable to concentrate on the game, while Gabriella is low in spirits. Realizing their mistake, Chad and the basketball team tell Troy what happened and offer to support him in the call-backs. Taylor also explains to Gabriella that she was wrong but Gabriella dismisses this, believing Troy meant what he said. That evening, Troy goes to Gabriella's house where he explains the truth and they reconcile, determined to audition for the musical.

Overhearing Gabriella and Troy rehearse, Sharpay asks Ms. Darbus to move the call-backs so they start at the same time as both Troy's championship game and Gabriella's scholastic decathlon competition. Kelsi overhears the conversation, and both the basketball and decathlon teams make a plan together. On the day of the competitions, Taylor and Gabriella use the school's computers to delay the championship game by hacking the power in the gym and causing a chemical reaction that forces an evacuation during the decathlon. Troy and Gabriella rush to the auditorium as Sharpay and Ryan finish their call-back song. After Gabriella and Troy successfully perform their song "Breaking Free", Ms. Darbus gives them the lead roles, making Sharpay and Ryan understudies. Both teams win their respective competitions, and the entire school gathers in the gym to celebrate. Chad asks Taylor out, and Sharpay makes a truce with Gabriella.

In a post-credits scene, Zeke Baylor paces alone in the gym, when Sharpay runs in, declaring that the cookies he had given her that she had initially rejected are "genius". She hugs him, and he says he will make her a crème brûlée. Zeke smiles in victory.

## Cast and Characters

* Zac Efron as Troy Bolton
* Vanessa 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
* Bart Johnson as Jack Bolton
* Olesya Rulin as Kelsi Nielsen
* Chris Warren Jr. as Zeke Baylor
* Ryne Sanborn as Jason Cross
* Socorro Herrera as Lisa Montez
* Joe Miyashima as Dave Matsui
* Irene Santiago-Brown as Ms. Tenny
* Leslie Wing Pomeroy as Lucille Bolton
* Joyce Cohen as Ms. Falstaff
* Kaycee Sroh as Martha Cox
* Anne Kathryn Parma as Susan
* Nick Whitaker as Alan
* Falcon Grace as Cyndra

## Music

See Also: High School Musical (Soundtrack)

The soundtrack for the film was released on January 10, 2006, and debuted at number 133 on the Billboard 200, selling 7,469 copies in its first week. In the album's third week, for the chart dated February 11, 2006, it climbed to number ten, subsequently rose to number one on the Billboard 200 twice (on March 1 and 22) and had shipped 3.8 million copies as of December 5, 2006. Out of those copies, more than three million copies had been sold by August 2006; it was certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA.

## Sequels

* High School Musical 2 (2007)
* High School Musical 3 (2008)

## Production

Disney Channel produced a musical episode of its original sitcom Even Stevens, which aired in 2002, and the success of the episode among the show's audience led to network executives asking series executive producers David Brookwell and Sean McNamara to also produce a musical episode of their other comedy series That's So Raven. The success of the musical format on both Even Stevens and That's So Raven gave executives confidence in the appeal and interest of the musical genre, and led to the early development of the idea for High School Musical. Gary Marsh, then-president of Disney Channels Worldwide, stated that High School Musical would not have been developed if not for the success of the Even Stevens musical episode.

Principal photography for High School Musical took place in Utah, with East High School and Murray High School used as locations, as well as Salt Lake City. Additional scenes were filmed in Los Angeles.

## Release

### Home Media

The DVD went on sale on May 23, 2006, under the title, High School Musical: Encore Edition. It created a sales record when 1.2 million copies were sold in its first six days, making it the fastest-selling television film of all time. It is, however, the second DCOM (Disney Channel Original Movie) on DVD to be certified Platinum in DVD sales, the first being The Cheetah Girls. The High School Musical DVD was also released in Australia on July 12, 2006, through Walt Disney, as well as on European Region 2 on December 4, 2006, where it went on to reach number one in the UK DVD charts. It also aired on Disney Channel South Africa, the latest Disney channel at that time in the southern hemisphere. It was the top-selling DVD in Australia in August 2006. High School Musical also became the first Disney Channel Original Movie to be released on Region 3 DVD, when it went on sale on October 10 and December 15 in Hong Kong and Taiwan, respectively. It was released in Mexico on November 10 and in Brazil on December 6 to coincide with Christmas and the Rede Globo broadcast of the film. It was released in New Zealand on July 12, 2006, and was awarded most popular pre-teen movie in New Zealand for 2006.

High School Musical was the first feature-length video content from the iTunes Store in mid-March 2006. At the time, it was available as a 320x240 resolution 487MB download for $9.99 after initially being mistakenly listed for $1.99.

The Remix Edition, a 2-disc Special Edition, was released on December 5, 2006. The Remix DVD went on sale in France on June 20, 2007. in Germany on September 13, 2007, and in the UK on September 10, 2007. As of 2010, the film has sold eight million DVD units, earning an operating income of $100 million.

Despite being filmed in the 16:9 (1.78:1) aspect ratio, both the original and Remix Edition DVD releases featured a 4:3 (1.33:1) "full screen" version (though not pan and scan as the camera stays directly in the centre of the image), the format of the film as shown on the Disney Channel. The widescreen, high definition version is available exclusively on Disney Blu-ray in North America and has subsequently been showing in the UK and Ireland on BBC One and BBC HD, and RTÉ One. The HD version is also available on the video section of PlayStation Store, as well as on Sony Entertainment online for the US market.

## Reception

Upon its premiere, the film attracted 7.7 million viewers. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 65% based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7 out of 10. The website's critics consensus reads: "High School Musical is brazenly saccharine, but it makes up for it with its memorable show tunes, eye-popping choreography, and appealing cast."

Common Sense Media rated the film four out of five stars. Kevin Carr gave the film a score of three out of five, saying, "The filmmakers were just trying to tell a story. Sex, drugs and violence just didn't factor into that equation." On the other hand, David Nusair gave the film a negative review with a score of 1.5 out of 4 saying, "...it's difficult to imagine even the most die-hard fan of musicals finding anything here worth embracing." Scott Weinberg also gave the film a negative review saying, "A schmaltzy little piece of obvious fluff that's directed in truly horrendous fashion and populated by cardboard characters who spit out simplistic platitudes and breathy pop tunes."