As someone who belongs in this age gap, I always wanted to do musical theatre, but HSM was always one of my favorite things growing up and it definitely got some of my friends at least open to the idea of musicals, because none of my other friends were theatre geeks.
I'm obsessed with the clip you chose to visually represent Mamma Mia. I think a musical version of Mommie Dearest with the music of Abba would be AMAZING.
Your theory definitely been playing out, with Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen gaining tons of popularity among young people like me who grew up with High School Musical.
You got "bop to the top" stuck in my head again!! omg every time i see HSM that's the only thing i think of for the rest of the week. hhh... great video as always though!
WOAH WOAH WOAH. Dude. Okay so the majority of my high school had like.. the classic good ol' cliché view towards theater. And usually, when we hold auditions for musicals about like 30 theater students show up. But one time we did High School Musical and there were literally 219 people who auditioned for that. This theory might actually be true lol.
As a person who grew up watching High School Musical, it did not get me interested in musicals. I was more invested in the plot between Troy and Gabriella and the music was just a bonus along with the movie. I grew up listening to all the other Disney animated movies with music, so for me, it was just a live action version of a Disney movie. I already enjoyed those movies, and I grew up singing in front of an audience because of church and school so HSM just seemed like another "kids singing in school" movie to me. I already experienced that as a child so it didn't do much for me. I didn't start getting into musicals until I saw my middle school's production of Pajama Game, which is clearly not a musical aimed at children, but I loved the songs so much that I was so invested in learning all I could about musicals. So would spring awakening have won the Tony's without HSM? Most likely, since I don't think many kids who were listening to HSM as a child would have strived to watch a show on Broadway. I mean, Sharpay was the antagonist and she wanted to be on Broadway, not Gabriella the protagonist.
I think my biggest inspirations into theatre as a kid were Wizard of Oz, Beauty and the Beast, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and Mary Poppins, but like my school is actually doing High School Musical this year (It's actually way better than the movie IMO, I'm playing Ryan) and we have our biggest cast in years just because people want to do not just a musical, but THIS musical, so yeah, I'd say it definitely helped and is still helping teens get into theatre.
If you're teen now, you wouldn't have been a teen or a "tween" in 2006. You gotta be at least 20 if high school musical was released when you were a teen/tween. You're just a different generation.
At the risk of sounding like someone's grandmother I think a lot of it has to do with the Internet. We all know Tweens own social media. They are the masters. And in this crazy tumblr-shaped world we now live in, you only have to look to things like Broadway.com audience choice awards to see who's voting and making their voice heard. Over here UK-side, the Olivier audience award swings from Les Mis to Wicked each year pretty much. But the question I pose YOU is this, are Tweens loving your Spring Awakening shows and understanding that it's broadcasting their internal plight, or are they wanting to see Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele getting jiggy? Cynical Grandma, over and out.
+asinhendrix I think HS musical has helped a good bit, but I agree--musicals used to be a Broadway thing, and accessing them elsewhere was always really hard. I could only name one good music (The Lion King, that I saw in Chicago) before I learned of bootlegs and whatnot... now I'm actively supporting shows and buying merchandise when I'm able to, just to help the shows out even though I can't reach Broadway. And, I'm able to know beforehand which shows I can convince my family to go see and keep track of them when they're on tour. ;) There's a lot that goes into it, I think, but then entirety of Broadway is getting, well, broader!
hello! seventeen year old here. i watched spring awakening because i'm learning American Sign Language and the deaf west version attracted me. my introduction to the world of theater (of loving the shows themselves and not just being in them) started with hamilton. it was something i'd never seen before - and people my age were *obsessed* with that show when i was in 8th grade! i only very recently watched spring awakening, and rightly so. i was definitely too young before, and i wouldn't've really got it. i don't even really enjoy the jiggy bits lol - i always thought moritz's struggle with budding sexuality and having all sorts of questions about how 'it' works was relatable, which drew me in. his character always made sense to me. just thought i'd add!
Opinions on Spring Awakening Revival? Personally I am sooooooooooooo glad it's being revived. I was 6 when it originally came out (aka way too you to see spring awakening) but now that I'm in high school I finally get a chance to experience it and relate to it (even though my parents probably aren't going to let me see it. Theres always youtube)
Wow! You uploading this really freaked me out, 'cause just yesterday I was revisiting a lot of HSM videos just analyzing them and wondering why it was such a big success and its quality as a movie musical. And I just ended up thinking the same thing as you, it introduced the idea of musicals for that generation and it showed big production companies that musicals could have a younger audience. I love your videos btw, I'd never commented but this time I was just too amazed not to.
I was poor and didn't have cable so I barely got to watch Disney channel at all until Netflix. So I didn't see high school musical until last year. This theory is very interesting. But Spring Awakening premiered off Broadway only four months later in May. I definitely get what you're saying though.
I was in an industry reading version of high school musical here in NYC that had originally premiered 6 months before Disney’s in Houston. Disney quickly settled with the writers after our production here in New York was well received.
"Would Spring Awakening have won the Tony in 2007 were it not for High School Musical in 2006?" I'm so close to swearing at my computer screen right now.
High school musical holds a place in my heart because it was a pretty big part of my earlier childhood and it was the first Musical I was ever in. . . maybe High School Musical is the reason I'm so into theatre . .
I definitely got the theatre bug from High School Musical. It’s actually because of that early interest in theatre that my mom took me to see a production of Pinocchio, then Oklahoma, and Junie B. Jones at our local theatre. The past two summers i’ve been in productions there. So my 5th birthday with ‘Pin the basketball on troy’ and where i made a high school musical hat that said ‘troy bolton’s girlfriend’ did me well. (I wanted to make sure I got the dates and years right, so i asked my mom and she said “You were so excited, you watched it all the time. That show caused your first “I want to be in a musical” moment.) Now I’m currently typing this in a Spring Awakening shirt. So yes, thanks Disney, for my theatre obsession
Yes High School Musical helped Spring Awakening... From "This might be the start of something new", it leads to Wendla needing to get an abortion and dying... Perfection
Stop messing with my mind. Why does this make sense? High school muical, my favorite thing as soon as I could comprehend it, now Spring Awakening is my favorite show.
In my high school, my theatre teacher, at the end of the school year, would give us a list of musicals and to pick the three we liked the most and turn in the paper. We could also add musicals on the list. He got the final say of course, but he wanted our opinion. Sometimes he'd read them out loud and get a verbal opinion too. One day he was read off musicals and read off, "High School Musical". We said, "no." Very loudly. All at once.
jesus i wish my school did that...we're doing shrek. that would be fine (sort of) but we have no ability to do that with our current theatre program. i don't think my director realizes that the tech aspect is going to be almost impossible.
No joke but during my senior year high school musical--Wizard of Oz--one of the other seniors yelled, "What team?" and the rest of us clustered yelling "Wildcats!" I still think Disney's animated movie musicals already had me hook, line, and sinker by then.
Can you just talk about your life and why you do what you do because...well, I just have a big crush on you and I usually have to watch your videos twice because I'm too wrapped up in watching you and just listening to your voice and its inflections to pay attention to the subject the first time...do you even have a name?
ctn04132 Yes but surely people know him. I'm actually waiting for someone who watches his channel to give up his name. O understand the privacy issues. I have friends who have a channel and they actually had to move because someone recognized a certain Gas Station out side and in close proximity of their condo window! The Gay boys were flooding to their area ...
I have to say I was friends as an adult in community theater with a Sharpe and she treated me like Sharpe treated her brother and the composer. I knew a couple Darbuses too.
It was Fiddler on the Roof and Disney's Enchanted that inspired me for musical theatre. I liked High School Musical okay but the two Disney movies that had my attention were Enchanted and Wall-E. Fiddler on the Roof and UIL One Act were my big push into theatre at age 13.
I never really considered getting into Musical Theatre until I had the choice of pursuing it in college. Up until that point, I enjoyed music and acting separately, with just a few MT soundtracks on my ipod. Maybe HSM did help me along in listening to more musicals, but I didn't realise how accessible a path it was until much later.
Ironically, my entire drama group (Including the rugby boys) loves HSM. On a quiet day during exam season we put it on the sound system and danced to all the songs...
Well, when it came out in Italy,it had a huge success:we don't have a great musical theatre culture,and everything in that movie was so different from what we're used to: sports,drama club, math team...it's not something you see everyday in school for us. I knew about musicals before ( I grew uo with Mary Poppins, Wizard of Oz, The King and I and Singing in the Rain), but a lot of my friends didn't, and they were all shocked by the amount of singing and dancing. I never liked it very much and, I'm sad to say it, that movie only left me with lot of stereotypes about American High School. Loved your video as always =) PS Can we just talk about the Michael Crawford reference? The last time I saw the first movie with my little sister I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
At my school, if you get a detention in drama you sometimes have to do stage crew. Not to the extent in High School Musical but stage crew nonetheless.
To me, the weirdest thing about High School Musical is that we never actually find out who got cast as the leads. It just ends when Troy and Gabriella do their audition. And realistically, maybe Troy could get male lead, but there’s no way Gabriella does. Her fear at the beginning of the audition would have been seen as a liability and she would have been cast as a secondary character. Plus, they never have an acting audition????? Acting is quite important for musical theatre!!!!! If it’s based entirely on song, The Evans’ songs are both very well acted, whereas Troy and Gabriella’s songs are just them being themselves. I guess the point of the plot is for them to prove to everyone else that they can do Theatre, not for them to get the leads. So I guess it succeeds in its main goal. It’s just surprising we never actually learn who got the lead
Remember when back in the mid-2000's HSM was extremely hated by Disney fans and considered it to be the company on its last legs? Good times, and Disney is still alive and well with the latest scapegoat from those Disney fans: the live action remakes.
I watched high school musical when I was 9. (I was already a huge musical theater nerd and an actor.) it just kind of ticked me off. (Because none of the actual musical theater people were the good guys.)
I was part of the age group at the time when High School Musical came out and I in fact watched the second one before the first one but it still had a impact on me. I was a musical fan before HSM came out but I grew up in Norway and let's just say there's not much to do in terms of musical theatre there. (Especially up north where I'm from) Seeing how an American school had it with musical theatre being taught made me proper jealous! (I know that it's not completely like that but still, it was more than I had ever experienced at school and after school activities) I am half British as well so when we visited London, if we had time we would watch a musical at the West End so I wasn't completely deprived of musical theatre growing up but when the only musical you can see is a annual touring Christmas musical where you live, then you know that your country is silly when it comes to musical theatre! Seriously you have to travel all the way down south, if you wanted to see a musical! They don't have touring shows (except for the annual Christmas musical), it's more on telly where we got musical series but other than that, not much. The High School Musical franchise is a favourite because not only do I absolutely love it but also I got to experience an (exaggerated) school musical. Maybe High School Musical didn't make musical theatre cool for a tween audience BUT in fact got tweens wanting to do musical theatre just to have that experience? Sorry if that was very long I get a bit ranty with Norway and the lack of teaching musical theatre. I currently live in the UK so I have a shorter distance to see musical theatre and a whole lot of other culture things. :D ♡♥
Personally, HSM was never what got me into musicals. My grandma's a dancing teacher, and I've been involved in musical theatre my entire life. However, the Disney channel movie does hold a place in my heart (especially the second and third installments; wow does the production value go up). I enjoy watching them for nostalgic reasons + for how silly they are, but would never have admitted to liking them as a tween.
It's weird, bc I was 10 when High School Musical came out and the perfect demographic for it. But I absolutely hated it mostly bc hating Disney Channel was the cool thing to do on the internet back in the day. What got me into musicals was my aunt playing the Wicked OBCR in the car when I was visiting during the summer at age 11 (tho to be fair, what preteen hasn't loved Wicked since it's premiere in 2003?)
I feel like DEH's win supports this theory so well... if not for the new "teenage audiences", musicals like that would not be as much of a genre as they are, and the other shows up for Best Musical might have had a much stronger chance. Of course, the main factor is how GOOD a musical actually is, but I think the high school market has really taken over in musical theater since HSM.
Yay, i didn't got manipulated. High School Musical didn't really got me into Musicals. Sure, i watched the Movies and bought the albums, but it was because i had a crush on Ashley Tisdale back then and i would had bought everything with her name on it... I became a Musical fan some Years after that. Right after I first saw the german version of Spamalot. (Fun Fact: The german version of Spammalot was co-translated by the famous german TV-Cook Alfred Biolek)
I think that the youth enjoying musical theater is much closer than you think. It's definitely in the 13+ range now, so it's starting to get to the tweens.
I have a confession to make. I was once in my middle school production of High School Musical. And I'm now regretting being cast in in, let alone auditioning for it. Worst experience of my life! The good news is I had lest than ten line. I was cast as one of the student thespians named James Parker, who was a terrible singer.
Ahem...*adjusts tinfoil hat* The SpongeBob SquarePants Musical, Aladdin, Frozen, Anastasia, Shrek the Musical, Matilda, Charlie and the chocolate factory, and of course the Lion King. JUST TO NAME A FEW...*re-adjusts tinfoil hat*
There is always something that starts an interest. It doesn't matter how commercial or bad it is, as soon as there is a spark, an interest can grow (an become a passion, even!). HSM wasn't that big of a deal here in Switzerland (I was in the target age for it though), I think because we don't -ever- have theater classes, and the "musical" culture isn't that big here either. But as you said, it is fantastic if some young people became interested in musicals after watching HSM. It is the beginning of an exploration. The more you learn about a subject, the more you become an expert and your tastes change and evolve. PS: Your videos are awesome, I get to discover musicals which I would never have known because it isn't mainstream at all here (the only ones we have access to are: the french ones, which are pretty bad; the ones that are turned into movie productions).
Rent was pre. HSM anyway and the American Idiot concept album came out before HSM (although not the musical) but I agree totally. Look at Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen, which both seem to appeal to younger audiences than early musicals.
I don't know if Spring Awakening was the first tony winner that appealed to younger people, I think we've always had musicals that tried to appeal to a younger audience. I think Bye Bye Birdie was probably the first musical about teenagers, WAY more innocent than modern examples, but it does focus on high schoolers.
So High School Musical is a gateway to other musicals? I guess I could see that. The first musical I watched was From Justin to Kelly, so it could only get better from there.
I hope I'm not included in the "Teens Like Theater Now Because of HSM." I mean, sure I love the HSM movies, as well as the newer modern musicals, but my parents brought me up on "The King and I" and "The Sound of Music." As much as the theater kids in my generation tend to flock towards the newer musicals, I'm often that one person that sticks to the classics. (Why am I commenting this, I don't know. I have thoughts that long to be publicized for some apparent reason.)
I’m sorry but I love High School Musical more than anything and anyone can insult it all they want but I’ll still love it... it’s the best movie of the 2000s and you can fight me. Also I love Sharpay and Ryan...
Развлечения
Disney brainwashed me into this. I literally quit basketball to pursue acting at my high school. I 100% believe High School Musical did this to me.
If our detention was stage crew, I would get in trouble so much just to do it
Hahah me too
This makes me wonder the reason why I like musical theatre NOW was because of High School Musical.
Misa Tange Same
And then glee came to show that musical theatre is not so glamorous and warm our hearts
vicky naomi I miss Glee, it wasn't Glee anymore after season 4, I didn't even watch it anymore
vicky naomi I loved glee but the portrayal of musical theatre they did, especially in school, was basically nothing like the real world
Angel Noelle How so?
As someone who belongs in this age gap, I always wanted to do musical theatre, but HSM was always one of my favorite things growing up and it definitely got some of my friends at least open to the idea of musicals, because none of my other friends were theatre geeks.
I'm obsessed with the clip you chose to visually represent Mamma Mia. I think a musical version of Mommie Dearest with the music of Abba would be AMAZING.
I think the world would implode from that much camp
Your theory definitely been playing out, with Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen gaining tons of popularity among young people like me who grew up with High School Musical.
You got "bop to the top" stuck in my head again!! omg every time i see HSM that's the only thing i think of for the rest of the week. hhh... great video as always though!
Holy crap, I just realized I started actively pursuing theatre the year after this came out. Hmm...
WOAH WOAH WOAH. Dude. Okay so the majority of my high school had like.. the classic good ol' cliché view towards theater. And usually, when we hold auditions for musicals about like 30 theater students show up. But one time we did High School Musical and there were literally 219 people who auditioned for that. This theory might actually be true lol.
Was that a Starkid reference? Because if so, wow, it's been a long time since I've seen someone reference Starkid.
+Vitor Lee I THOUGHT THE SAME THING!! It's make my day if it was!!
+Vitor Lee Whistle while you swallow a spoonful of sugar and the dreams will come true upon a star!
wait when? i didn't catch it
6:56 *shakes fist at sky shouting happily* NeWsIeEeEeEsSsSsS
As a person who grew up watching High School Musical, it did not get me interested in musicals. I was more invested in the plot between Troy and Gabriella and the music was just a bonus along with the movie. I grew up listening to all the other Disney animated movies with music, so for me, it was just a live action version of a Disney movie. I already enjoyed those movies, and I grew up singing in front of an audience because of church and school so HSM just seemed like another "kids singing in school" movie to me. I already experienced that as a child so it didn't do much for me. I didn't start getting into musicals until I saw my middle school's production of Pajama Game, which is clearly not a musical aimed at children, but I loved the songs so much that I was so invested in learning all I could about musicals.
So would spring awakening have won the Tony's without HSM? Most likely, since I don't think many kids who were listening to HSM as a child would have strived to watch a show on Broadway. I mean, Sharpay was the antagonist and she wanted to be on Broadway, not Gabriella the protagonist.
I think my biggest inspirations into theatre as a kid were Wizard of Oz, Beauty and the Beast, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and Mary Poppins, but like my school is actually doing High School Musical this year (It's actually way better than the movie IMO, I'm playing Ryan) and we have our biggest cast in years just because people want to do not just a musical, but THIS musical, so yeah, I'd say it definitely helped and is still helping teens get into theatre.
And all of this makes me think, "Would Glee have ever happened if it weren't for High School Musical?"
I normally hate HSM but this was very interesting! but nobody in hsm's audience should have been watching spring awakening
Yeah but the oldest fans of HSM were 14 so, they got older and watched Spring Awakening.
I'm a teen, but it was Phantom that inspired me.
If you're teen now, you wouldn't have been a teen or a "tween" in 2006. You gotta be at least 20 if high school musical was released when you were a teen/tween. You're just a different generation.
Johnny phantom?
iamhim *Johnny Bravo
Or were you asking in earnest, referring to Danny Phantom? If so, no, Phantom of the Opera.
For me it was actually Legally Blonde
But
you gotta tell Zac Efron that he gotta get off
CUZ HE NEVER GONNA LOOK LIKE JONATHAN GROFF
At the risk of sounding like someone's grandmother I think a lot of it has to do with the Internet. We all know Tweens own social media. They are the masters. And in this crazy tumblr-shaped world we now live in, you only have to look to things like Broadway.com audience choice awards to see who's voting and making their voice heard. Over here UK-side, the Olivier audience award swings from Les Mis to Wicked each year pretty much. But the question I pose YOU is this, are Tweens loving your Spring Awakening shows and understanding that it's broadcasting their internal plight, or are they wanting to see Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele getting jiggy? Cynical Grandma, over and out.
+asinhendrix I think HS musical has helped a good bit, but I agree--musicals used to be a Broadway thing, and accessing them elsewhere was always really hard. I could only name one good music (The Lion King, that I saw in Chicago) before I learned of bootlegs and whatnot... now I'm actively supporting shows and buying merchandise when I'm able to, just to help the shows out even though I can't reach Broadway. And, I'm able to know beforehand which shows I can convince my family to go see and keep track of them when they're on tour. ;)
There's a lot that goes into it, I think, but then entirety of Broadway is getting, well, broader!
hello! seventeen year old here. i watched spring awakening because i'm learning American Sign Language and the deaf west version attracted me. my introduction to the world of theater (of loving the shows themselves and not just being in them) started with hamilton. it was something i'd never seen before - and people my age were *obsessed* with that show when i was in 8th grade! i only very recently watched spring awakening, and rightly so. i was definitely too young before, and i wouldn't've really got it. i don't even really enjoy the jiggy bits lol - i always thought moritz's struggle with budding sexuality and having all sorts of questions about how 'it' works was relatable, which drew me in. his character always made sense to me. just thought i'd add!
Opinions on Spring Awakening Revival?
Personally I am sooooooooooooo glad it's being revived. I was 6 when it originally came out (aka way too you to see spring awakening) but now that I'm in high school I finally get a chance to experience it and relate to it (even though my parents probably aren't going to let me see it. Theres always youtube)
Wow! You uploading this really freaked me out, 'cause just yesterday I was revisiting a lot of HSM videos just analyzing them and wondering why it was such a big success and its quality as a movie musical. And I just ended up thinking the same thing as you, it introduced the idea of musicals for that generation and it showed big production companies that musicals could have a younger audience. I love your videos btw, I'd never commented but this time I was just too amazed not to.
I was poor and didn't have cable so I barely got to watch Disney channel at all until Netflix. So I didn't see high school musical until last year. This theory is very interesting. But Spring Awakening premiered off Broadway only four months later in May. I definitely get what you're saying though.
High School Musical came out when I was 7. I hated it. Didn't watch it until I was 11 and my drama teacher decided to put it on.
I was in an industry reading version of high school musical here in NYC that had originally premiered 6 months before Disney’s in Houston. Disney quickly settled with the writers after our production here in New York was well received.
"Would Spring Awakening have won the Tony in 2007 were it not for High School Musical in 2006?"
I'm so close to swearing at my computer screen right now.
High school musical holds a place in my heart because it was a pretty big part of my earlier childhood and it was the first Musical I was ever in. . . maybe High School Musical is the reason I'm so into theatre . .
I definitely got the theatre bug from High School Musical. It’s actually because of that early interest in theatre that my mom took me to see a production of Pinocchio, then Oklahoma, and Junie B. Jones at our local theatre. The past two summers i’ve been in productions there. So my 5th birthday with ‘Pin the basketball on troy’ and where i made a high school musical hat that said ‘troy bolton’s girlfriend’ did me well.
(I wanted to make sure I got the dates and years right, so i asked my mom and she said “You were so excited, you watched it all the time. That show caused your first “I want to be in a musical” moment.)
Now I’m currently typing this in a Spring Awakening shirt. So yes, thanks Disney, for my theatre obsession
Dude. Dear Evan Hansen.
Your description of the drama teacher matches both of my high school drama teachers almost to a T.
Yes
High School Musical helped Spring Awakening...
From "This might be the start of something new", it leads to Wendla needing to get an abortion and dying...
Perfection
I love your videos!! I need more of your videos in my life.
Stop messing with my mind. Why does this make sense? High school muical, my favorite thing as soon as I could comprehend it, now Spring Awakening is my favorite show.
In my high school, my theatre teacher, at the end of the school year, would give us a list of musicals and to pick the three we liked the most and turn in the paper. We could also add musicals on the list. He got the final say of course, but he wanted our opinion. Sometimes he'd read them out loud and get a verbal opinion too. One day he was read off musicals and read off, "High School Musical". We said, "no." Very loudly. All at once.
jesus i wish my school did that...we're doing shrek. that would be fine (sort of) but we have no ability to do that with our current theatre program. i don't think my director realizes that the tech aspect is going to be almost impossible.
I love this so much. Your videos really make me think!
No joke but during my senior year high school musical--Wizard of Oz--one of the other seniors yelled, "What team?" and the rest of us clustered yelling "Wildcats!" I still think Disney's animated movie musicals already had me hook, line, and sinker by then.
Can you just talk about your life and why you do what you do because...well, I just have a big crush on you and I usually have to watch your videos twice because I'm too wrapped up in watching you and just listening to your voice and its inflections to pay attention to the subject the first time...do you even have a name?
ctn04132 You think? Seriously, then why is he a content creator on You Tube because surely he has friends and family who know who he is...
ctn04132 Yes but surely people know him. I'm actually waiting for someone who watches his channel to give up his name.
O understand the privacy issues. I have friends who have a channel and they actually had to move because someone recognized a certain Gas Station out side and in close proximity of their condo window! The Gay boys were flooding to their area ...
I just subconsciously call him Nate. Because he looks like someone I volunteered with at a soup kitchen once.
I relate to this on a SPIRITUAL LEVEL !!!!!!!!!!!
I have to say I was friends as an adult in community theater with a Sharpe and she treated me like Sharpe treated her brother and the composer. I knew a couple Darbuses too.
I spent some time trying to wipe a speck off my phone and then I realized the "speck" was the peephole on his door
I did HSM for my school musical this year and now I'm finding this amazing.
It was Fiddler on the Roof and Disney's Enchanted that inspired me for musical theatre.
I liked High School Musical okay but the two Disney movies that had my attention were Enchanted and Wall-E. Fiddler on the Roof and UIL One Act were my big push into theatre at age 13.
I never really considered getting into Musical Theatre until I had the choice of pursuing it in college. Up until that point, I enjoyed music and acting separately, with just a few MT soundtracks on my ipod. Maybe HSM did help me along in listening to more musicals, but I didn't realise how accessible a path it was until much later.
The ultimate in 'gateway drug' - and I'm looking at you Glee as well - even if you aren't from Disney!!! Love this video.
I now have Bop to the Top stuck in my head and I blame you entirely.
I've looked up Disney's On The Record on Wikipedia and I definitely need that in my life.
Ironically, my entire drama group (Including the rugby boys) loves HSM. On a quiet day during exam season we put it on the sound system and danced to all the songs...
Well, when it came out in Italy,it had a huge success:we don't have a great musical theatre culture,and everything in that movie was so different from what we're used to: sports,drama club, math team...it's not something you see everyday in school for us. I knew about musicals before ( I grew uo with Mary Poppins, Wizard of Oz, The King and I and Singing in the Rain), but a lot of my friends didn't, and they were all shocked by the amount of singing and dancing. I never liked it very much and, I'm sad to say it, that movie only left me with lot of stereotypes about American High School.
Loved your video as always =)
PS Can we just talk about the Michael Crawford reference? The last time I saw the first movie with my little sister I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
fun fact: the teacher in high school musical played cassie in the theatrical release of a chorus line
Well, now I know where my obsession with musicals began and disturbingly, it makes sense....
The Suite Life and Phineas and Ferb were my childhood honestly
At my school, if you get a detention in drama you sometimes have to do stage crew. Not to the extent in High School Musical but stage crew nonetheless.
+Hannah Docherty It's so hard to get into stage crew in my school haha... 600 ish people applied and like 80 something people got in
To me, the weirdest thing about High School Musical is that we never actually find out who got cast as the leads. It just ends when Troy and Gabriella do their audition. And realistically, maybe Troy could get male lead, but there’s no way Gabriella does. Her fear at the beginning of the audition would have been seen as a liability and she would have been cast as a secondary character. Plus, they never have an acting audition????? Acting is quite important for musical theatre!!!!! If it’s based entirely on song, The Evans’ songs are both very well acted, whereas Troy and Gabriella’s songs are just them being themselves. I guess the point of the plot is for them to prove to everyone else that they can do Theatre, not for them to get the leads. So I guess it succeeds in its main goal. It’s just surprising we never actually learn who got the lead
At 6:31 he says Mama Mia but the clip on the screen is from Mommie Dearest.
6:31 HELP ME I CANT BREATH, I CANT BREATH, I CANNOT BREATH!!!!
Remember when back in the mid-2000's HSM was extremely hated by Disney fans and considered it to be the company on its last legs? Good times, and Disney is still alive and well with the latest scapegoat from those Disney fans: the live action remakes.
I watched high school musical when I was 9. (I was already a huge musical theater nerd and an actor.) it just kind of ticked me off. (Because none of the actual musical theater people were the good guys.)
My love of theatre started by watching Oliver! a bajillion times as a kid.
Gosh, I never realized large, monopolizing corporations could be such a force for good in the world!
so cool to think about now that heathers, be more chill, and dear evan hansen are gaining popularity!
I was part of the age group at the time when High School Musical came out and I in fact watched the second one before the first one but it still had a impact on me. I was a musical fan before HSM came out but I grew up in Norway and let's just say there's not much to do in terms of musical theatre there. (Especially up north where I'm from) Seeing how an American school had it with musical theatre being taught made me proper jealous! (I know that it's not completely like that but still, it was more than I had ever experienced at school and after school activities) I am half British as well so when we visited London, if we had time we would watch a musical at the West End so I wasn't completely deprived of musical theatre growing up but when the only musical you can see is a annual touring Christmas musical where you live, then you know that your country is silly when it comes to musical theatre! Seriously you have to travel all the way down south, if you wanted to see a musical! They don't have touring shows (except for the annual Christmas musical), it's more on telly where we got musical series but other than that, not much. The High School Musical franchise is a favourite because not only do I absolutely love it but also I got to experience an (exaggerated) school musical.
Maybe High School Musical didn't make musical theatre cool for a tween audience BUT in fact got tweens wanting to do musical theatre just to have that experience? Sorry if that was very long I get a bit ranty with Norway and the lack of teaching musical theatre. I currently live in the UK so I have a shorter distance to see musical theatre and a whole lot of other culture things. :D ♡♥
Personally, HSM was never what got me into musicals. My grandma's a dancing teacher, and I've been involved in musical theatre my entire life. However, the Disney channel movie does hold a place in my heart (especially the second and third installments; wow does the production value go up). I enjoy watching them for nostalgic reasons + for how silly they are, but would never have admitted to liking them as a tween.
His theory really holds up. Dear Evan Hansen, Hamilton, and other innovative youthful musicals like great comet.
It's weird, bc I was 10 when High School Musical came out and the perfect demographic for it. But I absolutely hated it mostly bc hating Disney Channel was the cool thing to do on the internet back in the day. What got me into musicals was my aunt playing the Wicked OBCR in the car when I was visiting during the summer at age 11 (tho to be fair, what preteen hasn't loved Wicked since it's premiere in 2003?)
I feel like DEH's win supports this theory so well... if not for the new "teenage audiences", musicals like that would not be as much of a genre as they are, and the other shows up for Best Musical might have had a much stronger chance. Of course, the main factor is how GOOD a musical actually is, but I think the high school market has really taken over in musical theater since HSM.
OH MY GOSH I LOVE YOU FOR EVEN MENTIONING AIDA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yay, i didn't got manipulated. High School Musical didn't really got me into Musicals. Sure, i watched the Movies and bought the albums, but it was because i had a crush on Ashley Tisdale back then and i would had bought everything with her name on it...
I became a Musical fan some Years after that. Right after I first saw the german version of Spamalot. (Fun Fact: The german version of Spammalot was co-translated by the famous german TV-Cook Alfred Biolek)
+Greycap96 echt jetzt?? das wusste ich garnicht.
Hat er. Er hat auch damals die Sketche in der ARD Version vom Flying Circus übersetzt
This is my new favorite thing.
I think that the youth enjoying musical theater is much closer than you think. It's definitely in the 13+ range now, so it's starting to get to the tweens.
I have a confession to make. I was once in my middle school production of High School Musical. And I'm now regretting being cast in in, let alone auditioning for it. Worst experience of my life! The good news is I had lest than ten line. I was cast as one of the student thespians named James Parker, who was a terrible singer.
Ahem...*adjusts tinfoil hat*
The SpongeBob SquarePants Musical, Aladdin, Frozen, Anastasia, Shrek the Musical, Matilda, Charlie and the chocolate factory, and of course the Lion King. JUST TO NAME A FEW...*re-adjusts tinfoil hat*
Newsies isn’t just another Disney show
There is always something that starts an interest. It doesn't matter how commercial or bad it is, as soon as there is a spark, an interest can grow (an become a passion, even!).
HSM wasn't that big of a deal here in Switzerland (I was in the target age for it though), I think because we don't -ever- have theater classes, and the "musical" culture isn't that big here either. But as you said, it is fantastic if some young people became interested in musicals after watching HSM. It is the beginning of an exploration. The more you learn about a subject, the more you become an expert and your tastes change and evolve.
PS: Your videos are awesome, I get to discover musicals which I would never have known because it isn't mainstream at all here (the only ones we have access to are: the french ones, which are pretty bad; the ones that are turned into movie productions).
what about glee?
Rent was pre. HSM anyway and the American Idiot concept album came out before HSM (although not the musical) but I agree totally. Look at Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen, which both seem to appeal to younger audiences than early musicals.
My school should have detention as stage crew, then we would have a stage crew
When Musical Theatre Mash guy conveniently forgets that Wicked exists...
I don't know if Spring Awakening was the first tony winner that appealed to younger people, I think we've always had musicals that tried to appeal to a younger audience. I think Bye Bye Birdie was probably the first musical about teenagers, WAY more innocent than modern examples, but it does focus on high schoolers.
Hmm, I wonder if "High School Star Musical" can do this for another group of fans...
Man, I was hoping the tinfoil hat was a nod to sound of music from when I saw the thumbnail.
THE MOMMIE DEAREST CLIP FOR MAMMA MIA! MADE ME LAUGH SO HARD I HAD TO PAUSE THE VIDEO!!!
They share dance moves with candy store from the heathers
Zac Efron has scary eyes
6:31 Mamma Mia = Mommie Dearest? Hahahaha fantastic
Oh…you have no idea…
ruclips.net/video/KgUONbwslwo/видео.html
I can't believe I just watched that all the way through. I might just watch it again. And again. And again.
So High School Musical is a gateway to other musicals? I guess I could see that. The first musical I watched was From Justin to Kelly, so it could only get better from there.
This video came out in 2015. WOW. Completley predicted the 2017 boom of next gen theatre kids. Your theory was correct, good job.
Ahhh... the good days of Disney Channel
SPRING AWAKENING!!
ayy this was posted on my birthday
oh god, i had the exact same dolls at 1:30 when i was 8
I hope I'm not included in the "Teens Like Theater Now Because of HSM." I mean, sure I love the HSM movies, as well as the newer modern musicals, but my parents brought me up on "The King and I" and "The Sound of Music." As much as the theater kids in my generation tend to flock towards the newer musicals, I'm often that one person that sticks to the classics. (Why am I commenting this, I don't know. I have thoughts that long to be publicized for some apparent reason.)
I will say, I got into theater because of, and only because of High School Musical.
I harmonize the intro every video ;)
I’m sorry but I love High School Musical more than anything and anyone can insult it all they want but I’ll still love it... it’s the best movie of the 2000s and you can fight me. Also I love Sharpay and Ryan...
Disney wants to make money? Sheesh, that's totally insane.
No joke, with that hat, you look like a crazy adult Georgie and he turned his boat into a hat.
so i am ms.durbus and i played her in my acting class production
Nickelodeon was making crap for tweens even during the 90s, weren't they?
Aida geared towards children? The storyline seems a bit oriented towards an older audience
It is a Disney Play.
the high school i was going to go to did high school musical
I wish that musicals would get more adult again. Let's revive brekt and get some nice Brechin theatre
Fascinating