Like countless ‘tweens and teens around the globe, Rose Selland developed a huge crush on “High School Musical,” the Disney Channel mega- hit that bopped to the top of the television, DVD and music charts.
Oh, but that was so last year. Now she’s expecting even greater things from this week’s wildly anticipated sequel. (9 p.m. Friday on Disney, Comcast digital Channel 29.)
“It’s pretty important that it be big and amazing,” says the student at Campolindo High School in Moraga, Calif., before revealing a personal wish list.
Among the things she desperately desires from “High School Musical 2” are:
More upbeat songs. (A couple of tunes in the original were “too depressing.”)
Dance numbers that are “even more exciting.”
Additional screen time for her beloved Corbin Bleu.
A kiss between Troy (Zac Efron) and Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens), the film’s Romeo-and-Juliet-like leads.
“That one is a must,” says an adamant Selland. “It needs to happen.”
Do you get the idea that there’s some pressure on the cast and crew to live up to the incredible success of the original multi-platform sensation?
“We definitely feel the weight of expectations,” says the aforementioned Bleu during an interview in Beverly Hills. “‘High School Musical’ was able to capture lightning in a bottle and it’s really hard to do that twice. But, of course, everyone is expecting us to. Everyone wants No.2 to be just as good, if not better, than the first.”
“I don’t know if it’s pressure as much as it is responsibility,” says Peter Barsocchini, who penned the scripts for both films. “You definitely feel the responsibility because there are a lot of careers attached to this now and there are a lot of demanding fans to serve.”
Make that millions of demanding fans. According to Disney Channel data, the original feel-good film has been seen by 160 million viewers worldwide. The accompanying soundtrack, packed with catchy tunes, was the top-selling album of 2006 and the top-ranked DVD sold 400,000 units in its first day.
The movie has spawned a concert tour, an ice show, a best-selling series of junior novels, the TV sequel and a big-screen production slated for next year. The “High School Musical” franchise, which is projected to eventually generate $500 million in retail sales, has helped Disney get a leg up on Nickelodeon in the increasingly important competition to attract youthful viewers, and has bolstered its reputation as a factory adept at churning out the next generation of fresh-faced stars.
Perhaps even more impressive, “High School Musical” has pulled off a minor miracle by turning on traditionally ambivalent youngsters to the stage. More than 2,000 high schools and community theaters have licensed with Disney to stage their own productions, most of which have drawn overflow audition sessions.
“To me, that’s one of the great things to come out of all this. We’ve helped to make musicals cool and sought-after again,” says Efron, who recently appeared in the big-screen version of “Hairspray” and is set to star in a remake of “Footloose.”
So how could a modestly made and undeniably sappy movie about a hunky jock (Efron) and a straight-A bookworm (Hudgens) who break out of their respective teen cliques to establish romantic harmony on a school stage come to wield so much pop-cultural clout? Clearly, no one saw this one coming.
Well, director Kenny Ortega did. Sort of. Ortega, who choreographed the 1987 big-screen musical smash “Dirty Dancing,” immediately sensed Patrick Swayze-and-Jennifer Grey- like chemistry between his two leads while shooting the original.
As location shooting on the $4.2 million film wound down inside a high school gym in Salt Lake City, Ortega huddled with his budding stars and issued a few words of advice.
“I told them that I really feel we’re onto something special here,” he recalls. “And then I told them to hold on to your hats, and to who you are – and don’t forget where it all started.”
Apparently, they didn’t. When the cast reported, completely intact, for Round 2 in Utah, Ortega was thrilled to see that team spirit was still burning brightly.
“Amazingly, they did hold onto their hats,” he says. “If there were any egos, they were certainly checked miles away from our doors.”
