August 16, 2007

Disney hopes ‘High School Musical 2’ matches original’s success
By Bill Keveney Gannett News Service

What time is it?

It’s a few hours until the sequel to the surprise TV hit of last year, “High School Musical,” airs on the Disney Channel tomorrow. Disney has given the movie’s young fans a glimpse of what’s to come by releasing “What Time Is It,” the first music video from “High School Musical 2.”

If you’re not sure what this is all about, here’s the score: “High School Musical” is a pop culture and marketing phenomenon, innocent enough for the Disney Channel and cool enough to fuel a new generation’s interest in musicals.

Since its premiere in January 2006, the original two-hour TV movie has been seen by about 160 million people, according to Disney. It has generated $500 million in sales of DVDs, soundtracks (it was the No. 1 album of any type for 2006) and other retail items. There has been a concert tour by the cast and a stage version that just opened in Chicago. An ice show premieres in New York in September. The movie also has inspired about 2,000 real-life high school musical productions, Disney said.

“HSM 2” picks up soon after the original, which followed basketball star Troy Bolton (played by Zac Efron) and math wiz Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens) as they reluctantly, then joyfully, sang their hearts out and fell for each other while trying out for East High’s annual musical. The simple message of the first movie: Don’t let peer pressure keep you from your dreams.

Making it cool for boys, girls

At a time when kids expect increasingly sophisticated animation in movies, TV shows and video games, the original “HSM” was a relative throwback: a live-action musical with catchy songs and a lead character (Efron’s Troy) who fretted over what his friends and his father might think about him singing.

Girls are the “HSM” core fan base, but it gained fans among boys in part by building sports into the plot and choreography.

To observers of cultural trends, the broad appeal is part of a larger picture.

“It keys into the popularity of music and dance that’s sweeping the country with shows like “So You Think You Can Dance,” “Dancing With the Stars” and “American Idol,” said Neil Meron, producer of the new movie musical “Hairspray.”

“There’s a hunger for that type of entertainment,” Meron said. “There are no more variety shows, so people are getting a taste of singing and dancing with musicals and (those) shows.”

Disney tapped into a desire others weren’t satisfying, said Craig Zadan, Meron’s producing partner on “Hairspray” and Oscar-winner “Chicago.” (They’re working on a new “Peter Pan” movie for ABC.)

“Nobody had bothered to make a movie musical for kids,” Zadan said. “The moment Disney Channel was smart enough to do one, it was a sensation.”

Identity issues

Rick Adams, who hosts Radio KOL, an Internet radio show aimed at kids, thinks “HSM” picks up not only on the sense of fascination with the audition process in “Idol,” but also on the feeling “that it’s good to stand up and be counted when it comes to your own talent.” He said that’s often a revelation for adolescents struggling to establish their own identity.

Bill Borden, producer of both “HSM” movies, said many boys saw themselves in Troy, a basketball star who initially was reluctant to sing in a musical.

“I have three boys who love musicals. They all dance. I figured if these three kids — who were already into sports — liked musicals, why wouldn’t other boys?” Borden said.

The “HSM” movies could energize a pop music format that has faded in popularity, said Cynthia King, director of the center for entertainment and tourism at California State University-Fullerton.

“Pop music in the early 2000s kind of died off,” she said. “Things like “High School Musical” drove this (genre) back.”

More ‘mature’ sequel

“HSM 2” starts as school lets out, taking the East High Wildcats — including spoiled drama queen Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale), her brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel) and Troy and Gabriella’s pals Chad (Corbin Bleu) and Taylor (Monique Coleman) — to a ritzy country club for work, play and more music.

Troy’s moral compass takes a spin when he must weigh Sharpay’s blandishments, including a cushy job and potential college scholarship, against his loyalty to Gabriella and his other friends.

The sequel is “a scootch more mature,” Disney Channel Worldwide entertainment chief Gary Marsh said. That means in the sequel, there is a real kiss. Even so, “HSM 2” is still solidly G-rated chaste.

“It’s still Disney Channel,” Borden said.

Borden thinks kids who sometimes face harsh situations at school see such innocence as ideal.

“I actually think that’s the high school every kid would want,” he said. “They want to be able to walk into high school and enjoy it. They want to be able to change cliques. They want to be able to be a rock star.”

Already buzzing

Based on the buzz already, many analysts are expecting “HSM2” to match or exceed the premiere ratings of its predecessor.

Disney and Borden already are planning a big-screen “HSM” that would take the characters through the senior prom and graduation, although the cast members aren’t signed for that project.

After seeing the “What Time Is It” video, Radio KOL’s Adams thinks the prospects of “HSM” are bright. “If that’s anything to go by, it’s going to be even better than the first,” he said.

But one song does not a musical make, Adams added, and a huge hit can create an even steeper path for a sequel.

“ ‘Grease 2’ wasn’t that good, was it?”