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With a plot described as a modern retelling of
Romeo & Juliet, High School Musical is a story of two
high
school juniors from rival
cliques: Troy Bolton (Zac
Efron), captain of the
basketball
team, and Gabriella Montez (Vanessa
Hudgens), a beautiful and shy transfer student who excels in
math and
science. Together, they try out for the lead parts in their high school
musical, and as a result, divide the school. Despite other students'
attempts to thwart their dreams, Troy and Gabriella resist peer pressure and
rivalry, inspiring others along the way not to "stick with the status quo."
This was
Disney Channel's most successful movie at its time with 7.7 million viewers
in its premiere broadcast in the US. In the UK, it received 789,000 viewers for
its premiere (and 1.2 million viewers overall during the first week), making the
film the most watched program for the Disney Channel (UK) of 2006. It was also
the first ever
Disney Channel Original Movie to be broadcast on the
BBC on
December
29, 2006. On
August 16,
2007 ratings went
slightly up to 6.0 million viewers.
Cast
Zac
Efron as Troy Bolton: the male
protagonist of the story and the captain of the East High Wildcats
basketball team. His best friend is Chad Danforth. At a New Years party at a ski
resort, he is pressured into singing "Start
of Something New" with Gabriella Montez; prior to that, he had only sung in
the shower.[10]
Troy is torn between basketball and singing; he wants to sing with Gabriella,
the girl he has a crush on, but his teammates push him away from it with peer
pressure and even trickery because they are worried that his pursuit of singing
will affect their chances at winning the championship game. Troy is also the
Wildcat captain, a star player and the son of basketball coach Jack Bolton (Bart
Johnson). Troy also enjoys snowboarding. Troy and Chad have known each other
since preschool.
Vanessa Hudgens as Gabriella Montez: the female
protagonist, who has a secret crush on Troy. She is a shy and a very
intelligent student who has just changed schools. She originally meets Troy at a
New Years party when they are forced to sing a karaoke duet. She meets him again
when she moves to the same school as Troy in
Albuquerque, New Mexico. She is reluctant to let everybody know of her past
achievements, but soon everybody finds out through the internet that she has won
numerous Scholastic Competitions. She had previously been in a
church
choir, but passed
out after having everybody stared at her while singing solo. She and Troy
audition for their high school musical, get a callback, and then win the lead
parts for the winter musical. She also helps East High win the
Scholastic Decathlon award.
Ashley Tisdale as Sharpay Evans: the
antagonist
of High School Musical. She is an arrogant person who always wants her
way. She has a domineering personality and likes to be in control even of her
twin brother Ryan. She auditions with him for the winter school musical against
Troy and Gabriella. When she discovers that Troy and Gabriella have a callback,
she changes the callback date in order to make sure that Troy and Gabriella fail
to get the leads. The plan however fails with the aid of Taylor and Chad.
Sharpay ends up being the understudy for Gabriella, and in the end, wishes
Gabriella
good luck by telling her to
break a
leg. Chad, at one point, calls Sharpay and Ryan "show dogs" (the name
Sharpay being a homophone of
Shar Pei, a
breed of dog). She also refers to famous
Broadway
songwriter
Stephen Sondheim by calling Kelsi "my sawed-off Sondheim". Despite her
resentment of Troy and Gabriella taking the lead from her in the school musical,
she seems to have a small crush or interest in Troy, and feels somewhat jealous
of Gabriella. At the end of High School Musical, she seems to at least
get along with Troy and Gabriella. However, in
High School Musical 2, she reverts to hating Gabriella and develops an
interest for Troy.
Lucas
Grabeel as Ryan Evans: the
twin brother and acting partner of Sharpay Evans, with whom he has starred
in seventeen school productions to date. In High School Musical, both
Ryan and his sister function as antagonists, while in High School Musical 2,
he becomes a protagonist. Ryan is an excellent dancer and singer, tending to
lean toward high-energy, upbeat songs and expressive choreography, often to the
point of absurdity. He has a much more highly developed sense of fashion than
most East High students, wearing button down shirts and slacks and topping each
outfit with some type of floppy hat. The hats are one of Ryan's most notable
features; he wears over twenty different ones throughout the two films. In
High School Musical, both Ryan and his sister funk it up as
antagonists,
attempting to keep Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez from winning the lead roles
in the school's winter musical, Twinkle Towne. In spite of a few moments
where Ryan appears annoyed by Sharpay's domineering attitude, he accepts her
leadership unquestioningly throughout the film.
Corbin Bleu as Chad Danforth: a member of the East High Wildcats
team and Troy's best friend. He seems to be extremely devoted to basketball.
Initially, he is a little
snobby, selfish, and unsupportive of Troy's auditioning for the musical. He
thinks that a musical is not meant for basketball players. However, he realizes
later that singing is something that Troy really enjoys and so Chad lends his
support to his best friend's audition endeavor. After teaming up with Taylor
McKessie to pull Troy and Gabriella apart, and then to put them back together,
he asks her out. In High School Musical 2, he develops a friendship with
Ryan Evans.
Monique Coleman as Taylor McKessie: the leader of East High's
science club, which competes in the Scholastic decathlon. She befriends
Gabriella when she arrives to the school and convinces her to join the
Scholastic Club. Initially, she tries to stop Gabriella from singing, but
eventually, she ends up supporting her. She has a strong dislike for athletes
including Troy Bolton, stating that they "contribute nothing to society other
than slam dunks and touchdowns." However, her opinion of athletes changes over
time. Chad Danforth asks her out by the end of the film and she accepts to go
out with him.
Alyson Reed as Miss Darbus: the drama teacher at East High. She
is an advocate of theater and has a strong dislike for cell phones and
activities like sports. She often gets into arguments with her nemesis, Coach
Bolton, and has very little to practically no knowledge of basketball.
Bart Johnson as Coach Jack Bolton: the Wildcats' coach and Troy's
father. He is a former champion Wildcats player, and expects his son to follow
his example. He has had numerous intense arguments with Ms. Darbus and is upset
over his son's decision to pursue theater, but then he eventually comes around.
Similarly, he disapproves of Troy's relationship with Gabriella because he feels
it may interfere with his basketball tournament.
Olesya Rulin as Kelsi Nielsen: a pianist and the composer of the
Twinkle Towne musical. She is very eager to assist Troy and Gabriella as
they prepare for callbacks. Initially, Kelsi is shown lacking confidence;
however, by the end of the movie, she stands up to Sharpay. Troy calls her the
playmaker
to build her confidence. She has a crush on Jason.
Chris Warren, Jr. as Zeke Baylor: a member of the Wildcats team,
who secretly enjoys baking and has a crush on Sharpay.
Ryne Sanborn as Jason Cross: a member of the Wildcats team, who
hangs out with Chad and Zeke and develops a crush on Kelsi.
Sean Soltys as Sam Diaz: a friend of Zac's who was present during
the karaoke scene dancing in the background.
Kaycee Stroh as Martha Cox: a brainiac who secretly loves hip-hop
and is friends with Gabriella, Kelsi and Taylor.
Socorro Herrera as Mrs. Montez: Gabriella's mother. Although she
is never shown to have a strong feeling of approval or disapproval of
Gabriella's singing, she is shown to support her daughter at the end of the
movie. She also approves of Gabriella's relationship with Troy.
Plot
East High Basketball star Troy Bolton and math-whiz Gabriella Montez meet at
a
New Year's Eve party at a
ski lodge over
Christmas
Break. Here, they take part in a
karaoke
contest and sing ("Start
of Something New"). They discover they have a great chemistry between them
and end up exchanging numbers. A week later, Gabriella's mother is transferred
and Gabriella begins classes at East High in Albuquerque, New Mexico where Troy
sees her in homeroom. After making sure that it is her on his cell phone, Troy
accidentally gets
detention, along with Gabriella, his best friend and teammate Chad Danforth,
scholastic decathlon captain, science club captain Taylor McKessie, and Drama
Club co-presidents Ryan and Sharpay Evans.
After homeroom, Troy and Gabriella see each other again and as they start
talking near the sign-up sheet for the winter musical auditions, Sharpay sees
them and assumes that Gabriella is interested in signing up. With Ryan's help,
Sharpay determines that Gabriella is an "Einsteinette",
and puts an article of her previous academic achievements into Taylor's locker.
During detention, Taylor approaches Gabriella and invites her to join the
school's scholastic decathlon team. Due to their detention, both Troy and Chad
miss their basketball practice, much to the annoyance of Coach Bolton. During a
confrontation between the coach and Ms. Darbus, it is made clear that neither of
them has any real respect for the work that the other does. Troy eventually
takes part in basketball practice, but he cannot seem to stop thinking about
Gabriella and how he might actually enjoy singing ("Get'cha
Head in the Game").
Troy skips basketball practice during free period to go for the auditions,
which Gabriella also attends. However, both are too shy to come forward, so they
hide behind a janitorial rolling cart as Sharpay and Ryan perform their version
of the audition song ("What
I've Been Looking For"). When Gabriella finally decides to audition, Troy
offers to sing with her, but Ms. Darbus says it is too late.
After a confrontation with Sharpay, Kelsi Nielsen, the
composer of
the musical, trips and drops her notes and piano music. Troy and Gabriella rush
to help her, and she offers to let them hear how the song was originally
supposed to sound. Troy and Gabriella then sing the slower version of the song
("What I've Been Looking For (Reprise)"). Ms. Darbus hears them from behind the
auditorium
entrance and gives both Troy and Gabriella a
callback.
The next day, Sharpay sees the callback sheet and is furious. Once Chad and all
the basketball players find out that Troy skipped basketball practice to
audition for the musical, they are all shocked.
At lunch, everyone learns that Troy is doing something way out of a
basketball players' nature, and the students start confessing their secret
passions and talents ("Stick
to the Status Quo"), including basketball player Zeke Baylor's love for
baking. At that moment, Gabriella slips and accidentally spills her lunch all
over Sharpay's shirt. Sharpay tells Ms. Darbus that Gabriella did it on purpose
and tries to convince her that Troy and Gabriella are trying to destroy the
musical.
Troy asks Gabriella to meet him at his secret hideout, the balcony of a
greenhouse.
There, she reveals that singing with him at the party was like meeting a new
friend at kindergarten; she felt that he was like a best friend, although she
hardly knew him. Meanwhile, Zeke attempts to talk to Sharpay, who says that she
would rather stick pins in her eyes than watch Zeke play basketball.
Chad and Taylor decide that they need to devise a plan so that everything
returns to normal. The basketball team tricks Troy into saying that Gabriella is
not too important while she watches them through a
wi-fi link. Gabriella is hurt and confused about where she and Troy now
stand ("When
There Was Me and You"). Troy tries to talk to Gabriella, but she tells him
that she is not interested in taking part in the musical anymore and that it was
never important to her.
After feeling guilty about ruining Troy and Gabriella's friendship, and
noticing that they are no longer interested in the basketball game or the
decathlon, Chad and Taylor decide to tell them the truth. Chad, Zeke, and Jason
explain everything to Troy in the greenhouse and offer to support him at the
callbacks. Taylor and the scholastic decathlon team tell Gabriella what they did,
but she is still angry and hurt because of what Troy said, convinced that he
meant it. That night, Troy goes to her house, but she pretends to be busy with
homework. He then calls on her cellphone from her backyard, telling her that the
guy she met on vacation is much more like him than the guy that "said those
stupid things". He climbs onto her balcony and starts singing the harmony of "Start
of Something New" in an attempt to persuade her to attend the callbacks with him.
Gabriella then forgives him, and together with Kelsi, they start practicing for
the callback at school.
Soon, Sharpay and Ryan overhear Gabriella and Troy practicing, and feel
intimidated by the competition. Together, they convince Ms. Darbus to change the
callbacks to the same time as the basketball championship and scholastic
decathlon. Kelsi overhears their conversation with Mrs. Darbus, and when she
tells everyone about this, they are devastated. However, the scholastic
decathlon, the basketball teams and Kelsi work together to come up with a plan.
On the D-day itself, Taylor and Gabriella send a code by computer into the
system to disrupt the basketball game by shutting down the scoreboard, and
boiling a hazardous chemical to stall the decathlon.
As Troy and Gabriella then rush to the theater, Sharpay and Ryan finish
performing their song ("Bop
to the Top"), confident that they will get the part. Troy and Gabriella show
up after Ms. Darbus has called their names twice, and she tells them again that
they are too late. Many other students start streaming into the auditorium to
support them and Ms. Darbus has no choice but to allow them to perform their
song ("Breaking
Free"). Gabriella freezes when she sees everyone staring at her, but Troy
tells her to look only at him, and she finds the courage to sing. In the end, Ms.
Darbus decides to award the lead roles to Troy and Gabriella, making Sharpay and
Ryan understudies (and at the basketball game, Sharpay accepts her defeat and
tells Gabriella to "break a leg"). After winning both the scholastic decathlon
and the basketball game with Troy's last minute shot, (to which Troy and
Gariella tried to actually kiss, but were interrupted by Chad) the entire school
gathers in the gym to celebrate ("We're
All in This Together").
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