High School Musical premiered on Disney Channel on January 20, 2006, and it has not really left since. The film runs 98 minutes. It stars Zac Efron as Troy Bolton, the basketball captain, and Vanessa Hudgens as Gabriella Montez, a transfer student who joins the scholastic decathlon team. Kenny Ortega directed it from a script by Peter Barsocchini. It holds a 6.7 out of 10 aggregate score, and that number is about right: a small, cheap, enormously effective piece of television that knows exactly what it is.
Trailer, via DisneyMoviesOnDemand.
The Karaoke Duet in Utah
Troy and Gabriella meet on New Year’s Eve at a ski lodge in Utah, called up to sing “Start of Something New” together. Then Gabriella transfers to East High in New Mexico, where Troy’s father coaches the basketball team. Sharpay Evans, the drama club president, spots a rival for the lead and anonymously tips off Taylor McKessie, the decathlon captain, so she will recruit Gabriella for her team.
That is the whole machine. Sharpay’s scheme is meant to pull Gabriella away from the stage. It hands her a second social circle instead.
What I’ve Been Looking For
Troy and Gabriella audition too late, then perform “What I’ve Been Looking For” at its original ballad tempo while helping Kelsi Nielsen, the musical’s composer, pick up sheet music. Ms. Darbus hears them and grants a callback. When the list goes up, the Wildcats learn their captain tried out.
The film’s best idea arrives here: after Troy admits he wants something outside the social order, other students confess their own secret passions in “Stick to the Status Quo.” The number is the movie’s argument in three minutes. East High runs on fixed roles, and the second one student steps out, everyone else wants to as well.
The Voice You Hear Is Not Zac Efron’s
Here is the detail that matters most and gets discussed least. Efron is a baritone. The role was written for a tenor. Drew Seeley sang most of Troy’s vocals, with Efron handling the first and last lines of “Start of Something New” and the opening of “Breaking Free.”
That is not a scandal. It is a production fix, and it worked. But it tells you what Disney was building: a musical where the singing had to hold up on broadcast television, and the face and the voice could be assembled separately if they had to be.
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director | Kenny Ortega |
| Writer | Peter Barsocchini |
| Runtime | 98 minutes |
| Premiere | January 20, 2006, Disney Channel |
| Genres | Comedy, Family, TV Movie, Music, Romance |
| Troy Bolton | Zac Efron |
| Gabriella Montez | Vanessa Hudgens |
Sharpay Evans Is the Engine
Ashley Tisdale plays Sharpay as proud, energetic and hungry for the center of the room. Lucas Grabeel’s Ryan aids her sabotage. Corbin Bleu’s Chad is Troy’s best friend and teammate; Monique Coleman’s Taylor runs the decathlon. Alyson Reed’s Ms. Darbus dislikes sports and cell phones. Olesya Rulin’s Kelsi is shy, underappreciated and, quietly, the person who wrote the songs everyone is fighting over.
Barsocchini and multiple critics have called the film a modern adaptation of Romeo & Juliet. The comparison is generous. The obstacle here is not a family feud but a school’s schedule of cliques, and it dissolves the moment enough students admit they want something else.
Development started after Barsocchini brought the network a musical script idea in 2004. Disney also wanted to repeat the success of The Cheetah Girls and the musical episodes of Even Stevens and That’s So Raven. Filming took place mainly in Utah, at East High School, Murray High School and Salt Lake City, with additional work in Los Angeles.
Key facts
– Premiere: January 20, 2006, Disney Channel
– Runtime: 98 minutes
– Aggregate score: 6.7/10 (Rotten Tomatoes 67%, via Wikipedia)
– Director: Kenny Ortega
– Writer: Peter Barsocchini
The weakness is the back half. Once the cliques crack, the film has nowhere to push except the callback and the big number, and the adults stay thin. Jack Bolton exists to call Gabriella a distraction. Principal Dave Matsui is the school’s principal. Ms. Darbus softens because the plot needs her to.
What earns the 6.7 is the efficiency. Ninety-eight minutes, no fat, a cast that sells material written for a fraction of this budget, and one genuinely sharp observation about how institutions police their own members. The franchise that followed is not proof of that. The observation stands on its own.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
