Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure

HSM3 Pep Rally at Disney's Hollywood Studios

Regular readers might have noticed I’ve spruce the place up around here lately. I switched over to a new WordPress theme, and while tidying up a few loose ends, decided to post links to some of my personal favorite posts from the archives in the sidebar. Perhaps a bit self-centered, but you know, blogging can be like that sometimes.

I was amused to notice how much I’ve written about the High School Musical franchise, and its associated merch, which also made me homesick for the ol’ gang. So, I was somewhat reassured to read that there’s a Sharpay spin-off movie coming April 19, 2011. According to Examiner.com:

The plot? Having recently graduated from East High School, Sharpay’s bypassing theatre school, and setting her sights on Broadway. While performing at a charity event, she’s discovered by a talent scout. But the new winner of So You Think You’re America’s Most Talented Performing Idol is standing in her way to the top. To top that off? The Broadway role the talent scout has in mind? It’s for her dog, Boi. Contenting herself with being his entourage, she befriends a student filmmaker who’s fascinated with her, and Boi finds love.

So her dog is named Boi? Really? I know that spelling gets a certain amount of use among the misspellings-are-cool internets crowd, but it’s also a favorite among genderqueers.

I’m also amused that, after the heavy “let’s all go to college” theme of High School Musical 3, including the series “college dolls” wearing sweatshirts of the schools our beloved characters would be attending, it’s interesting to see that Sharpay’s decided to forgo college. A bit ironic, given that she’s certainly in the demographic that could afford the tuition out of pocket.

And getting back to that mention of genderqueer . . . I notice no mention of Ryan in that plot summary. Harumph. Sharpay is often at her best when Ryan’s in the scene too (“He’s doing some sort of yoga Fossee thing”). Let’s hope he at least has a cameo. Or, maybe he’ll be in HSM4? It seemed to me that the end of HSM3 set up the possibility of Ryan and Kelsi returning to East High to assist part-time with the drama program. But alas, even if they do appear, it’ll be on the sidelines.

High School Musical 4: East Meets West is scheduled to air on the Disney Channel in 2011. The movie will feature the new students introduced in the third movie.

Ugh. I think we all saw this coming, but the thought of Jimmy the Rocket owning that much screen time make me ill.

Happily, my son’s agreed to watch HSM4 with me when it’s on the Disney Channel later this year, whether it’s any good or not, whether Ryan and Kelsi return or not. He assures me, “Nobody should have to watch a High School Musical movie alone.”