High School Musical

High School Musical is a 2006 American musical television film written by Peter Barsocchini and directed by Kenny Ortega. It is the first installment in the High School Musical franchise.

With a plot described by the author and numerous critics as a modern adaptation of Romeo & Juliet, High School Musical is a story about two high school juniors from rival stereotypical cliques. The protagonists are Troy Bolton (Zac Efron), a basketball team captain, and Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens), a shy transfer student excelling in math and science. Together, they try out for the lead parts in their high school musical, and this causes division among all the school's students. Despite other students' attempts to thwart their dreams, Troy and Gabriella aim to resist peer pressure and rivalry and wish to inspire others along the way not to "stick to the status quo." However, they have to battle high school diva Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) and her twin brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel). Sharpay and Ryan both seek to sabotage the friendship and romance between Troy and Gabriella and gain the leads in the school musical.

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 Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) ever produced. In the U.S., High School Musical generated 7.7 million viewers in its premiere broadcast, which is one of the highest the network has generated. Internationally, the film has also seen considerable success; as of 2019, over 225 million viewers have watched High School Musical. The film's soundtrack was also successful as it peaked at number one in the United States, with "Breaking Free" reaching number four. The film received mixed reviews from critics, but was praised by TV audiences upon its debut.

The film's success spawned a media franchise and series of sequels, High School Musical 2 (2007) and High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008), with the latter being a theatrical release. It is the first DCOM to have a theatrical sequel.

Cast

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International versions

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This article uses material from the Wikipedia article High School Musical, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.