'High School Musical’ still hot

Even in the mild-mannered -- by today’s standards -- movie “Grease," the good girl didn’t get the guy until she started smoking and wearing leather pants.

But it’s a cleaner version of that movie that’s taken the planet’s teens by storm -- “High School Musical," where the smart girl gets the guy, sans leather pants and smokes.

With a big-screen movie in the works, “High School Musical 2" to be premiered on TV in August, a soon-to-come on-ice show and a Broadway opening set for 2008 -- not to mention the 60-city national touring production that kicks off in Chicago this summer -- “High School Musical" has not only stayed true to Disney’s marketing form, but also stayed big with kids and teens.

Released in January 2006, the movie plays almost endlessly on the Disney Channel, as one of its original movies, and more than a year later is still popular with viewers. So popular, in fact, that its stars/sregularly appear on TV talk shows and in magazines. They are on the cover of “Teen" magazine this month.

The film even earned an entry in the Guinness World Record Book as the first TV movie to deliver nine concurrent singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

“High School Musical" is a story about two high school students: Troy Bolton, captain of the basketball team, and Gabriella Montez, a shy transfer student who is good at math and science.

Troy and Gabriella try out for lead parts in their high school musical and even when classmates get in the way, they persist, while serving as inspiration on their way.

Teens love it, pre-teens swoon over it and even children get into it. And, if that isn’t enough -- brace yourself -- parents love it.

Sarah Wright, 14, a student at Holy Spirit High School, like many of her peers, called “High School Musical" a modern version of “Grease."

“It has catchy tunes and, definitely, Zac Efron [who plays Troy] helps a lot," she said.

But Sarah’s favorite character is Ryan, played by Lucas Grabeel.

“He cracks me up," she said. “He’s definitely the funniest one out of all of them, and he’s the craziest one."

“High School Musical" became the highest-rated original program in the history of the Disney network and, by Disney’s estimation, has reached more than 100 million viewers worldwide.

The “High School Musical" soundtrack was one of the biggest albums of 2006 and was the first-ever TV movie soundtrack to make it to No. 1 on Billboard’s Top 200, where it spent two weeks in the top position. It was also the No. 1 selling DVD during its debut, and the fastest selling TV-on-DVD title in home entertainment history.

Karen Killion, 17, a senior at Tuscaloosa County High School, played Gabriella in the school’s production of “High School Musical."

She said she likes the music and choreography of the movie, and also likened it to “Grease."

“I think the reason it goes out to so many age groups is because it’s not as risky," she said. “It’s a very family oriented show. It’s great to have that in this day and time because most of the things on TV today are ridiculous."

Playing Gabriella was one of Karen’s dreams.

“When I first saw the movie -- even before it came out on stage -- I thought, 'Wow. That would be an amazing part to play.’ I was very excited when I found out we were doing it," she said.

Kendra Wright, 14, a student at Holy Spirit, said “High School Musical" offers a change from the same old TV programming, and pointed out that the music is refreshing to teens.

“I think it’s just the musical sense of it," Kendra said. “It’s something different than the regular, like the hip-hop scene when you always have to worry about what teenagers have to look like. It’s also really, really upbeat and fun and stuff, and gets you away from the sad stories you see."

 Sarah Margaret Cates, Tuscaloosa County High School drama teacher and director of “High School Musical" for the school, said the success of the production underscored the popularity of the TV show.

“It was one of our biggest successes as a department," Cates said. “The audience sizes were huge. We had people coming to see the show just because of the name."

Cates said students see enough negativity on TV and in other media and she tries to make positive choices for the school’s productions.

Terri Terry, whose son, Ian, played a role in the County High production of the play, said every student can identify with one of the groups in the play.

“Parents love it because it’s clean and it shows that it doesn’t have to have all of that other stuff to be appealing," she said.

And, in spite of the fact that their parents love the show, teens and pre-teens keep watching.

A common refrain heard from students was that they had seen the movie not once or twice, but multiple times.

One student said that at a recent slumber party, she stayed up all night watching the movie over and over again.

Sarah Wright can relate.

“I’ve watched it a lot, and I guess I keep watching it because it’s one of those movies that every time you watch it, you notice something else new," she said. “I will notice a certain detail that I’ve never noticed before."

Reach Meredith Cummings at meredith.cummings@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0227.