https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=156s
Twenty years later, we still can’t take our eyes off High School Musical. In honor of the twenty-year milestone of Disney’s hit franchise, director and choreographer Kenny Ortega, along with original star Monique Coleman, visited Good Morning America this week to discuss the anniversary.
During the interview, Ortega recalled the moment he realized the franchise would be a success during the shooting of the finale number, We’re All in This Together. “I called playback, and the music blared through the speakers and I pulled away from my monitors and looked into the room and it just spoke to me,” he explained. “I realized that we had accomplished something at that moment that was powerful and important.”
As the character of Taylor McKessie, Coleman shared the response that she gets from fans now. “A lot of people say, ‘You raised me’ or ‘You were my childhood.’ And I think to exist in that space in people’s minds is something that is so special because they’ve now grown up and they are the decision-makers…” she said, adding that people also have told her that she is the reason they have pursued acting.
On whether a High School Musical reunion is in the cards, Ortega is unsure, but revealed that he would be willing if everything were to fall into place. “If I had all of these beautiful souls back, you bet,” he said. “But I also believe that what we have still has legs and still works.” Check out the full segment now.
The High School Musical franchise was born in 2006, when Disney Channel aired the first High School Musical movie, which became the highest-rated original movie up until that time. It went on to win the Television Critics Association Award for Outstanding Children’s Programming, and received two Emmy Awards (of its total 6 nominations), a DGA Award, an Imagen Award for Best Children’s Program, and a Humanitas Prize nomination. The soundtrack received a Billboard Music Award for Soundtrack of the Year, and was nominated for an American Music Award in the Favorite Album (Pop/Rock) category.
High School Musical 2, the sequel to the smash hit, premiered on the Disney Channel on August 17, 2007 and drew an estimated 17.2 million viewers on Friday night, making it the most-watched basic cable telecast ever at the time. The third film hit theaters in 2008, becoming the first theatrical outing of the franchise and a box office success.
The cast of High School Musical includes Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu, Alyson Reed, and Monique Coleman. Spin-offs include 2011’s Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure, which follows the character as she makes her Broadway debut, and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, which premiered on Disney+ in 2019. A stage adaptation of the first film debuted in 2007.
