High School Musical (film series)

High School Musical (2006)
High School Musical was released on January 20, 2006 as a Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM), and is the most successful DCOM ever produced. The movie was Disney Channel's most watched movie in 2006, with 7.7 million viewers for its premiere broadcast in the US and 789,000 viewers for its UK premiere. It was the first DCOM ever to be broadcasted by BBC on December 29, 2006, and has been viewed by over 225 million people worldwide. The first film's leads were Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale and Lucas Grabeel, who sang most of the songs.

The movie follows star athlete Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) and shy, smart Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens) when the school musical changes their lives. Troy and Gabriella meet while vacationing at a ski lodge over Christmas Break and inadvertently participate in a karaoke contest together ("Start of Something New"). When school starts in January, drama queen Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) makes a dramatic entrance at East High, Troy's school. At this point, Gabriella is revealed to be a new transfer student to the school; she and Troy reconnect. Later that day, the pair are seen talking at the sign-up sheet for the Winter Musical by the Drama Club's co-president, Sharpay. Her brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel), the other co-president, notices Troy constantly coming back to the sheet. Doing her research, Sharpay finds out that Gabriella was a top student at her old schools and convinces Scholastic Decathlon captain Taylor McKessie (Monique Coleman) to invite Gabriella to the team as a distraction from auditioning. Troy's best friend, Chad Danforth (Corbin Bleu), is concerned that Troy's mind seems to have wandered away from basketball despite being varsity team captain and struggles to keep his attention.

As the day of auditions quickly approaches, and Troy and Gabriella are too shy to come forward after watching Sharpay and Ryan perform their own flashy arrangement of a love song ("What I've Been Looking For"). Kelsi Nielsen (Olesya Rulin), the composer and writer of the musical, objects, but is ridiculed by Sharpay. Following the audition, Troy and Gabriella pluck up the courage to come forward but Mrs. Darbus (Alyson Reed) declares it too late to audition, and they are left crestfallen. As they are about to leave, Kelsi trips and drops her music. After helping her pick it up, they listen to her play the intended version of the song. Mrs. Darbus overhears Troy and Gabriella singing and invites them to a callback.

When the school finds out that Troy and Gabriella have auditioned for the Winter Musical, everyone fears the status quo of the school is drastically changing and Sharpay gets frustrated and worried ("Stick to the Status Quo"). Sharpay and Ryan find out that Chad and Taylor are going to split Troy and Gabriella up. Chad and Taylor are afraid that their respective teams will fall to pieces, so the pair stage individual interventions and get Troy and Gabriella to change their minds about their respective auditions. This particularly affects Gabriella, who now believes that Troy didn't really care about their friendship ("When There Was Me And You"). Upon realizing the damage they have caused, Chad and Taylor's respective groups feel guilty and fix the situation. When word comes that Troy and Gabriella are still interested in auditioning, Sharpay and Ryan convince Mrs. Darbus to change the date of the callbacks to the date of the game and the Decathlon. The pair go on as planned with their audition ("Bop to the Top"). Fearful that their friends will be unable to attend the callbacks, Chad and Taylor stage a school-wide computer glitch that forces the whole school to pack the auditorium. Without appearance, Mrs. Darbus considers cancelling Troy and Gabriella's callback; however they arrive in the nick of time and sing ("Breaking Free"). In the end, Ms. Darbus decides to award the lead roles to Troy and Gabriella, making Sharpay and Ryan understudies. Sharpay hopes that she will not lose by not getting lead in the musical, but does not retain any hard feelings.

The film ends with the entire school gathering in the gym to celebrate East High's basketball win ("We're All in This Together").

High School Musical 2 (2007)
It's the end of the school year, and everyone's excited for summer vacation ("What Time is It?"). Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) is happy to finally be spending her summer vacation without having to move. When the whole gang gets hired at Lava Springs Country Club as summer help, resident drama queen Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale), whose parents own the club, is concerned that the Wildcats are once again marching in on her territory ("Fabulous"). While taking time out of her day to convince club manager Mr. Fulton (Mark L. Taylor) to intimidate the Wildcats into quitting ("Work This Out"), Sharpay schemes to win over Troy (Zac Efron) by offering him various luxuries, including a chance for a college scholarship. Although Troy says he's committed to his relationship with Gabriella, Gabriella grows concerned after hearing he's spending more time with Sharpay.

Meanwhile, the club is preparing for the end-of-summer talent show, and the piano-playing Kelsi (Olesya Rulin) has written a special ballad especially for Troy and Gabriella ("You Are the Music in Me"), one that Sharpay would like rearranged for just her and Troy. When Ryan (Lucas Grabeel) discovers that Sharpay is no longer interested in his talent due to her pursuit of Troy, he finds himself spending more time with the Wildcats, even playing against Chad (Corbin Bleu) in a staff baseball game ("I Don't Dance"), one that Troy skips to attend a college hoops practice which Sharpay has indirectly set up. Ryan even goes so far as to secretly prepare a special dance number for the Wildcats to perform at the talent show. When Sharpay stumbles upon the Wildcats' rehearsal, she orders Mr. Fulton, to disallow all Junior Staff to partake in the talent show, namely the Wildcats. Fulton draws up a quick memo and pushes Activities Director, Taylor (Monique Coleman), to notify the staff.

Troy's good mood suddenly turns sour when everyone starts ignoring him. After a devastating rehearsal with Sharpay for the talent show,("You Are the Music in Me (Reprise)"), Troy loses Gabriella ("Gotta Go My Own Way"), who informs him of her frustration with Sharpay's scheme and quits her job at Lava Springs. He discovers the reason for his friends' coldness when Kelsi quietly passes him Mr. Fulton's memo ("Bet On It"). An angry Troy then confronts Sharpay and tells her he has to break his promise and not sing with her. When Chad and the Wildcats find out he's no longer singing in the show, they push him to go back to Sharpay, and only moments before the show does Ryan tell Troy she picked a different song. When Troy announces his disappointment to Sharpay of the change, Sharpay is left surprised and confused- she never chose another song. As the final act, Troy is on stage singing solo, not knowing what to expect. Gabriella- in a surprise move- comes back and joins him. The rest of the Wildcats soon come on stage as well to complete the musical number ("Everyday"). Sharpay learns her lesson in humility and is invited to join in; instead of awarding the Star Dazzle Trophy (given to the best act) to herself as usual, she chooses to give it to Ryan.

The summer comes to a conclusion with a staff pool party ("All for One").

High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008)
It's the end of the Wildcats' championship basketball game against the West High Knights, where team captain Troy (Zac Efron) immediately rallies their spirits ("Now or Never"). At Troy's after-party, Troy and his girlfriend, Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens), are seen sitting in Troy's treehouse reflecting about the past year and picturing how their last few months at East High would end ("Right Here, Right Now").

The following week at East High, Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) made another dramatic entrance and a drama teacher, Ms. Darbus (Alyson Reed), is alarmed when few students sign up to audition for the Spring Musical, and Sharpay suggests that she perform a one-woman show. Quickly, the discouraged playwright, Kelsi (Olesya Rulin), scribbles on the sign up sheet everyone in her homeroom class, including Sharpay, Ryan, Troy, Gabriella, and the less than enthusiastic Chad (Corbin Bleu), Taylor (Monique Coleman), and other fellow Wildcats. Conclusively, Ms. Darbus announces that the Spring Musical will reflect the students' final days at East High. Ms. Darbus also announces that she will select one student for a Juilliard scholarship with Sharpay, Ryan, Kelsi, and Troy under consideration. Desperate to win the scholarship and knowing Kelsi will give the lead roles to Troy and Gabriella, Sharpay tries to persuade Ryan (Lucas Grabeel) to help her convince Kelsi to consider them instead by predicting their future in theater ("I Want It All").

Prom is around the corner, and Chad asks Taylor to be his date. She declines because she feels him to be unenthused about the event. Subsequently, Chad jumps onto a table and announces to the entire cafeteria that he is interested in having Taylor be his date, and she accepts ("A Night to Remember"). Meanwhile, Gabriella finds out that she has a chance to attend college early. Sharpay told Troy that Gabriella is going to Stanford early. Troy encourages Gabriella to go, convinced that he is the only reason holding her back. However, on Prom night, Troy drives out to pick up Gabriella as East High is not the same without her. Days later, the play finally goes on as planned ("Spring Musical"), and Sharpay is prepared for the last musical at East High. At the close of the evening, Ms. Darbus announces that both Kelsi and Ryan each received the scholarship to Juilliard. It is also revealed the outcome of the other student's college choices("We're All in This Together (Graduation Mix)").

The film concludes with a big celebratory graduation ("High School Musical"), and then, like a stage musical, has closeups of the lead actors.

Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure (2011)
Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure can be considered a sequel to High School Musical 3: Senior Year. The film also takes place shortly after the graduation of the original cast. It starts with Sharpay Evans, the spin-off's protagonist, learning about the audition to a musical on Broadway. So, Sharpay travels to New York City with her dog Boi and meets Peyton (Austin Butler). Everything goes awry on such a "fabulous adventure" for Sharpay.

One example includes Boi and another boy's (Bradley Steven Perry) dog running away. Searching for the pets, him and Sharpay find that the dogs are madly in love.

By the end, Sharpay gets the part in a real Broadway musical and shares a kiss with Peyton. Then her twin brother Ryan Evans visits, to say that he is not in Juilliard with Kelsi as hinted in ""High School Musical 3: Senior Year."