East High School in Salt Lake City, Utah, is famous for having the extremely popular film High School Musical filmed there. In a new Disney+ show, drama students currently attending the school decide to stage the first ever High School Musical production ever at their school. Rivalries and challenges rise, friendships fall and relationships form. 

High School Musical The Musical: The Series follows a teenage girl, Nini (Olivia Rodrigo) on her journey to get the role of Gabriella and figure out who she truly loves. Over the summer, problems arise between her and her boyfriend Ricky, leading to a messy breakup. She later meets E.J (Matt Cornett) at summer drama camp, which sparks a new relationship, however Nini can’t get over her love of Ricky. She is trying to find a way to figure out what her heart truly desires. 

Making a show about such an iconic movie is extremely difficult.

 It incorporated many references to the original movie that enhances the enjoyment for High School Musical fans. The high schoolers bring up Troy, Gabriella and many other characters pretty consistently. While practicing his new dance moves, Ricky watches the movie on repeat to get the motions down. Those and many other references are made throughout the show that original fans would love. 

To resemble an exceptionally well-known movie, the cast has to be just right. The characters of High School The Musical The Musical: The Series are perfect. Since the show isn’t exactly a remake of the movie, they can’t be perfect replicas of the original characters. So, the production team casts actors that could resemble students that would get the roles at the school. The students resemble who they are playing and some even act like them. One of the high schoolers in the play, Seb (Joe Serafini) acts just like Sharpay, who he is playing. Both Sharpay and Seb have a dream of being in theatre, and their goal is to get a main role.

Another significant aspect of this show is the music. 

Some tracks from the movie were sung or played such as Start of Something New, What I’ve Been Looking For, Breaking Free, Stick to the Status Quo, Bop to the Top, When There Was Me and You and We’re All in This Together. Along with the songs from the movie, new music was incorporated into the show. This way, a variety of music is added to the show. For millennials and older Gen Z teens, the new and old tunes make the show extremely enjoyable as they can listen to the new music as well as the music from the original movie that they know and love. It’s also entertaining for younger kids that don’t know the original music. The songs are exceptionally catchy and make the listener want to dance. 

Unlike any other Disney series, this show resembles a perfect mixture of Disney’s High School Musical, NBC’s The Office and Fox’s Glee. Aside from the entire show resembling Disney’s movie, it is a perfect mix of a high school drama and a hilarious comedy. 

The drama part of the show is almost exactly like Glee. Nini has a love triangle with Ricky and E.J. She does not know who she truly wants to be with. Just like Nini, the star in NBC’s Glee has a love triangle too that she needs to sort out. Just like NBC’s The Office, this show is an acted out reality show with interviews and comedic moments. Anytime something significant happens, the “camera crew” would interview the characters. One aspect that both shows have is the person that is in charge of either the office or the play are very cocky. Miss Jen (Kate Reinders) doesn’t stop talking about how she was in the original High School Musical and that she had a major part. She was only a background dancer, but makes it the biggest deal she can. This adds humor to this production and makes the audience laugh whenever she talks about it. 

Having a show that needs to be fun to watch and extremely entertaining can make it hard to feature actual issues that many teens face. High School Musical The Musical: The Series does just that. While trying to keep his part as Troy, Ricky faces the challenge of his parents separating. Loads of stress pile up on Ricky with this, the play and more. Many kids around the world also may experience this problem and could relate to Ricky. They could watch this show and see that they aren’t alone and other people face the same issues as them. 

A person of any age could watch this show. For young kids, it could be amusing as it is funny and is TV-PG. For older teens and adults, the show may be a bit more enjoyable because they get all of the references made and enjoy seeing a show that features the movie they love. The show is also marvelous and is worth the watch.

High School The Musical The Musical: The Series was astounding. Disney does a fantastic job of making a series resembling an iconic movie that almost everyone loves. The show’s plot was extremely clear and isn’t like every other basic production. It’s a perfect mix of comedy and drama to make it watchable for everyone. I recommend that anyone that loves High School Musical watches this show. 

4.5/5