All hail the movie musical. Accessible, catchy and immortalized online, musical films have revolutionized the cinematic scene. One in particular is notable, as it celebrates its 20th anniversary this month: High School Musical. With an extensive franchise spanning four movies, a TV series, two stage musicals and even a series of video games, High School Musical revitalized the musical movie genre, signalling a new era of popularity for this genre and paving the way for films like La La Land, In the Heights, and more recently, Wicked. First released as a Disney Channel Original Movie, the film (and its soundtrack) rose quickly to fame, earning it a well-deserved place in the history books of Disney Channel. Despite targeting a young audience, this coming-of-age romantic dramedy tugs at the heartstrings of all kinds of viewers, high schoolers and adults alike.
High School Musical follows Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez as they navigate the social and academic challenges of junior year. Gabriella is a transfer student, thrust into an unfamiliar school halfway through the year, whereas Troy is a star basketball player by day and an aspiring theater kid by night. Brought together by a shared love of music, the two form an unlikely friendship and ultimately decide to audition together for their school musical. This catches the attention of theater tycoon and certified diva Sharpay Evans, who becomes dead set on breaking up Troy and Gabriella and shutting them out of the theater scene permanently. Still, despite Sharpay’s torments and high school social stigmas, both students choose to break free from their peers’ expectations and embrace their own uniqueness.
After its release, High School Musical won 14 different awards, including the Billboard Music Award’s Album of the Year and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Program. The movie was nominated for 17 additional honors, particularly highlighting director Kenny Ortega, also known for his work on Broadway’s Newsies and the Descendants franchise. Needless to say, High School Musical had an outstanding public reception, encouraging the production of the most recent addition to the franchise, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, featuring the popular stars Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett.
In addition to international fame, the film had a powerful impact on young performers who face similar struggles balancing work and passion. As an avid theater kid myself, High School Musical was a staple in my childhood. The music, particularly “Stick to the Status Quo” and “Breaking Free,” hit close to home as I was struggling to fit into one box or another in high school. It’s easy to get lost in the crowd’s expectations, but ultimately it’s your distinctive, eccentric interests that set you apart from the masses.
Though musical theater is not necessarily an unusual passion, it still exists in a world apart from mainstream media. That’s why High School Musical is such a landmark in the film industry. It was certainly not the first movie musical to hit home theaters—the first recognized movie of this genre was The Broadway Melody in 1929—but its widespread popularity securely established the genre’s prevalence in modern media for every age group. Nowadays, movie musicals are abundant, both in film adaptations of Broadway musicals and professional stage recordings. These new productions have further popularized musical theater in the public eye (thank you, Hamilton), skyrocketing public interest in live theater, particularly among younger generations. Gen Z is seeing a spike in theater engagement, with young adults representing the greater part of regular theatergoers. Plus, recent statistics show that the 2024-2025 Broadway season was the highest-grossing season in history, an exciting data point for artists around the world.
On the surface, High School Musical is just another Disney Channel film amongst over 100 others. Overall, it is fairly unimpressive in the grand scheme of American films. Yet, on a deeper, cultural level, it has made a significant social impact in the form of ridiculously catchy tunes and wholesome characters who encourage you to fly away from limiting expectations and find your calling amongst the stars.
Gia Lish is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at gml223@cornell.edu.
