Column: We watched 'High School Musical: The Musical: The Series' so you don't have to

“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.

But besides the set, that’s where most of the parallels end.

The show is set up in a "mockumentary" style, full of asides, breaking of the fourth wall and shaky camera movement (more disorienting than realistic). As for the characters, it's like Glee and Riverdale had a baby. Nini, the main female character, gives off more Rachel Berry vibes than Gabriella. She plays the often-overlooked chorus girl, desperate for her shot at the lead. 

There is even a weird cut away in the middle of her audition scene: Nini, in a red dress, alone on the stage, under the spotlights (think: the Glee version of "Don’t Rain on My Parade"). 

The most glaring problem? The production the drama class is putting on doesn’t need to be High School Musical! 

TL;DR on the plot: Nini and Ricky dated for a year before he suggested they take a pause, after he couldn’t say ‘I love you’ back. She goes off to theater camp and meets someone new, and when they are all back at school in the fall and Ricky sees her and her new mans (senior, captain of the water polo team, Reggie Mantle look alike), he is determined to get her back. 

The best way to do this? Obviously to play the Troy to her Gabriella.

Our problem is this plot could have been as mindlessly entertaining with any musical at the center of the conflict. Other than a few references, the show does nothing to pay homage to the original series, and we would argue is actually extremely disrespectful.

In one aside, the choreographer for the show expresses his dedication to High School Musical by claiming that he has seen the original movie 37 times, and “the first 15 minutes of both sequels.” 

Back up — was this meant to imply the High School Musical sequels were in any way less than the original? That is a bold stance. The sequels to High School Musical were fantastic, with stellar original music, vocal performances from Zac Efron himself and some pretty great dance numbers. We’ll have you know Chad and Ryan’s costume switch in “I Don’t Dance” defined our generation. 

More pervasive are the sprinkled modern references that show how desperately this new show wants to connect with a younger generation. From way too many allusions to Instagram, trending hashtags and Armie Hammer’s jawline in the first 10 minutes, the East High from my childhood has been invaded by the social conventions of an online world. 

And that’s the saddest part. Going into watching this show, we expected to be overcome with nostalgia, reminiscing about a time when we dropped everything when the dance-along version of the movie was on Disney Channel. We know all hope was lost in this show when the prop for Gabriella’s BlackBerry arrived and someone asked: “Is that a garage door opener?” 

We thought Disney was trying to coax our generation back into caring about its products so we would buy our own subscriptions to Disney Plus instead of mooching off our parents, but instead it feels like we’re being pushed away. Our sentimentality for DCOM’s gone-by has been crushed.

But is Disney trying to appeal to people younger than us? The lack of foundation based on the source material doesn’t quite point to that either.

As we sat on the couch and watched the credits to the second episode roll, we sat there and wondered, “Maybe this isn’t for us?” 

But are we going to keep watching? Absolutely.

@ampogarcic

@madelinellis 

arts@dailytarheel.com

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