High School Musical
High School Musical is a 2006 American musical television film directed by Kenny Ortega and written by Peter Barsocchini. The 63rd Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) and first installment of the High School Musical film series, the film stars Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Alyson Reed, Corbin Bleu, and Monique Coleman. In High School Musical, Troy Bolton (Efron), the basketball team captain, and Gabriella Montez (Hudgens), an academically gifted transfer student,[2] try out for the lead parts in their school musical, causing division among the school's cliques.
This article is about the 2006 Disney Channel television film. For the following franchise, see High School Musical (franchise). For the television series, see High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. For other uses, see High School Musical (disambiguation).High School Musical
David Lawrence
United States
English
Gordon Lonsdale
Seth Flaum
98 minutes
- Salty Pictures
- First Street Films
$4.2 million[1]
January 20, 2006
Development for the film began after Disney network executives wanted to replicate the critical and viewership success of standalone musical episodes in their television series Even Stevens (2000–2003) and That's So Raven (2003–2007). Principal photography for High School Musical primarily took place in Utah, with filming locations including East High School, Murray High School, and Salt Lake City. Additional filming took place in Los Angeles. The film has been described by Barsocchini and numerous critics as a modern adaptation of Romeo & Juliet.[3]
Upon its release on January 20, 2006, as part of Disney Channel's "Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance Week" block, it became the most commercially successful DCOM ever produced.[4][5][6] In the U.S., High School Musical generated 7.7 million viewers in its premiere broadcast, breaking the then-record for the highest premiere for the network.[7] Internationally, the film also saw considerable success; as of 2019, over 225 million unique viewers were calculated as watched High School Musical.[8][9] The film received generally mixed reviews from critics,[10] with praise for its cast and music but criticism for its sentimentality; it was more positively received by audiences. The film's soundtrack was commercially and critically successful, reaching atop the U.S. Billboard 200, with its lead single, "Breaking Free", reaching number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.[11] Two sequels, High School Musical 2 and High School Musical 3: Senior Year, were released in August 2007 and October 2008 respectively.[12]
Plot
On New Year's Eve, high school juniors Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez are both vacationing at a ski lodge and meet when they are called up to sing a karaoke duet together ("Start of Something New"). Troy returns home to East High School, where he is captain of the basketball team which his father coaches. By coincidence, Gabriella has just transferred to East High, and as Troy shows Gabriella around the school, drama club president Sharpay Evans assumes that Gabriella is interested in auditioning for the school musical. The jealous Sharpay discovers Gabriella's past academic achievements, and anonymously informs scholastic decathlon captain Taylor McKessie so she will recruit Gabriella for the team.
During basketball practice, Troy is distracted by thoughts of Gabriella and the idea that he might enjoy singing ("Get'cha Head in the Game"). From the back of the room, Gabriella and Troy watch Sharpay and her twin brother Ryan audition with an uptempo version of "What I've Been Looking For". Troy and Gabriella step forward at the last minute, but drama teacher Ms. Darbus tells them they are too late. While helping Kelsi Nielsen, the musical's composer, pick up sheet music, they give an impromptu performance of the same song at its original ballad tempo. ("What I've Been Looking For" (reprise)) Overhearing their performance, Ms. Darbus gives them a callback audition.
When the callback 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 ("Stick to the Status Quo"). This alarms Taylor and Troy's best friend Chad Danforth, who work together to trick Gabriella into believing Troy doesn't care about her. Upset by Troy's perceived betrayal and callous disregard for her ("When There Was Me and You"), Gabriella decides to not audition for the musical and distances herself from Troy. Realizing their mistake, Chad and Taylor admit their role in sabotaging Troy and Gabriella's relationship. Troy goes to Gabriella's house and they reconcile, determined to audition for the musical.
Overhearing Gabriella and Troy rehearse, Sharpay convinces Ms. Darbus to move the callbacks so they start at the same time as both Troy's championship game and Gabriella's scholastic decathlon competition. The basketball and decathlon teams work together to allow Troy and Gabriella to leave 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 callback song ("Bop to the Top"). 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, Chad asks Taylor out, Sharpay makes a truce with Gabriella, and the entire school gathers in the gym to celebrate ("We're All in This Together").
In a post-credits scene, Sharpay admits to Zeke that a bag of cookies he had given her was "genius" and he says he will make her a crème brûlée.
Additionally, Socorro Herrera plays Gabriella's mother Lisa Montez and Joey Miyashima portrays Dave Matsui, the principal of East High. Irene Santiago-Baron plays chemistry teacher Ms. Tenny, Leslie Wing Pomeroy portrays Troy's mother Lucille Bolton, and Joyce Cohen plays Ms. Falstaff the librarian.
Kaycee Stroh plays Martha Cox, a brainiac who enjoys hip-hop, and Dutch Whitlock portrays a skateboarder who also plays the cello. Anne Kathryn Parma, Nick Whitaker and Falcon Grace portray Susan, Alan and Cyndra, three students who unsuccessfully audition for the musical.
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.[14] 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.[14] 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.[14]
High School Musical was filmed in the summer of 2005.[15] Principal photography took place in Utah, with East High School[16] and Murray High School used as locations, as well as Salt Lake City. Additional scenes were filmed in Los Angeles.
Reception
Upon its premiere, the film attracted 7.7 million viewers.[17] On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 65% based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. 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."[10]
Common Sense Media rated the film four out of five stars.[18] 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."[19] On the other hand, David Nusair gave the film a negative review with a score of 1.5/4 saying, "...it's difficult to imagine even the most die-hard fan of musicals finding anything here worth embracing."[20] 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."[21]
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.[22] 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.[23][24][25]
The Remix Edition, a 2-disc Special Edition, was released on December 5, 2006.[26] The Remix DVD went on sale in France on June 20, 2007.[27] in Germany on September 13, 2007,[28] and in the UK on September 10, 2007.[29] As of 2010, the film has sold eight million DVD units, earning an operating income of $100 million.[30]
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 center 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.[31] The HD version is also available on the video section of PlayStation Store, as well as on Sony Entertainment online for the US market.[32]