musical – Were all in this together

June 3, 2019June 3, 2019

Martha Cox

Martha Cox becomes part of Troy and Gabriella’s friend group at East High. She is in their homeroom class junior year. We get to see her develop as a character through the three movies and by her senior year she is ready to face the world. Martha gains a lot of confidence in herself during her high school years. She is finds ways to express herself that set her character apart.

In High School Musical 1, Martha Cox is introduced as very smart. She is always seen doing her homework and reading. However, she breaks out of her shell during the song “Stick to the Status Quo”. Martha reveals to her friends that she loves to dance and that “sometimes she thinks it’s cooler than homework”. At first, her friends tell her to forget about her passion to dance and stick to what she knows. Martha is able to stand up to them and express herself as a dancer.

During the summer of her senior year, Martha works at Lava Springs Country Club with many of her East High peers. She has a great opportunity to dance with her friends during the staff talent show. Martha and the others have a lot of fun learning a routine and are very excited to perform for the Lava Springs guests. Unfortunately, staff is told they cannot perform anymore and they must work together to change this. In the end, Martha and her friends are able to perform and are awarded first place for the amazing choreography.

In Martha’s senior year she has another opportunity to perform with her peers. This time it is for the Spring Musical. All of the East High Wildcats performing in this show go through lots of ups and downs while rehearsing. However, they overcome all the trials to pull off a great end-of-the-year musical. For Martha, performing in the musical and doing what she loves was a great way to end her high school career.

March 29, 2019March 29, 2019

Jimmie Zara

Jimmie Zara, a.k.a. “The Rocket Man”, is only in the third and final high school musical. He is a bench warmer on the basketball team. He looks up to Troy, Chad, and the rest of the seniors. As Troy and the seniors are finishing up their final season, Jimmie is preparing to “take over” the team. However, Troy and Chad want Jimmie to earn this.

During the championship game the Wildcats are down one point with only time for one more possession. The other team knows that Troy is going to be the one to shoot the last shot so they triple team him. Troy wants Rocket Man in the game because the other team will never expect him to take the final shot. Troy’s plan works and Rocket Man wins the championship game for the Wildcats! This boosts Jimmie’s confidence and makes him think more about his roll on the team once Troy has gone to college.

When Jimmie and his other friend ask for Troy and Chad’s basketball lockers in the locker room, Troy and Chad are happy to give the lockers to them. However, they want them to earn them. So, while Jimmie and his friend are in the shower, Troy and Chad steal their clothes and Jimmie has to chase them all around the school to get them back. This is very humiliating for them, but ultimately they get the lockers and know that it was all just a joke.

While the Wildcats are working on the Senior Year Musical, Rocket Man is assigned to be Troy’s understudy. He doesn’t really know what this means but someone tells him that the understudy never has to go in. Because of this Jimmie doesn’t take it very seriously. However, when Troy and Gabriella are late to the musical Jimmie is called to go in with Sharpay (Gabriella’s understudy). He is not very good, but he enjoys himself while he is preforming. Eventually, Troy and Gabriella come in the save the day.

In the end, Jimmie is a character that shows a lot of growth throughout the movie. He starts out as a pretty shy highschooler and throughout the year he gains a lot of confidence. We can see him shape into a personality that is similar to Troy’s and know that he will be very successful and popular in his final years at East High.

February 25, 2019February 25, 2019

High School Musical 1 Review

High School Musical 1 is the first movie in a three movie series. It was released on January 20, 2006 and become Disney Channel’s most successful original movie. It was the first Disney Channel Original Movie to have a theatrical sequel. The soundtrack from High School Musical 1 became very popular in the United States and reached number 1 on America’s charts in 2006. High School Musical 1 was written by Peter Barsocchini and directed by Kenny Ortega. It stars Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Lucas Grabeel, Ashley Tisdale, Corbin Bleu, and Monique Coleman.

In High School Musical 1 Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens) transfers to East High School after winter break. She had met the basketball team star (Zac Efron) during vacation and is surprised, and happy to run into him at her new high school. They quickly become friends and try out for their school’s musical. However, Troy’s teammates aren’t thrilled with his new hobby. Troy’s best friend (Corbin Bleu) and Gabriella’s best friend (Monique Coleman) come up with a plan to make sure can’t be in the musical. Unfortunately, this ruins all of their friendships and they must work together to make things right.

Gabriella Montez is very bright. She is also very adventurous and open to trying newthings. Troy Bolton is the basketball star. He is always found playing basketball until he meets Gabriella. She opens him up and shows us a different side of him. Chad Danforth is the funny sidekick. He always makes us laugh and seems fun to be around. Taylor McKessie is also very smart and is the president of the academic decathlon. She is a very good friend to Gabriella. Sharpay Evens is bossy and rich. She feels like she runs the school and isn’t very friendly to many people. Ryan Evens is Sharpay’s brother he is always following her around and at times seems very clueless to what’s going on.

High School Musical is mainly about friendship. In the movie we see how friends can be torn apart and how that changes the people individually. A theme from High School Musical is nothing is more important than friendship. In the movie when Troy and Gabriella are mad at each other they are both very sad. Even though Taylor and Chad’s plan worked, neither of them are happy to see their best friends so miserable. In the end they realize that what they wanted (Troy and Gabriella not to be in the musical) wasn’t what their friends wanted. Taylor and Chad decide that it is more important for Troy and Gabriella to be happy and friends again than it is if they sing in the musical or if they don’t.

Overall I think High School Musical is a great movie. It is definitely a feel-good one. All the songs and fun characters always leave you walking away with a smile. The songs are really what makes the movie so great. Once you have watched the movie a couple of times you find yourself singing along with every single song. I think this is what makes this movie so enjoyable and easy to watch over and over again.

January 8, 2019January 8, 2019

Ms. Darbus

Ms. Darbus is the theatre teacher at East High and is also Gabrialla and Troy’s homeroom teacher. In the first HSM, she is the one that recognizes the talent that Gabriella and Troy have. Ms. Darbus instructs Kelsey to mentor them and teach them the song thatthey sing at their call backs. Ms. Darbus is kind of under the control of Sharpay because Sharpay has always been very involved in the drama club. Ms. Darbus is tricked by Sharpay to change the day of the call back to the day of the basketball championship and the academic decathlon. Despite this, Troy and Gabriella able to make it to the call back and nail their song.

Ms. Darbus first sees Troy as a basketball jock. She doesn’t realize that he actually has a hidden passion for the theatre. In the first HSM, Ms. Darbus gives Troy and Chad detention and forces them to decorate props for the drama club. This is one of the first times Troy has been exposed to something other than basketball. This changes him and he is open to new experiences. Ms. Darbus was the one that introduced him to theatre and because of this I think Ms. Darbus is very important in the development of Troy throughout the HSM movies.

In the third HSM, there is an opportunity for one student at East High to receive a scholarship to the Julliard School of Performing Arts. In order to be offered this scholarship the students have to apply. Ryan, Sharpay, Kelsey, and Troy are all informed that they will be given a shot at the scholarship. This confuses Troy because he didn’t submit an application. This really makes Troy think and question his future and what he wants to do. At the end of the third movie, Troy goes to East High late at night to release all of his thoughts and confusion. Here he finds Ms. Darbus. She explains to him that she submitted his application to Julliard because she saw how much theatre filled him up. Although Troy doesn’t go to Julliard, he picks a college where he can do theatre and play basketball. This is thanks to Ms. Darbus.