Musicals on TV Double Feature - High School Musical & High School Musical 2

The High School Musical films were a bona-fide kid phenomenon in the late 2000's. I remember seeing children as young as 6 talk about how much they loved the movie and the music and gush about Gabriella and Troy and all the other Wildcats. There were toys, dolls, notebooks, clothes, and countless CD "remix" editions. The soundtrack of the first movie hit #1 on the Billboard charts. The second movie was the top-rated TV program of the summer of 2007, on broadcast or cable TV. Kids loved these movies...and some adults found them endearing, too. How do they stand up over a decade later? Let's head to a ski lodge on New Year's Eve, where two teens are about to do a karaoke routine together that will change their lives..

High School Musical
Disney, 2006
Starring Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, and Corbin Bleu
Directed by Kenny Ortega
Music and Lyrics by various

The Story: High school basketball star Troy Bolton (Efron) and brilliant A student Gabriella Montez (Hudgens) meet while singing karaoke at a party on New Year's Eve. Troy gets quite a surprise when Gabriella shows up at his New Mexico high school a week later. Seems her mother moved there over Christmas break. They both end up in detention the first day when they try to contact each other on their cell phones during class, along with Troy's basketball-crazy buddy Chad Danforth (Bleu), spoiled drama queen Sharpay (Tisdale), and her brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel). The ridiculously over-the-top drama teacher (Alyson Reed) is hoping to get people to sign up for the school's winter musical and has the kids work on sets. It works on Gabriella and Troy. They go to the audition, but are too shy to sing...until they do a ballad with sweet pianist and songwriter Kelsey (Oleysa Rulin) that Sharpay and Ryan built into a sugary pop number. This puts them over with the teacher and gets them a call-back.

Sharpay is incensed. How could anyone at the school be better than dancing and singing than her? Their friends are even more shocked. The jocks think drama is stupid and academics are something you do that keeps you from playing sports; the A students think jocks are idiots and drama is mind-numbing. Drama nuts Sharpay and Ryan think they're above sports and academics. All of the cliques try to keep Troy and Gabriella from trying out and seeing each other, until they start to understand that everyone has different talents and unique abilities. Just because you're good at one thing, doesn't mean you can't excel at something else.

The Song and Dance: What I love about all three of these movies is the sheer energy level. Unlike the Grease films, these kids are genuine teenagers, or young adults at the most. They bring a level of authenticity and vivaciousness that lets you overlook the cliches and really enjoy the numbers. No wonder Hudgens and Efron went on to major careers. I also appreciate the message that kids can have many different interests and talents and shouldn't be afraid to pursue them - sports stars can be singers or bakers, braniacs can be leading ladies.

Favorite Number: The kids are at their best in chorus routines like "Get 'Cha Head In the Game" with Troy and the basketball team, "Stick to the Status Quo" in the cafeteria as everyone shares their secret dream, and the finale "We're All In This Together." Hudgens gets a decent solo mid-way through after she thinks Troy isn't interested anymore, "When There Was Me and You."

What I Don't Like: First of all, the story is cliched to the max. It's basically a modern Grease with less grit, a slightly more likely ending, and a cast that doesn't look old enough to vote. Sharpay was popular enough to get her own spin-off in 2011, but her character is obnoxious and annoying, and does she have to scream so much? The love duets are syrupy-sweet and all sound alike, and they really don't give you an idea as to why everyone fell over themselves to get Troy and Gabriella into the show. (And obviously, this isn't for people who prefer their musicals darker ala Cabaret.)

The Big Picture: I can see why kids responded so strongly to this. The sugary and cliched story and dialogue are elevated by the spirited chorus numbers and energetic and talented cast. If you love Grease or other musical school tales, have kids who are musical fans, or remember when this was the biggest thing on cable, it's still highly recommended.

Home Media: Thanks to its tremendous popularity, it can be found in almost every possible format and version you can imagine, usually for under 10 dollars.

DVD
Blu-Ray
Amazon Prime

High School Musical 2
Disney, 2007
Starring Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, and Corbin Bleu
Directed by Kenny Ortega
Music and Lyrics by various

The Story: Troy (Efron), Gabriella (Hudgens), and their friends are looking forward to a summer of fun, freedom, and hanging out together. He not only manages to land a job at Lava Springs Country Club, but encourages them to hire all his friends, including Gabriella. Sharpay (Tisdale), whose parents own the club, wants Troy and his amazing voice backing her in the club's big end-of-the-season talent show. She goes out of her way to have the manager Fulton (Mark L. Taylor) treat the kids badly and promote Troy. Her twin brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel) is getting sick of being pushed aside, and goes to the other Wildcats to set up their own musical number in the show. Troy sees Gabrellia with Ryan and gets jealous, leading to him singing with Sharpay...or standing there mildly annoyed while Sharpay performs around him.

The kids now all see Troy as a traitor. The basketball team members won't speak to him, and Gabriella quits and and breaks off their relationship. As club employees, the kids have all been banned from the show, thanks to Sharpay's jealousy. He realizes how much he let his desire for a college scholarship and the preferential treatment from Sharpay and her parents go to his head. It takes intervention from Ryan to make his sister realize how selfish and silly she's being and bring Troy and Gabriella together.

The Song and Dance: Pretty much "more of the same, but outside." The country club setting allows for some nice cinematography and glowing colors, especially on the golf course, and it does feel a bit less claustrophobic than the original. Glad to see Grabeel come into his own here; he had some great footwork in the baseball number "I Don't Dance." Some of the adults registered a bit more strongly here, too, especially Robert Curtis Brown and Jessica Tuck as Sharpay and Ryan's parents.

Favorite Number: Along with "I Don't Dance," the kids have fun with the end-of-the-school-year opening "What Time Is It?" and "Work This Out" when they realize just how bad their jobs at the country club are. Troy and Gabriella's touching "You are the Music In Me" becomes a candy-colored routine for Sharpay and Troy that, of course, puts the emphasis on the former. Sharpay also gets the very funny "Fabulous," where she extols the virtues of her posh life and how she has to have the perfect everything, including the perfect guy.

What I Don't Like: If anything, this movie is even more cliched than the last one, and the main ballads are still too sugary. The emphasis on Troy, Sharpay, and Ryan means we see less of the other Wildcats, including Rulin and Bleu. And no matter how wonderful she thinks she is, Sharpay is just as annoying and screechy here as she was in the previous film. The additional number for her and Ryan as they're trying to persuade him to join their show is intentionally goofy and does nothing but scare Troy off and add to the film's length.

The Big Picture: Same deal. If you loved the first movie, you'll probably have just as much fun with the Wildcats' summer adventures.

Home Media: The version that's currently available online and on DVD includes the aforementioned extra number and once again is easy to find in a wide variety of formats.

DVD
Blu-Ray
Amazon Prime