RageLite review - High School Musical

2020 – f*ck this year so hard

COVID-19 has changed the game, it may take a very long time for things to go back to normal, even with better testing and other measures coming into force. Physical distancing will likely be part of the new normal, making the film industry, which relies on having butts in seats, a really shaky area. The one plus has been the rise of streaming services. Some of the year’s films have been released on-demand and some directly onto streaming services.

Disney+ came out in the UK just as I had to go into self-isolation. I had paid for a year upfront and got into a few things, this year I did a full retrospective on Austin and Ally and I plan to do full retrospectives on other series, one of which is coming very soon. I also plan to cover a few series episode by episode: the Mandalorian, the Marvel stuff when it eventually comes out, and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.

But to cover that show, I first really need to cover High School Musical itself, and since the motto of 2020 seems to have been “we’re all in this together” however disingenuous that may sound, I feel like it’s a good way to round off 2020.

Troy Bolton is the captain of the Basketball team and his father is the coach. But things change for Troy when he meets Gabriella Montez at a New Years Eve Party and by a stroke of luck she happens to be transferring into his school. The two quickly bond and both display an interest in singing, eventually signing up to audition for the winter musical, must be a quick turnaround if you’d still consider it winter after New Years’ Day.

Troy and Gabriella have competition with Drama lovers (in more ways than one) Sharpay and Ryan Evans vowing to earn roles they deem rightfully theirs at any cost. It also doesn’t help that both Troy and Gabriella belong in circles that want them to stick to their circle’s rigid structure. To ‘Stick to the Status Quo’ if you will.

High School Musical is solid, it’s got a lot of problems but as a musical goes it’s got fun and memorable songs, the leads are likeable, their problems relateable (although more on that in a minute) and there’s definitely chemistry between our leads. The singing is mostly on point (again, more on that in a second) and the dance choreography is as you’d expect for Disney, really good.

Troy Bolton is being pushed in a direction by, mostly his father who has in many ways projected himself onto Troy. His teammates are also kinda pushing him to be the best that he can be. And the conflict could be made sound from their perspective. A school play is a time-intensive activity, and potentially a distraction from a high ranking and stressful position as Basketball captain, also a time-intensive activity. The possibility of clashes, and not just manufactured ones like the climax is very much a real thing.

But the reason they choose to resist it is because it has an impact on the school’s social structure. I get that ‘Stick to the Status Quo’ is supposed to be ironic but it’s really not a problem that another guy who does basketball also likes to bake but I don’t see what possible reason anyone would have find a problem in this. Baking is not a time commitment in the same way that drama and sport are, because you have total control over when you bake. And it’s not some prejudiced misconceptions about baking not being masculine or some such garbage, it’s just the idea that you can’t like two things. That’s not human nature and even at high school, people know that.

But granting there’s some level of high school hierarchy that this goes against, okay, so what’s the deal with Miss Darbis. She gives Troy and Gabriella a call back despite them not singing directly for her, and them not being on time for the audition, then seems to go along with the idea that they may be trying to sabotage the musical, even going so far as to confronting Troy’s father about it, and going along with Sharpay’s plan to have the call-backs clash with everything. If she was that convinced that Troy is attempting to sabotage the play, why not just not cast them, why the subterfuge?

I don’t even have that much to say about Sharpay herself, even less so her brother Ryan. They have a couple of really good musical numbers. But it’s not until the second film where she takes centre stage as an antagonist. And I’ll get to bulldozing those ‘Sharpay was innocent’ arguments when I get to that film, eventually.

Whilst we’re on the singing though, one thing that struck me as off is Troy’s singing voice. It doesn’t sound fitting and that’s because it’s not Zac Efron singing, or at least not just him. Drew Seely provided the singing voice for Troy as the songs weren’t written for Zac Efron’s vocal range. The voice was apparently Blended with Efron’s but it really sounds unnatural coming out of Efron’s mouth.

I haven’t really spoken much about Gabriella and her struggles, mostly because they all seem to revolve around Troy. They probably should’ve played up her anxieties about being the new freaky genius girl at school or hell, her stage-fright. It has one joke and she’s in the scholastic decathlon, making a few friends but her friends and are much like Troy’s team. Serving as a roadblock and later an assist in getting them to the call-back.

High School Musical is a fun time, if you’re a high schooler, there are probably aspects you can relate to. As a 28-year-old, I find some its tropes and plot elements dated and/or non-sensical. Still, you’re probably not here for the story but for the songs and if you’re into high energy, relatively happy pop tracks (my preferred ointment for 2020), I think you’ll enjoy this.

Rating 60/100