By: debbie lynn elias
They are our best friends and sometimes, our greatest competition. They are the guys and girls next door. They are jocks, geeks, nerds, actors, actresses, singers, dancers, the beauties and the brains. Household names, the mere mention of Troy, Gabriella, Chad, Sharpay, Kelsi, Taylor, Ryan, send teens and tweens the world over into a frenzy. For these are our Wildcats! For three years we have followed the trials and tribulations of high school through their eyes. Embraced each kiss, each passing grade, each football win, each song, each dance. But now, their stories come to an end (or do they?) as we have one super spectacular colossal all singing, all dancing farewell to high school with HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3: SENIOR YEAR. Paying the greatest homage to movie musicals of old, HSM3 and director Kenny Ortega will have parents and grandparents remember with fondness while a whole new generation will learn what it means to “gotta dance” their way through senior year!
As senior year starts off, amidst the usual back to school angst and anxiety, not to mention senioritis, we find our friends have matured much over the summer and are now preparing to leave behind a life they love for a world unknown. Troy and Gabriella are still together but worried about the prospect of being torn apart when Gabriella heads to Stanford while Troy stays at home and goes to a local school with his best friend Chad. But another wrinkle gets tossed into the pot when Troy learns he is in consideration along with Sharpay, Ryan and Kelsi for a prestigious Julliard scholarship. 
And of course we can count on Sharpay to worry only about Sharpay and go to any lengths to make that scholarship hers, with the help of her co-conspirator brother, the oh-so-talented Ryan. The ever studious Taylor has gained even more maturity, although it may drive her crazy this year thanks to added responsibilities of student body president AND year book editor. But Taylor is the rock, that shining light that all can look to for leadership, guidance, sound reasoning and a shoulder to cry on. Becoming a senior certainly has its effect on Kelsi. Once a shy quiet little mouse, she is now bursting with enthusiasm and energy, particularly when she takes the reins as composer of the Spring Musical, aptly called “Senior Year.” Even our brainiac Martha steps it up a notch as a senior moving up into head cheerleader position. New to East High this year is Tiara Gold. A transfer from England she finds her nitch as personal slave to Sharpay. But don’t underestimate Tiara’s meekness and efficiency. The girl has an agenda. Jimmy “the Rocket” Zara joins Troy, Zeke and Jason on the Wildcat Varsity basketball team looking to fill Troy’s shoes next season as the star player while his best friend Donny is content to sit on the sidelines and be team towelboy. And of course, what would senior year without the return of your favorite teachers – Mrs. Montez, Principal Matusi and of course, our beloved drama teacher, Mrs. Bolton.
Key to the success of this franchise are the actors and thankfully, the cast remains intact but with a few very talented newbies on the block added. Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, Chris Warren, Jr., Ryne Sanborn, Alesya Rulin and KayCee Stroh all return as Troy, Gabriella, Sharpay, Ryan, Chad, Taylor, Zeke, Jason, Kelsi and Martha, respectively. Joining the class this year are Jemma McKenzie-Brown as Tiara, Justin Martin as Donny and Matt Prokop as Jimmie. All you “Hannah Montana” fans will recognize 18 year old Matt Prokop who calls the entire HSM3 experience “a dream.” Surprising is that Prokop had never sung a note or tapped a toe before tackling the role of Jimmie. Martin’s Donny is the perfect best friend to a guy like Jimmie. The brains of the two, Martin plays Donny as cool, calm and collected, scoping out a situation before making the dive. The delicious new diva on scene is McKenzie-Brown who is perfect as the Sharpay Mini-Me. Paired up with Tisdale, their chemistry spells a welcome double trouble.
Who ever would have thought that a musical Peter Barsocchini wrote for his young daughter would have turned into this megafranchise? I’ll tell you – almost anyone that read the script. With clean cut, connectable, real characters involved in day-to-day situations that kids everywhere can relate to or emulate, is a sure winner. But then toss in song and dance and talent like director-choreographer Kenny Ortega and it’s impossible to fail. As they say, the third time’s a charm and HSM3 is no different as this time it leaps from small screen to big. Taking an interesting tact, Barsocchini vacillates the story back and forth between the school year and the telling of the school year through song and dance via the Spring Musical. Although there are a few holes and confusion at times, the sheer velocity and strength of the song and dance material overshadows any shortcomings in the script .
Still on location but a visibly noticeable much larger budget, Ortega was able to go all out, particularly in paying homage to some of his idols like Busby Berkeley, Fred Astaire and of course, Gene Kelly. Using choreography and camera technique initiated by Berkeley back in the 30’s, Ortega and co-choreographers Bonnie Story and Charles Klapow, not only expose a new generation to some classic filmmaking technique, but gives parents and grandparents touchstones to their youth. Extremely familiar to any film or musical buff will be scenes reminiscent of Fred Astaire dancing on the ceiling in “Royal Wedding” or Gene Kelly doing the inimitable “Gotta Dance” number from “Singing in the Rain” but this time with the talented Ashley Tisdale and Lucas Grabeel steppin’ out. Shooting on location in Salt Lake City, the film not only involved East High students in the production (in one scene 800 of 2000 extras are actual students and teachers) but utilized and rented the schools resources rather than look to outside sources.
Most impressive is the eye-popping costuming, choreography and musical numbers, not the least of which are some truly magical sets created by production designer Mark Hofeling that would “fly in and out and roll across the stage” leading to a sense of high school meets Broadway. One of my favorites, “I Want It All” is classic Berkeley and Kelly as the cafeteria morphs into Times Square. According to Ortega, a real challenge was “The Boys Are Back.” Set in an actual auto parts yard, Hofeling creates what Ortega calls “junkyard theater” with choreography and lensing heralding “West Side Story” but with a frenetic frenzied energy. But perhaps the most difficult but beautiful sequence is a rootop waltz to “Can I Have This Dance” where 40 crane loads of materials were lifted on top of a building to give Troy and Gabriella their own Garden of Eden.
Seeing this as an opportunity to not only choreograph for the camera but to showcase dance, Ortega made an inspired choice in adding ballroom dancing to the Senior Prom. One person excited by the decision was Monique Coleman, fourth place finisher in “Dancing With the Stars.” When I asked her about it, she told me, “I was very excited that we were going to be doing the waltzing. For one thing, that I wasn’t going to be judged. But also because I think that we have this idea of high school and the prom and that usually involves doot-do-do-doot music, extremely short skirts and how revealing can my prom dress be and that sort of thing. For the prom in our musical to be a waltz, I felt was so classy. A throwback to old movie musicals and also bringing a class and integrity to a younger generation. Whatever you expose kids to is what they’re going to absorb. If you expose them to something that is very difficult and does require trust and you to be intimating close to someone without being sexual, then I think we’re really sending out an awesome message.” According to Vanessa Hudgens, “ ballroom was the most difficult dance I had to do in the movie. Nothing could have ever prepared me for doing the waltz. When Kenny told me about it, I thought he was kidding.” But, echoing Monique’s sentiments, “I’m really proud of it. It’s so classic and so classy. So sweet and romantic and actually one of my favorite parts of the movie.”
One of the greatest statements I can make about this film speaks to the “Disney family.” Notable is the lack of “tabloid fodder train wrecks” among this cast and the fact that it appears that the filmmakers have followed in the tradition of Walt Disney himself in shepherding and guiding these young actors not only through the High School Musical experience but in their career choices and life. According to producer Barry Rosenbush, “These are my children. These are our children. We know all their parents very well. We look out for them not only as actors and actresses but young men and women. When we first went through the casting process everybody had to do the auditions like it was for a Broadway show. No one is here because they did the ordinary process. They really had to sing and dance and perform. We came to really know them and we are involved with them in a very parental kind of way. We have an investment in them as young people not just as actors and actresses, but we like them and teach them and lead by example. We are very proud of what they have done both on and off the screen.”
HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3: Exuberant! Celebratory! Joyous! High school never looked or sounded so good!
Directed by Kenny Ortega. Written by Peter Barsocchini.
