More TV and Radio Former 'Lost' actress tries out Western for TV movie Reality star loves his slammin' new gig Share and Enjoy [?] Think there’s pressure for this summer’s “High School Musical 2” to live up to the remarkable success of the original Disney Channel hit? You’d better believe it.
“The level of what we were doing was definitely raised,” says Monique Coleman, 26, who plays Taylor McKessie in the series. “The stakes were higher, and the bar was definitely raised,” she says by phone from Los Angeles. “It was a lot harder regarding technical things we do,” agrees Lucas Grabeel, 22, who plays Ryan Evans, half of a flamboyant brother-sister team with Ashley Tisdale that provides the conflict in each film.
“The dancing was harder, the music more challenging,” Grabeel says. At the same time, “every character is involved more.” “The first ‘High School Musical’ was much more about Troy and Gabrielle — her struggling with her new school and his struggle choosing between basketball and singing,” he says.
“This one is more about a group of people.” In the sequel, debuting Aug. 17, Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) is recruited to work for the summer at the local country club (where there is an annual talent show), in order to get a shot at a basketball scholarship.
But to do so, he might have to turn his back on his brainy girlfriend Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens) and his friends. “I think there is an idea people have about what they expect from this movie,” Coleman says. “I feel proud of the fact we didn’t fall into the trap of allowing ourselves into being pressured into anything other than having a fantastic time.
“Whatever happens to ‘High School Musical 2’ in no way takes away from what ‘High School Musical’ was. There was a ‘Grease,’ and there is a ‘Grease 2,’ “ she says, quickly adding, “I do not compare ‘High School Musical 2’ to ‘Grease 2.’” That dud didn’t have the stars of the original, John Travolta or Olivia Newton-John (it instead starred then-unknown Michelle Pfeiffer).
By contrast, “High School Musical 2” brings back the entire cast, not only Efron and Hudgens but Tisdale and Corbin Bleu, as well as the creative team behind the first film. The careers of some cast members have progressed such that getting them together — Efron, for one, stars alongside Travolta in the summer movie musical “Hairspray” — was no small task. “We all kind of pulled out all the stops,” Coleman says.
“All of us coming back to this one, recommitting ourselves to the project that helped us all attain our successes, it’s an expression of gratitude to the Disney Channel for making us superstars.” Their ensemble is becoming like the Rat Pack, the Brat Pack or, Coleman says, “Clooney and Brad Pitt. People don’t realize there is strength in numbers.
” One thing Grabeel knows about the final cut of “2 “ is that one musical number he starred in was cut, only to be saved as bonus material for the eventual home DVD. “I’m kind of scared,” says Coleman of the final cut. “I want to see it.
I know it all goes down in the editing room.
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