I'll never shy away from being obsessed with musicals, whether they're from my early years as a teenager and onward. For today's post however, I thought I'd share my thoughts on a show with a very long title name. I hope you enjoy it!
Explaining the plot of each season would take up too much writing time for me, but what I can say is that the formula for these episodes gives little doses of nostalgia since the show is essentially inspired by the original High School Musical movies. It's crazy to imagine how much time has passed since the release date for those original movies! Alas, one thing I find to be funny is how quickly I fell in love with the music that comes with the new series (HSMTMTS).
The cast is kind of big, but each character definitely holds a lot of personality. The kids' names in this series are Ricky Bowen (played by Joshua Bassett), Nini (Olivia Rodrigo), Ashlyn (Julia Lester), E.J. Caswell (played by Matt Cornett), Gina Porter (Sofia Wylie), Frankie Rodriguez (Carlos Rodriguez), Sebastian (better known as Seb and played by Joe Serafini), Big Red (played by Larry Seperstein) and Kourtney (played by Dara Renee). There are cameo and guest appearances throughout this series: Kaycee Stroh, Lucas Grabeel, Jason Earles and Corbin Bleu. There are obviously more main characters that get added to each season, and others either get booted down to only recurring roles or eventually end up moving on.
I think what makes this show so hype-worthy is how so many pressing social issues get represented in this show. LGBTQ+ love, having anxiety, other themes of love that aren't romantic, imperfect home lives and highlighting the struggles of finding yourself/following your dreams. No matter how young or old you are, I really believe that this show has something for everybody. Disney has really outdone themselves with this one show, and honestly, this makes me excited to see what else is up their sleeves for new original shows!
Circling back to the very extensive cast list here, it wouldn't make sense for me to overlook the amount of talent that all these people have! Kate Reinders appears as the school's new theater teacher within the very first episode. She sings "Around You" with Derek Hough in season 2 and has a moment with Lucas Grabeel in season 1 while performing the song "Role of a Lifetime". Her credentials as a performer outside of this show include being cast as Glinda in Wicked on Broadway which is hinted at during the song, so if anything, I feel like Disney did something right in letting her sing on occasion without taking away from the kids' talents.
To wrap up this review, I'm going to leave a playlist of my top favorite songs. If you end up listening to any of them, feel free to let me know and share your own thoughts! Keep in mind that these songs are not in any particular order, and you can easily look up the videos for them on YouTube. Enjoy!
PLAYLIST
1. The Rose Song by Olivia Rodrigo
2. A Different Way to Dance by Corbin Bleu and Sofia Wylie
3. Rising by Julia Lester
4. You Never Know by Olivia Rodrigo
5. Here I Come by Dara Renee
6. A Dancer's Heart by Sofia Wylie
7. Balance by Sofia Wylie
8. In a Heartbeat by Carlos Rodriguez
9. Right Place by Adrian Lyles
10. Born to Be Brave by the entire cast
11. Red Means Love by Julia Lester and Larry Seperstein
12. Finally Free by Joshua Bassett
13. Wondering by Julia Lester and Olivia Rodrigo
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