“What could possibly go right?”
Disney Plus launched this week, and for most people, that meant they could finally binge watch all the Avengers or Star Wars movies. For us, it meant we could finally watch "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series."
No that wasn’t a typo, that is literally the name of the latest addition to the High School Musical canon. We didn’t believe it either.
The show takes place in the present day, 13 years after the first movie’s release, at the high school where it was filmed. It follows the stories of students and their new drama teacher attempting to put on the musical themselves for the first time.
Our first question was, in what universe is this set? Do the actual characters from the movie exist in reality, or is it just the high school where the movie was filmed? We watched two episodes and don’t think we quite know the answer, although several throwaway references to “V. Hudge” proved quite alarming.
But that’s a story for another column. What we’re here to do is answer your next question: Should you watch it?
(Disclaimer: if you were as invested in watching the show as we were and want to avoid spoilers, proceed with caution.)
The answer is complicated, and kind of a cop-out. While the storyline is entertaining and is enough to keep us invested in the plight of high school drama students, the content is overall unoriginal and does not pay respect to its source material.
Right off the bat, we noticed some thematic parallels. Like the original movie, the show starts off in a new school year after a summer of growth for the characters. It even shows the male lead, Ricky (presumably the Troy of this series) walking into the school with his best friend. Later, when Ricky auditions for the part of Troy in the musical, he’s late — in true Bolton fashion.
