High School Musical: The Musical: The Series is an Emmy winning Disney+ Original Series created by Tim Federle. The series revolves around a fictionalized version of East High School, where the original High School Musical films were filmed, who participate in their first staging in Season 1. High School Musical: The Musical: The Series premiered on Disney Channel, ABC, and Freeform as a preview simulcast on November 8, 2019, ahead of its launch on Disney+ on November 12; its first season consisted of 10 episodes. In October 2019, before the series debuted, Disney+ renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on May 14, 2021, and consisted of 12 episodes. The third season premiered on July 27, 2022, and will consisted of eight episodes. The fourth and final season released on August 9, 2023, with eight episodes.
Plot[]
Season 1[]
Welcome to East Highās first-ever production of High School Musical: The Musical, where a new era of high school kids and their new drama teacher attempt to remake history on stage, nearly 15 years after the Disney Original Movie was filmed there. Taking on the roles of Gabriella, Ricky and the rest of the original characters are Nini, a rising star fresh out of theater camp; Ricky, Niniās skateboarding ex-boyfriend who joins the theater department to win her back; E.J., Niniās posh and easy-on-the-eyes new love interest; and Gina, the ambitious new transfer student with skeletons in her closet and theater in her bones. Performing new material and remakes of classic HSM songs, these aspiring actors from East High are determined to bring their meta-version of High School Musical to the stage, along with all the real-life drama that wasnāt in the original script!
Season 2[]
Joining Nini (Olivia Rodrigo), Ricky (Joshua Bassett), E.J. (Matt Cornett), Gina (Sofia Wylie), Big Red (Larry Saperstein), Ashlyn (Julia Lester), Kourtney (Dara ReneƩ), Carlos (Frankie A. Rodriguez), Seb (Joe Serafini), Mr. Mazzara (Mark St. Cyr), Miss Jenn (Kate Reinders), and there are several new exciting characters. Zack (Derek Hough), Miss Jenn's ex-boyfriend and former high school heartthrob, shakes things up when he returns to Salt Lake City after a successful acting career in NYC to be the new Drama Teacher at East High's rival high school, North High. Antoine (Andrew Barth Feldman), a foreign exchange student at North High, can not help but flirt with Ashlyn. Howie (Roman Banks), a hyper-smart, bespectacled, adorkable high school junior, gets close to a certain Wildcat or two while working after school as a delivery guy for Big Red's family Pizza Shop, Salt Lake Slices. And Lily (Olivia Rose Keegan) is a sugary sweet, energetic East High Student who wants nothing more to be on-stage with the Wildcats, but her sweetness masks her highly competitive nature.
Season 3[]
In the new season, it's summer break! The Wildcats leave the hallways of East High for the ultimate summer at sleepaway camp, complete with campfires, summer romances and curfew-less nights. Camp Shallow Lake, a family-owned sleepaway camp in California. With a high-stakes production of Frozen and a behind-the-scenes ādocuseriesā of the production in the works, the Wildcats will attempt to show who is ābest in snowā without leaving anyone out in the cold.
Season 4[]
In season four of āHigh School Musical: The Musical: The Series,ā after an epic summer at Camp Shallow Lake, the Wildcats return to East High where they will prepare a stage production of āHigh School Musical 3: Senior Year.ā On their first day back, the principal announces that Disney has decided to make the long-awaited āHigh School Musical 4: The Reunionā movie on location at their beloved high school, and our Wildcats will be playing featured extras in the movie. Itās season four, and itās now or never.
Production[]
On November 9, 2017, it was announced that Disney was developing a television series adaptation of their High School Musical film series created by Peter Barsocchini. The series was expected to premiere on Disney's then-unnamed upcoming streaming service. The company had planned to adapt the franchise for television and approached creator Tim Federle to develop an idea for a series. Federle pitched the documentary-style series in January 2018 and went on to draft the pilot together with Disney Channel, who contributed to the production of the series. On May 30, 2018, it was announced that Federle would serve as a writer and executive producer for the series. On September 6, Disney officially gave the production a series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes. Oliver Goldstick was expected to serve as showrunner and an additional executive producer while Julie Ashton would oversee the casting process. Alongside this announcement, it was also revealed that the show would be of the mockumentary genre and a list of character names and descriptions was released. By May 2019, Goldstick had departed the series over "creative differences", having served as showrunner for the first four episodes.
In October 2019, ahead of the release of the first season, Disney+ renewed the series for a second season. Federle stated that the second season's plot would not revolve around a production of High School Musical 2; it was revealed in February 2020 that the featured production would be Beauty and the Beast. The second season consisted of twelve episodes.
On September 13, 2021, Disney+ renewed the series for a third season. It was revealed within the announcement that production of the series would relocate from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles, and would begin later in the year. The season was announced to be set at a sleep-away theater camp taking place over the summer school break.[1]
Cast[]
| Actor | Character | # of Appearances | Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joshua Bassett | Ricky Bowen | 38/38 | Main | ||||
| Olivia Rodrigo | Nini Salazar-Roberts | 25/38 | Main | Recurring | N/A | ||
| Matt Cornett | E.J. Caswell | 33/38 | Main | Recurring | |||
| Sofia Wylie | Gina Porter | 37/38 | Main | ||||
| Julia Lester | Ashlyn Caswell | 38/38 | Main | ||||
| Frankie Rodriguez | Carlos Rodriguez | 38/38 | Main | ||||
| Dara ReneƩ | Kourtney Greene | 37/38 | Main | ||||
| Larry Saperstein | Big Red | 26/38 | Main | Guest Star | Recurring | ||
| Kate Reinders | Miss Jenn | 33/38 | Main | Recurring | Main | ||
| Mark St. Cyr | Mr. Mazzara | 20/38 | Main | N/A | Recurring | ||
| Joe Serafini | Seb Matthew-Smith | 27/38 | Recurring | Main | Guest Star | Recurring | |
| Saylor Bell | Maddox | 13/38 | N/A | Main | Recurring | ||
| Adrian Lyles | Jet | 13/38 | N/A | Main | Recurring | ||
| Liamani Segura | Emmy | 11/38 | N/A | Recurring | Main | ||
| Alexis Nelis | Natalie Bagley | 11/38 | Recurring | N/A | Guest Star | ||
| Alex Quijano | Mike Bowen | 17/38 | Recurring | N/A | Recurring | ||
| Beth Lacke | Lynne Bowen | 6/38 | Recurring | Guest Star | N/A | Guest Star | |
| Michelle Noh | Dana Salazar-Roberts | 5/38 | Recurring | N/A | Guest Star | N/A | |
| Nicole Sullivan | Carol Salazar-Roberts | 3/38 | Recurring | N/A | Guest Star | N/A | |
| Jeanne Sakata | Malou | 3/38 | Recurring | N/A | |||
| Valente Rodriguez | Principal Gutierrez | 7/38 | Recurring | N/A | |||
| Deepti Gupta | Kalyani Patel | 3/38 | Recurring | Guest Star | N/A | ||
| Derek Hough | Zack | 3/38 | N/A | Recurring | N/A | ||
| Olivia Rose Keegan | Lily | 10/38 | N/A | Recurring | Guest Star | ||
| Roman Banks | Howie | 8/38 | N/A | Recurring | N/A | ||
| Andrew Barth Feldman | Antoine | 3/38 | N/A | Recurring | N/A | ||
| Kimberly Brooks | Michelle Greene | 10/38 | N/A | Recurring | Guest Star | ||
| Corbin Bleu | Himself | 5/38 | N/A | Recurring | |||
| Jason Earles | Dewey Wood | 7/38 | N/A | Recurring | |||
| Ben Stillwell | Channing | 5/38 | N/A | Recurring | |||
| Aria Brooks | Alex | 3/38 | N/A | Recurring | |||
| Meg Donnelly | Val | 5/38 | N/A | Recurring | |||
| Kylie Crantall | Dani | TBA | N/A | Recurring | |||
| Vasthy Mompoint | Krystal | TBA | N/A | Recurring | |||
| Caitlin Reilly | Quinn | TBA | N/A | Recurring | |||
| Matt Sato | Mack | TBA | N/A | Recurring | |||
| Kaycee Stroh | Herself/Martha Cox | 1 | Guest Star | N/A | Recurring | ||
| Lucas Gabreel | Himself/Ryan Evans | 1 | Guest Star | N/A | Recurring | ||
| Addison Morgan | Emily Pratt | 2/30 | Guest Star | N/A | |||
| Napiera Groves | Terri Porter | 1 | Guest Star | N/A | |||
| Jacob Young | Cash Caswell | 1 | N/A | Guest Star | N/A | ||
| Asher Angel | Jack | 1 | N/A | Guest Star | N/A | ||
| Jordan Fisher | Jamie Porter | 1 | N/A | Guest Star | N/A | ||
| Jesse Tyler Ferguson | Marvin | 1 | N/A | Guest Star | |||
| JoJo Siwa | Madison | 1 | N/A | Guest Star | |||
| Monique Coleman | Herself/Taylor McKessie | TBA | N/A | Recurring | |||
| Bart Johnson | Himself/Coach Bolton | TBA | N/A | Recurring | |||
| Alyson Reed | Herself/Ms. Darbus | TBA | N/A | Recurring | |||
| Kenidee Allen | Dancer Kenidee | TBA | Background Dancer | N/A | Background Dancer | ||
| Adeline Baker | Dancer Addie | TBA | Background Dancer | N/A | Background Dancer | ||
| Lauryn Carino | Dancer Lauryn | TBA | Background Dancer | N/A | Background Dancer | ||
| Kaison Cotton | Dancer Kaison | TBA | Background Dancer | N/A | Background Dancer | ||
| Kaden Dayton | Dancer Kaden | TBA | Background Dancer | N/A | Background Dancer | ||
| Buddy Hills | Dancer Buddy | TBA | Background Dancer | N/A | Background Dancer | ||
| Nicki Ouk | Dancer Nicki | TBA | Background Dancer | N/A | Background Dancer | ||
| Andres Penate | Dancer Rico | TBA | Background Dancer | N/A | Background Dancer | ||
| Bryan Rey | Dancer Bryan | TBA | Background Dancer | N/A | Background Dancer | ||
| Stephani Sosa | Steph | TBA | Background Dancer | N/A | Background Dancer | ||
| Jason Hancock | Dancer Jason | ||||||
| Mackenzie Jarrett | Dancer Mackenzie | ||||||
| Jarred Manista | Dancer Jarred | ||||||
| Alyssa Massimiani | Dancer Alyssa | ||||||
| Caden Miller | Dancer | ||||||
| Bailey Munoz | Dancer Johnny "Crash" | ||||||
| Lauren Wallingford | Dancer Lauren | ||||||
| Arielle Wilson | Dancer Arielle | ||||||
Episodes[]
| No.
overall |
No. in
season |
Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | The Auditions | Tamra Davis | Tim Federle | November 8, 2019 |
| 2 | 2 | The Read-Through | Tamra Davis | Oliver Goldstick | November 15, 2019 |
| 3 | 3 | The Wonderstudies | Tamra Davis | Zach Dodes | November 22, 2019 |
| 4 | 4 | Blocking | Chad Lowe | Margee Magee | November 29, 2019 |
| 5 | 5 | Homecoming | Joanna Kerns | Tim Federle | December 6, 2019 |
| 6 | 6 | What Team? | Kimberly McCullough & Joanna Kerns | Oliver Goldstick | December 13, 2019 |
| 7 | 7 | Thanksgiving | Kimberly McCullough | Ann Kim | December 20, 2019 |
| 8 | 8 | The Tech Rehearsal | Joanna Kerns | Natalia Castells-Esquivel | December 28, 2019 |
| 9 | 9 | Opening Night | Kabir Akhtar | Oliver Goldstick | January 3, 2020 |
| 10 | 10 | Act Two | Kabir Akhtar | Tim Federle | January 10, 2020 |
| No.
overall |
No. in
Season |
Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 1 | New Year's Eve | Kimberly McCullough | Tim Federle | May 14, 2021 |
| 12 | 2 | Typecasting | Kimberly McCullough | Ann Kim | May 21, 2021 |
| 13 | 3 | Valentineās Day | Paul Hoen | Zach Dodes | May 28, 2021 |
| 14 | 4 | The Storm | Paul Hoen | Ritza Bloom | June 4, 2021 |
| 15 | 5 | The QuinceaƱero | Kimberly McCullough | Emilia Serrano | June 11, 2021 |
| 16 | 6 | Yes, And... | Kimberly McCullough | llana Wolpert | June 18, 2021 |
| 17 | 7 | The Field Trip | Paul Hoen | Carrie Rosen | June 25, 2021 |
| 18 | 8 | Most Likely To | Paul Hoen | Nneka Gerstle | July 2, 2021 |
| 19 | 9 | Spring Break | Brent Geisler | Natalia Castells-Esquivel | July 9, 2021 |
| 20 | 10 | The Transformation | Joanna Kerns | Jessica Leventhal | July 16, 2021 |
| 21 | 11 | Showtime | Joanna Kerns | Zach Dodes | July 23, 2021 |
| 22 | 12 | Second Chances | Kimberly McCullough & Joanna Kerns | Zach Dodes & Tim Federle | July 30, 2021 |
| No.
overall |
No.in Season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original
release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | 1 | Happy Campers | Kimberly McCullough | Zach Dodes | July 27, 2022 |
| 24 | 2 | Into the Unknown | Kimberly McCullough | llana Wolpert | August 3, 2022 |
| 25 | 3 | The Woman in the Woods | Angela Tortu | Natalia Casttells-
Esquivel |
August 10, 2022 |
| 26 | 4 | No Drama | Angela Tortu | Nneka GerstIe | August 17, 2022 |
| 27 | 5 | The Real Campers of Shallow Lake | Ann Marie
Pace |
Jessica Leventhal | August 24, 2022 |
| 28 | 6 | Color War | Christine
Lakin |
Chandler Turk | August 31, 2022 |
| 29 | 7 | Camp Prom | Kim McCullough | Zach Dodes | September 7, 2022 |
| 30 | 8 | Let it Go | Kimberly McCullough | Tim Federle | September 14, 2022 |
| No.
overall |
No, In
season |
Title | Directed by | Written by | Original
release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | 1 | High School Musical 4 | Hisham Abed | Tim Federle | August 9 2023 |
| 32 | 2 | HSM vs. HSM | Kimberly McCullough | IIana Wolpert | August 9 2023 |
| 33 | 3 | A Star is Reborn | Kimberly McCullough | Ann Kim | August 9 2023 |
| 34 | 4 | Trick or Treat | Ann Marie Pace | Elisabeth Kiernan Averick | August 9 2023 |
| 35 | 5 | Admissions | Ann Marie Pace | Nneka GerstIe | August 9 2023 |
| 36 | 6 | Trust the Process | Kimberly McCullough | Chandler Turk | August 9 2023 |
| 37 | 7 | Night of Nights | Kimberly McCullough | Zach Dodes | August 9 2023 |
| 38 | 8 | Born to be Brave | Tim Federle | Tim Federle | August 9 2023 |
Awards[]
| Award | Year | Category | Nominee(s) | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GLAAD Media Award | 2020 | Outstanding Kids & Family Programming | High School Musical: The Musical The Series | Won |
| Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards | 2020 | Favorite Male TV Star | Joshua Bassett | Nominated |
| Directors Guild of America Award | 2021 | Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs | Kabir Akhtar (for Opening Night) | Nominated |
| Artios Awards | 2021 | Outstanding Achievement in Casting: Children's Pilot and Series (Live Action) | Julie Ashton | Nominated |
| Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards | 2021 | Favorite Female Star | Sofia Wylie | Nominated |
| The DisInsiderās Awards | 2021 | Best Original Song | The Rose Song performed by Olivia Rodrigo[2] | Nominated |
| The DisInsiderās Awards | 2021 | Best Original Song | Let You Go performed by Joshua Bassett[2] | Nominated |
| The DisInsiderās Awards | 2021 | Best Supporting Actor (Disney+ Original Series) | Joshua Bassett[3] | Nominated |
| Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards | 2022 | Favorite Kid's TV Show | High School Musical: The Musical: The Series | Won |
| Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards | 2022 | Favorite Male TV Star (Kids) | Joshua Bassett | Won |
| Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards | 2022 | Favorite Female TV Star (Kids) | Olivia Rodrigo | Won |
| Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards | 2022 | Favorite Female TV Star (Kids) | Sofia Wylie | Nominated |
| Children's and Family Emmys | 2022 | Outstanding Young Teen Series | High School Musical: The Musical: The Series | Nominated |
| Children's and Family Emmys | 2022 | Outstanding Choreography | High School Musical: The Musical: The Series | Nominated |
| Children's and Family Emmys | 2022 | Outstanding Costume Design/Styling | High School Musical: The Musical: The Series | Nominated |
| Children's and Family Emmys | 2022 | Outstanding Makeup and Hairstyling | High School Musical: The Musical: The Series | Nominated |
| Children's and Family Emmys | 2022 | Outstanding Lighting Design for a Live Action Program | High School Musical: The Musical: The Series | Nominated |
| Hollywood Music in Media Awards | 2022 | Song- TV Show/Limited Series | "Right Place" Written by: William Behlendorf, Jason Mater, and Brandon C. Rogers. Performed by Adrian Lyles | Nominated |
| Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards | 2023 | Favorite Kid's TV Show | High School Musical: The Musical: The Series | Nominated |
| Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards | 2023 | Favorite Male TV Star (Kids) | Joshua Bassett | Won |
| Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards | 2023 | Favorite Female TV Star (Kids) | Sofia Wylie | Nominated |
| Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards | 2023 | Favorite Female TV Star | Olivia Rodrigo | Won |
| Nickelodeon Kid's
Choice Awards |
2023 | Favorite Male TV Star | Joshua Bassett | Won |
Trivia[]
- Ricky Bowen, Ashlyn Caswell, and Carlos Rodriguez are the only characters to appear in every episode.
- Gina Porter and Kourtney Greene are only absent for one episode.