September 3, 2025 • 37 mins
Over the last 20 years, many rumors have circulated online about “High School Musical” and the cast. What’s true and what’s false? Bart is setting the record straight!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, Wildcats, this is Bart Johnson and you're listening to
Get your Head in the Game. Hey, welcome back everyone,
to Get Your Head in the Game podcast on me
Bart Johnson and the Lovely Jill. Jill, thanks so much
for coming back.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Oh, thank you for having me back.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I love to have you here. We're do some we're
doing some trivia today. We're going to debunk some rumors
and we're gonna get some stuff that I got. I
don't know. The thing is, I don't know what's coming,
so I don't know what rumors we're talking about. I
don't know what we're gonna debunk. I don't know if
I'm gonna be able to debunk anything. So I'm a
little nervous. Look I getting the cold sweats here, Jill.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
It should be pretty easy. Hopefully you seem to have
a lot of knowledge about I was there. Yo, Yeah,
you should know this.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
It's gonna be on me if I if I don't
remember any of the stuff.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
So let's get right to it.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Let's get right to it, Jill. For the second episode.
By the way, I loved having you. It was so
fun doing that with you and make it. Some videos
we made some we made some content. We made We
made a TikTok.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
We sure did. And you have no idea how many
friends were so jealous that I was in a TikTok
with you. It is a career actually, like a life highlight.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Oh, come on, honestly, honestly.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
So cool. Let's get to the first rumor.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
All right, you're giving me the rumors or you have
the list.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I have the list, and I want you to tell
me it's true. You know you have not? No, all right,
high school musical was originally going to be Grease three?
True or false?
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I don't. I don't. I don't think that's true. I
don't think that's true. I think it was like fashioned
after Like there was a lot of conversations that it
was a Grease Disney show, but like what do they
mean by it? Like was it it was gonna be
called Grease three? Or was this gonna be Grease three?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Well, it's true, ish.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I guess, yeah, I guess it was. All of the
high school musicals were kind of like, uh, influenced by
other movies, like Greece was one of them, and there
was gonna be a sequel that was gonna be Gosh,
they're all like old musicals. West Side Story was another one.
There was a there was a uh, it's always trouble
(02:21):
on this show. There was a script for for High
School Musical four at one point that was called East
Versus West That's all I could say. But that was
kind of like a West Side Story show. So that
was gonna be really cool. By the way, did you
see Vanessa Hudgens in Greece the Lives of Yes, I could.
(02:42):
I like, did it see Vanessa for a couple of years,
and she was she blew me away? Like that was
like the greatest performance. Like I thought she was really
great and really sweet and really charming in High School
Musical was she came out like that in Greece, Like
I just couldn't believe, Like, Vanessa, you are amazing. I
loved her, and that she's so good, such a so talented.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
And especially to put on a show like that, right,
she had the like her father passed away, I believe
right before. That's right, and then to still go on
and do the show that takes that takes a lot
of strength.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Yeah. And and that family is really tight too, you know,
they're all of them were they were always together and uh,
I can only imagine. Well, I can't imagine. I lost
my father, So I know how hard it is to
to try to perform and be because you you want
like for actors, you actors out there know like you
you you can't be in your head. You have to
(03:35):
be in the moment. You have to be present with everyone.
And you start thinking and you're you're disconnected. So and
how do you do that when when you're it was
your father, it's really it's rough. Yeah, rest in peace,
Bob Johnson, Love you body, Love you, Pops.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
The truth to this rumor, The script became High School Musical,
began as a Grease three sequel, possibly starring Britney Spears
and Justin Timberlake, and then it was reworked into High
School Musical.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
That is that true? Is that true?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
That's that's the truth that I have.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Is that true? We got we gotta ring them up?
Does he know about it? Is the question? That's what
I want to know? And Britney Spears.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Pretty spears, yes, Oh wow, Yes.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Have been I would have been different, have been real different.
I don't think you could. I honestly, I don't think
it gets better than Zach and Vanessa, and I know, like, Okay,
maybe I'm biased, and you're like all of these two
big powerhouse just Timberlake, Verty Spirits, they're amazing, amazing talents,
but there's something so sweet about like Zach and Vanessa's like,
I don't know, they had such a charm. I think
(04:45):
it's like unlike any other Disney movie. You know, they're
just there were at that age to be like that
genuine and sweet and charming.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
I think I think it was a better call, and
especially who knows if it would have had it two
or three with just In Brittany.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
No, that's for sure, because this was supposed to be
a one off to be one, so no one was
locked down. Well, it's hard to get people to do
a three picture deal like someone like that. They wouldn't
have done it for Disney. They're already like in the strategy.
So yeah, no, we got we got lucky. We got
lucky to get Zach and Vanessa for all three for sure.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Speaking of Zach, the next rumor Zach doesn't sing in
the movie.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Oh uh, well false, that's that's false. But there's nuance here.
So people are gonna say, yeah, but Drew Seally is
what they're gonna say. And Drew Seille is an amazing town.
So here's an interesting thing about the music in high
school musical. It was written before, long before Zach was cast.
So have you ever liked a few singers out there,
(05:50):
You'll know if you try to sing music that's outside
of your range, it's it's miserable. It's terrible, it's awful.
You sound awful. I know, I do. And uh so
the music did not fit Zach's vocal range, and it
was all completely rewritten for number two and three for Zach.
But when you tried to sing number one, like, there
was some parts that were just it just was not good.
(06:12):
It was not pretty. So they brought in Drew Seay.
And there's sometimes, matter of fact, you can listen to
some some of the songs and you can hear the
difference in the voices very clearly. Once you know, you're like,
oh yeah, right here.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
So so Drew did that, and Zach was often and
doing movies right away, so he couldn't be on tour,
so Drew was. She was on the music tour with
everybody you know. And he has it. He has a
beautiful voice to that guy, and by the way, the
best guy. Like, oh, he's amazing, like such a good guy.
Uh just I was family man, like, he's just he's
(06:47):
an awesome dude all the way around.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Like and he had to understood with two and three
why his voice wasn't being used.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Oh totally. Yeah, No, I don't think that. Yeah, it's
just it's the business. That's how it goes. But it
was really important for Zach. He's you know, he really is,
like I have to do my singing in two or three.
I think that was like I make a break deal,
like that was really important to him. So and I
thought he did great. He sounds terrific.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Next rumor, Troy and Gabriella didn't stay together after graduation.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Oh man, do you mean like after number three? Yes,
I think that's I think that's false. I in the
universe that that uh you know, I think it's uh, well,
there's there were several concepts and several scripts and several
iterations of the story. But I think, like, how this
(07:39):
is what I think in my in my world, the
only way I see it is that there's there's still
they're still together, there's still That's what we want, that's
what we want, that's what we want. Like that, I
think they split. The show's over, you know, so I think,
you know, I mean they're not that old. I mean
they're mid thirties now. I mean even now, they could
(08:00):
still be figuring it out and in a charming, lovely way.
And maybe they're not married yet. Maybe they started as
a little family. We follow that story.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
It could be and that's what four will be about.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Well, since High School Musical three ends with them choosing
different colleges, a lot of fans speculate that they broke
up shortly after graduation, despite the very hopeful ending.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Well, yeah, breakup doesn't mean it's over. Well I would
just leave it then.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
M you know, yeah, I went back and forth with
the same guy for years, you know, right.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
That's love story, so makes sense, all right.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Next rumor, Vanessa Hudgins and Zach Evron dating was all
staged for the movie one hundred.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Percent not that is one hundred percent false, and that
that was actually really fun for me, like, like, as
one of the two adults in the movie, to kind
of watch how they were so cute together. I just like,
I'm so charmed by they were so young, they were
so young. They were both you know, relationship of some
sort when they started high school, musical one and they
(09:03):
just you know that it happens a lot in movies
because you spend a lot of time together. You know,
you start spending one on one time in all these scenes,
you're rehearsing together, you're on set together. It's just like,
by the dynamics of shooting a movie, you spend a
lot of time together and then you have theas of
romantic settings and if there's something there, it's gonna get
(09:24):
flushed out. So it was over time, but you could
see them getting closer and closer. I think they were
like keeping it on the low for a long time,
but one hundred percent not true. To see how the
people think that these are things are fabricated. I've heard
this so many times in my life, and I have
(09:45):
a lot of like family in the industry, and I
see things firsthand a lot and all the speculation, all
the stuff, all the rumors and the tabloids, and they're like, oh,
this is what's really going on, Like that's not that's
not true. So many bull crap store it's just it's
it's true, it's not true, and it's this one, one
(10:07):
hundred percent for sure. I know that is that is
not true.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Well, recently it came out I loved Pamela Anderson and
Liam Neeson like the fact that they might have been
dating where they weren't they, And then it came out
that it was all a pr stune. I refuse to
believe that. I refuse to believe it now.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
That one. I don't know, I know first hand experience,
but it was fun to watch, like, oh, I mean
clearly they really liked each other. Yeah, clearly, whether it
was this friendship with their goof around or whatever. But
that was really fun and really sweet. I really enjoyed that.
But I don't think Dizzy's getting involved in like with
kids in that kind of stuff. Yeah, that's of you know,
(10:45):
maybe you know the actors. I think, if anything, the
actors would maybe choose to do something like that. Not
they didn't in this one for sure, But I don't think.
I really don't think the studios are doing maybe back
in the fifties, I don't know. Maybe they do. I
just kiss for the ones I know, and I see
like I'm inside their homes and be like, that's not
what they're saying is not true. It's crazy, and then
(11:06):
everybody believes it. But it's like, you can fabricate these stories.
I've seen it, like these fabricating their stories and they
get little pieces of truth and they put them together
and they build the story, and then everybody's like, well,
look you can this part's true, so the whole thing
must be true. Oh, it's just it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Many fans believe their relationship was a Disney pr stunt
to promote the franchise, while they were indeed a couple
for several years. All these rumors would always persist that
they were just it was all staged for Disney. False, okay, fact,
next rumor, Ashley Tisdale e Vanessa Hudgens feuding.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
No, now then that's to me, that sounds like something
they would want to fabricate because they're the Yeah, they're
the two that would go out of the most. But
it's not it's not that that's not true, not at all.
There they were great friends. They got along. I know,
I ever saw them once not get along. They were
always always friendly with each other, not just friendly each other.
(12:05):
You're like, everybody's really close, so you know, now everybody's
getting married to have a kids. I don't think everybody
spend as much time together. But as far as like
during the movies, no, they were, They're like they're besties
for sure. I think it's really interesting the fan debate
on who who is the villain. I don't know if
(12:26):
that's on the list anywhere, but no, please, that's a
whole nother thing. But like a lot of people say,
like that Gabriella was the villain and Sharpey was the
hero of the show, and there's this whole like story
of like, well, Sharpey was trying to try to help
out Troy and like get him to step out of
his comfort zone and take chances and be awesome and
(12:49):
be amazing and all. There's all the stuff, and then
that Gabriella was the one that was trying hold I
was trying to hold him back. So it's up, it
goes deep, it goes We should probably do a whole
entire hour log on this, on this storyline. It's very
very important.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Well, because Sharpayn and Gabriella arrivals on screen. I know
a lot of people thought that they disliked each other
in real life, but they have both said that they
were very close on set.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
I saw firsthand. I could put my name on that one.
That is one hundred percent false.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Okay, here's another rumor. Did Corbyn blues mic fall into
the pool in high school musical two?
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Now I've heard this one, but I actually don't know.
I don't know about that one. Is that is there is?
Oh wait, I think I saw a video. I think
I saw.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Yes, this post went viral, Yes, yes, yes, but no,
personal I was not there that day.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
That was when we were shooting down in Saint George
at that resort. That amazing. That's a real resort down
there on the golf course with all the red rock
and everything. It's beautiful down there in Saint George. And
I was not there that day. I've seen the two talk,
I have not had a conversation personally them, and I
wasn't there. So I'm gonna say I'm gonna have to
pass on that one. I cannot verify or deny that one.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Well, in case you haven't seen the video, Chad drop
the mic into the pool. No one really notices, and
then the mistake takes place. In the left hand corner
of the shot, Chad is singing over the pool he
knocks the microphone off off the stand, it falls down
into the pool. He then proceeds to like visibly react
to this falling, and then if you go back and
watch it again, you'll notice that the mic is falling.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Okay, I think it was happening kind of behind smacktion
or something. Is that like it was kind of in
the background.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Yeah, it was just like kind of in the lower corner.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I like to keep up on
my tiktoks, So I think I saw that video, but
now I can't. I cannot verify that one.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
So that's all the rumors we've got for you. Thank
you for debunking all of those. And now we're going
to go into some high school musical trivia to see
how well you know the movies.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Oh gosh, Okay, I'm a little nervous about this one
because honestly, I watch the movies. I like, I'll go
to screenings or like if there's like a charity event,
I'll go and introduce the movie, and you know, and
the kind of sit there and everybody talks to me
during the way. So I'm like, I'm there. But as
far as like the last time I sat down matter
of fact, you know, I was thinking about doing and
(15:27):
I think we should do this for all the all
the good iHeart people out there. Is do a screening
party like the night the movie premiered. Do a big
screening event. And I don't maybe I'll throw myself. I
don't know, but like, uh, well I'll watch the movie together.
I think that'd be really fun, just like a free event.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
We have an amazing iHeart theater right there.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Oh I did not know that.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Yeah, well, let's make this happen.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
That'd be cool, okay.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Question number one. The cell phone ring that gives the
class attention has the tune of what's.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Has the the oh that gives detention?
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
I went from ringing bell to the summertime song of
course in number two. By the way, summertime, Yeah, try
to flix mylog bellerspathetic? Oh jeez? Uh okay, detention when
this is? When? When Troy? Where's Troy? And Chad? Okay,
(16:33):
I'm bringing myself back there? Uh tens that? Okay, you
could you repeat the question please?
Speaker 2 (16:41):
The cell phone ring that gives the class attention, that's
the tune of what song?
Speaker 1 (16:49):
I don't know?
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Start of something new?
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Start of something new. Well, how did that get in
his phone.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
At Chick of Disney right there?
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Whoa okay? Okay, question number two okay, I didn't do
good on that one.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
What rule did Ashley Tuesdale originally audition for.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
God? It must have been Gabriella, that is correct. I mean,
well Gabriella of course original, ye.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
But Kenny I thought she would do better Sharpey.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
You know, Ken, I gotta say, Kenny top tier casting director.
He is so good. I mean, we gets Jason Lapador
and Natalie Hart, the amazing casting directors. But Kenny himself,
he sees these things. He sees it. I mean, could
you imagine a better Sharpey. There's not one, not one
she brought. She made us laugh on set so much
(17:51):
and just literally from day one. It's like hook. It
wasn't like the movie came out and everybody said, who
is a better Sharpei than? It was like I was
like every day shooting high school musical. One. It was appreciated,
like how funny she was and how much she cared
about the thing and the musicale and the auditions and everything.
(18:14):
She was so great. She was great. Now she's she's
shar Pei, like she could come she could have come
in for any character she would have. She would have
ended up with Sharp Pey because Kenny knows.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Next question question. Matthew Underwood was offered the role of
Troy Bolton, but because of his contract with Nickelodeon, he
was he was forced to decline the role.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Oh that's that's true.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
That's true. I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Yeah. Yeah, again, like Zach was an unknown, you know.
And I feel like so many movies today on movies
that I auditioned for and don't get are are like
they're just trying to get a name, you know, they
want to get who's hot right now instead of who's amazing,
Like who's really incredible for this part? And I'm you know,
(19:04):
thank Heavens for Kenny Ortega because he he puts together
pretty pretty amazing casts. Another great, great casting choice. Well done,
Kenny Ortega and leumpardar Okay.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Next trivia question for you. Which famous singer called Zach
Fron to tell him he enjoyed his work in high
school musical?
Speaker 1 (19:27):
I know this one, Michael Jackson.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
My mind is blown. I did not know this. Oh yoh,
oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Yeah, yeah, no, this is true, and and he met
Michael Jackson. I don't know if you know this one
or not, and he expressed to Zach like what a
fan he was, and he was Zach's like what what
this is pretty early? I mean, Zach's a big superstar.
Now he's an amazing talent and he's done a million movies.
But back then, like to have the King of pop
(19:58):
like tell you like, oh, you know such a He's like,
what that's.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Crazy, that's crazy, that's so cool.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Yeah. Yeah, Well, Kenny were taking choreographed Michael Jackson's tourist
for like fourteen years, and he was really close, really
really close with Michael, so he obviously is going to
pay attention to what Kenny's doing.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
But he love he loved High School Musical because he
did this is it right, the last film he did?
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Sure? Yeah, Okay, if you haven't seen that movie, it's
an amazing documentary on Michael Jackson and it shows you
how focused and hard working and how just what a
brilliant talent Michael Jackson is. And what's really fun is
like we went to the premiere of that and all
the Jackson's were there, like the entire Jackson family was there,
and you see all the people from high school musical
(20:46):
like in this movie, Chucky the Choreographer's there and Just
and Kenny was just You could see how important he
was to Michael Jackson. So it was for all of
us all this is wildcats out there that really know
the East High universe. It's pretty fun to watch that
the King of pop with the greatest musical director of
(21:08):
all time, mister Kenny Ortega.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Next question, where was the opening scene at the beginning
of the movie where Troy and his dad played basketball
originally shot?
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Oh jeez, where we were playing basketball?
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Opening scene?
Speaker 1 (21:28):
I remember it because we were supposed to be at
the dance and by the way, that dance, okay, now,
the dance. The karaoke scene, right, the famous karaoke scene
that was shot in Midway, Utah at Soldier Hollow, which
is a cross country ski venue for the Winter Olympics,
(21:49):
for the two thousand and two Winter Olympics. And it
was so hot, everybody's sweating to death, and ever you
gotta wear coats and pretend like it's snowing outside and
we're dying. And the basketball scene was shot right before that.
It wasn't anywhere near that. I believe that was. I
believe that was. We shut that in Salt Lake? Was
(22:11):
it East High?
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Does the word ballet mean anything to I mean that
easy even more context?
Speaker 1 (22:26):
No ballet? Gosh, man, no it doesn't. What is okay?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
There were ballet bars in the back because it was
shot in a dance studio?
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Was it BONDI Stories dance studio? Is that we shot?
Speaker 2 (22:43):
They covered the mirrors and it was in a dance studio?
Are we wrong?
Speaker 1 (22:50):
No, that's that's how No, that's right, that's right. Uh,
I don't remember. Is that all we know?
Speaker 2 (22:55):
It?
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Was it a ballet studio?
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yeah, that's it?
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Okay. So, so Bonnie Story was the local choreographer for
the for the movie. She was amazing, and we use
so many of our dancers. She's like an incredible teacher.
And she has a school in Utah and we were
probably shooting in her school.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
I'm guessing, Oh, okay, that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Maybe, I mean maybe I don't know so many dancers
of hers though she was she was trific as she
worked with uh obviously with Chucky and Kenny, and the
three of them did all the choreography in this movie
and then they are incredible. So I'm gonna say, uh,
my final answer is Bonnie's story's placed idiots.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Okay, we're gonna take it that side.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Don't you know a liar on this one?
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Okay, maybe you know this one. How long did it
take to record the first soundtrack?
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Oh man, the first soundtrack? How long did it take
to record the first soundtrack? Well, I I don't know.
I don't know that one. I don't know. I know
when when I went in I recorded, I got jipped
on my songs. And I'm a singer, you know, I
come from from musical theater, that's my background. So I
(24:07):
thought this was my big change, and I love musical
sound I just singing in the Ring is my favorite
movie of all time. Gee, Kelly's basically the best. That's
the bad, uh, Donald O'Connor, everybody's like it's incredible, And
this was like, oh man, I'm gonna finally do a musical.
I can't wait because I like, you know, all those
on stage of course, and uh, and then I don't
(24:30):
get to sing or dance, so I was really upset
about that. But then I go into the music studio
chord be like okay, so you're gonna be in the song. Well,
they give me the song ahead of time, They give
me the It was pretty cool because they give you
the soundtrack before you shoot the movie. Before you shoot
the movie, they give you the soundtrack and it's already
you know, the songs are animated and they're you know
there there's certain lines in the music where like come on,
(24:54):
let's go, let's go, and you're like, what, we haven't
even shot the movie yet, like what are they yelling at?
Like what are they excited about in But it's all
mapped out and they know exactly when people are responding
to certain things of the music. But it's a really
interesting process if you haven't ever thought about the process
of that. You're recording your songs before you really know
what's going on, so you don't know how excited or
(25:15):
what the intensity level is or what you're responding to exactly.
So it's kind of like a tricky thing. You got
to plan it out and then you then you because
they need the music on set for playback, so then
you lip sync right to the to the music. Because
you do over and over and over. There's all these
moving pieces, so you have to lip sync to the
to the playback of the music, and then sometimes you
go back and re record the stuff that you add
to it, so it's a it's a little bit of
(25:37):
a process. But I know, like, here's your song.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
I was like, let's go.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Like I finally I got to be on a soundtrack.
I get to sing, and then it's like, oh, hey,
here's here's your part. I'm like, let's go. Boys, It's like,
that's it. And then I'm like, oh no, no, there's more.
There's more. I'm like, okay, well, well right here, you're
gonna say sixteen once, I would just say sixteen. No,
you could say sixteen several. I'm like, okay, sixteen, sixteen,
(26:03):
all right, Like okay, that's come on, boys, come on.
There's like a few. I'm like, that's it. That's all okay. Well,
at least I'm on the soundtrack. And I think the
album went platinum, so officially, I guess I'm a platinum artist.
Yeah you are, so I need my I don't have
my record. Though I don't have it, we need to.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Get that too. And like you said in the first episode,
you almost had a song.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
That's true. That's true. I almost had a song. I mean,
I had a song. It was rescinded. Dang it, Disney
took it away.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
We were robbed. Well, the soundtrack took five days to record.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Five days, okay, five.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Days, which that's that makes me like my mind is
blown with that one.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Yeah, you know, I remember we recorded in the music
director's home, like in the basement of his house in
Santa Monica, So it was like pretty late, you know.
Oh prew simple, yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Next question, which actor had to undergo three hours of
basketball practice every day?
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Well, I mean everybody did, really, like the whole Like,
those guys are working really hard. There's saying one in particular,
h really extra hard.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
One of them had to do three hours.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
I mean I got I mean, it's gonna have to
be Zach. Yeah, right, because he did all the you know,
he had the pressure was on. You know, there's pressure,
you know, lash out of the game and all that
kind of stuff, and obviously, like this is a movie
and you wouldn't think that he had that same pressure.
(27:39):
But I'm gonna tell you, when there's three hundred people
watching on the earth, let's say, two hundred people on
the crew, three hundred people extras watching and it's all
like crescendoing to this moment and then he's got the
ball and he's got to drain it. That's a lot
of pressure. And I can't believe he did it. I don't.
I can't believe he did it. I had to. I
(28:00):
had to do that on a TV show once. I
did not trade it. It took me. It took me
a few I finally got one. But oh man, oh
that's tough. So yeah, it worked really hard. I gotta say,
like Zach, I got so much respect for the guy
because he worked so hard at everything. And they did that.
They would dance all day in preps, you know, for
(28:21):
the movie, and we didn't have a lot of prep time,
and I mean it was the last movie was I
think a month one month of prep. But it was
just every day, every day, dancing, dancing, dancing, basketball, basketball, basketball.
As soon as the dancer, the dance choreographers were done
with them, it's time for basketball. And you'd see these guys,
they're pretty young, and they're all iced up, you know,
ice ever, ice on their shoulders, ice on their knees,
(28:43):
and oh yeah. The first time I walked in to
see everybody for the for this for number three. Everybody's
like laying on the ground, ice all over their bodies.
I was like, okay, you're working on getting ready, let's go. Yeah,
it was. It was a lot of work, all right.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Next question, what was the working title of the movie.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Oh, there was no title for the movie. And I
remember when Kenny Ortega called me and asked me to
come in and audition for this this movie. He said,
we have no name yet, or just calling it high
School Musical until we come up with the name. And
there was never a name. Literally all the way through
(29:35):
shooting the movie, there was no name. We'll we'll just
call it high School Musical for now, and it stuck.
After a while, we're like, well, it actually kind of
makes sense because you know that they named it high
school Musical because that's exactly what it is, just like
right on the nose. We'll come up with a clever
name later. And then, you know, it's kind of brilliant
(29:56):
the way the way it was.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
So they yeah, I can't think of a better name, Kevin.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
And then and then what in number three? Then that
was the name of one of the songs, was high
School Musical.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
So right, number three, okay, which cast member had to
wear a knee brace when filming. Bopped the top.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Had to be Lucas. That's right, Yeah, yeah, that's right,
that's right. And Lucas killed it like he he came
in having to keep up with Ashley, and I thought
he was every bit as good. He was so good.
He really embraced that character and just brought so much
(30:38):
to it. Man, I thought he was. He was such
a good Ryan, such a good Ryan, and his dancing
was great, and he's such a great musician, and yeah,
he was. He was terrific. I love I love. The
thing I love about Sharpay and Ryan so much is
they're just so invested, you know, they just they love
what they do so much and everything so apport like
(31:00):
even the small things are so important to them a
level level, and on a personal level. Love Lucas, he's
the best. But yeah, you're work at working through those things.
That's it's like one thing to do at once. But
when you know you got to perform and this is
on camera forever and you got to go all out,
that's man, that's that's hard. You could get you could
really get hurt.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
So it's grolling to begin with, But then having an
injury on top of it.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Oh my gosh, yeah no you could really you can
really hurt yourself, but can't tell you did great? Look
good Bop to the top man, which scene.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Had to be cut short because of thunderstorms.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
I remember the thunderstorms. I remember that. Let me think, well,
I think we were at East High. We were at
East High when that happened. Boy, was that the I mean,
I'd want to say it's the rooftop scene, but I
don't remember. It's gotta be the roof to up you
(32:00):
are correct, I mean, it's so dramatic it had to
be right. Yeah, I remember that. I remember that. That's tough.
You know, you you have your whole movie like scheduled out,
and you only got so much time, and you really
want to do this scene great, and you just you know,
you're fighting sunlight, you're fighting weather, You're fighting lighting and thunder.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
And it was speaking of the rooftop scene, how are
items placed for the rooftop garden scene?
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Oh? Did they crane those things up there? Good? Yeah,
thank you were there. You know, it's pretty great because
it's uh that was an actual rooftop of course, uh
that you could access. But yeah, it was. You know,
after we got done with East High, like, they added
(32:51):
so many cool things to it that when the movie's over,
usually kind of take everything down. And East Time was like, hey,
uh well keep every like. It looks like the place
looks great, you know. So, uh yeah, they kept a
bunch of the stuff. I wonder what the rooftop looks like.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Now, well, some of the teachers wanted the garden to
stay in place, so I don't think even after all
this time.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Yeah, the oh you know what, I'll go investigate. I'll
make a video about it. Okay, I'm going next week,
so I will go up there. Are you really check
it out? Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Who was the youngest cast member at the time?
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Youngest? Oh gosh, well, I was going to say, we
had a couple of new ones on number three that
were young, really young, but the six men, let's see,
let's see the youngest. I would hmmm, I would think
maybe was it was it Corbett?
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Yes, you're right, he was the youngest. He was seventeen
at the time of the film's release.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
And then Monye Coleman was the oldest.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Twenty five. Yeah, yeah, she's twenty five. Yep, Yeah, I
think yeah, she was, like I think she was twenty
eight when we did the third one.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Two more questions for you. Okay, how long did the
cast have to rehearse before filming the first High School Musical?
Speaker 1 (34:13):
I'm going to say we had a two week rehearsal.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Yes, yes, two weeks of intense dance rehearsals before. Yeah,
before film.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
And by the way, that's crazy, like such an ambitious
shoot with so much dancing and singing, and yeah, that's
a lot of work. So it's like you're working long,
like you're working pretty much NonStop to make that happen.
So yeah, two weeks. It was a it was a
really small budget, so they didn't have a lot of
a lot of money to fly everybody up and put
them up in hotels and have that time with everybody.
(34:43):
So I did pretty good for two weeks.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
That's yeah, that's that's very good. Yeah, okay, last question,
this one's a tough one. Oh how many hats did
Lucas wear? Oh, myke during the first movie?
Speaker 1 (34:58):
How many hats?
Speaker 2 (35:01):
I don't know, five, even more, I don't know, nine
nine nine hats.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
I didn't know that, but I did not know that.
I remember it was a lot, But I guess I
guess that's you know, in a movie that it doesn't
you know, it takes there's a lot of dates when
a movie takes place in one day, which movies happened,
that's that's a lot of hats. But you know, we
the movie was a what a long way? So yeah,
(35:29):
you know your stuff A plus not bad, right, yeah,
but that's you know, that was hard, that was a
tough one. That's good times, that's good good the best
memories ever. It was like literally, I mean I've done
like one hundred movies now one hundred movies TV shows,
and uh, that remains just the most special for so
(35:53):
many reasons.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Well, we're so happy that you're doing this podcast because
so many times actors and actresses who are a part
of these big films. You know, I've interviewed a lot
of people on our show and they don't want to
talk about it. You know, there's certain things that they
don't want to talk about, and I love and we
love the fact that you're giving us all the insight
and all of these fun facts and behind the scenes
stories like the people that love high school musical. Thank you,
(36:17):
Thank you for bringing this podcast together and thank you
for giving us a glimpse into these movies that we
loved so much.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
Oh, I appreciate that so much. I've truly just I've
fallen in love with the fandom of it. I think
I'm the biggest East High fan and the whole community
I like to see it was my East High family.
They've just been so amazing and it's so fun to share.
You know, I did enough jobs before high school musical.
I worked for you know what two decades before I
(36:45):
did high school musical, So I knew this was a
special one that I was just gonna like, I'm gon
cherish this one. Man. This is These don't come along
all the time. This is going to have meaning for
the rest of my life. So glad, dude, hap you
I'm here. I'm really doing it. I just want to
give back to the people that have given me so much,
so I hope I can deliver something special for everybody.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Definitely, Well you passed. You did a great job.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Whoo. I was nervous. Thanks Jill, Thank you so much
for doing this, and I love doing this with you.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
You're the best time anytimes. It is so cool for me,
So thank you.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Awesome
Hey, Wildcats, this is Bart Johnson and you're listening to
Get your Head in the Game. Hey, welcome back everyone,
to Get Your Head in the Game podcast on me
Bart Johnson and the Lovely Jill. Jill, thanks so much
for coming back.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Oh, thank you for having me back.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I love to have you here. We're do some we're
doing some trivia today. We're going to debunk some rumors
and we're gonna get some stuff that I got. I
don't know. The thing is, I don't know what's coming,
so I don't know what rumors we're talking about. I
don't know what we're gonna debunk. I don't know if
I'm gonna be able to debunk anything. So I'm a
little nervous. Look I getting the cold sweats here, Jill.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
It should be pretty easy. Hopefully you seem to have
a lot of knowledge about I was there. Yo, Yeah,
you should know this.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
It's gonna be on me if I if I don't
remember any of the stuff.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
So let's get right to it.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Let's get right to it, Jill. For the second episode.
By the way, I loved having you. It was so
fun doing that with you and make it. Some videos
we made some we made some content. We made We
made a TikTok.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
We sure did. And you have no idea how many
friends were so jealous that I was in a TikTok
with you. It is a career actually, like a life highlight.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Oh, come on, honestly, honestly.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
So cool. Let's get to the first rumor.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
All right, you're giving me the rumors or you have
the list.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I have the list, and I want you to tell
me it's true. You know you have not? No, all right,
high school musical was originally going to be Grease three?
True or false?
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I don't. I don't. I don't think that's true. I
don't think that's true. I think it was like fashioned
after Like there was a lot of conversations that it
was a Grease Disney show, but like what do they
mean by it? Like was it it was gonna be
called Grease three? Or was this gonna be Grease three?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Well, it's true, ish.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I guess, yeah, I guess it was. All of the
high school musicals were kind of like, uh, influenced by
other movies, like Greece was one of them, and there
was gonna be a sequel that was gonna be Gosh,
they're all like old musicals. West Side Story was another one.
There was a there was a uh, it's always trouble
(02:21):
on this show. There was a script for for High
School Musical four at one point that was called East
Versus West That's all I could say. But that was
kind of like a West Side Story show. So that
was gonna be really cool. By the way, did you
see Vanessa Hudgens in Greece the Lives of Yes, I could.
(02:42):
I like, did it see Vanessa for a couple of years,
and she was she blew me away? Like that was
like the greatest performance. Like I thought she was really
great and really sweet and really charming in High School
Musical was she came out like that in Greece, Like
I just couldn't believe, Like, Vanessa, you are amazing. I
loved her, and that she's so good, such a so talented.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
And especially to put on a show like that, right,
she had the like her father passed away, I believe
right before. That's right, and then to still go on
and do the show that takes that takes a lot
of strength.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Yeah. And and that family is really tight too, you know,
they're all of them were they were always together and uh,
I can only imagine. Well, I can't imagine. I lost
my father, So I know how hard it is to
to try to perform and be because you you want
like for actors, you actors out there know like you
you you can't be in your head. You have to
(03:35):
be in the moment. You have to be present with everyone.
And you start thinking and you're you're disconnected. So and
how do you do that when when you're it was
your father, it's really it's rough. Yeah, rest in peace,
Bob Johnson, Love you body, Love you, Pops.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
The truth to this rumor, The script became High School Musical,
began as a Grease three sequel, possibly starring Britney Spears
and Justin Timberlake, and then it was reworked into High
School Musical.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
That is that true? Is that true?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
That's that's the truth that I have.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Is that true? We got we gotta ring them up?
Does he know about it? Is the question? That's what
I want to know? And Britney Spears.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Pretty spears, yes, Oh wow, Yes.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Have been I would have been different, have been real different.
I don't think you could. I honestly, I don't think
it gets better than Zach and Vanessa, and I know, like, Okay,
maybe I'm biased, and you're like all of these two
big powerhouse just Timberlake, Verty Spirits, they're amazing, amazing talents,
but there's something so sweet about like Zach and Vanessa's like,
I don't know, they had such a charm. I think
(04:45):
it's like unlike any other Disney movie. You know, they're
just there were at that age to be like that
genuine and sweet and charming.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
I think I think it was a better call, and
especially who knows if it would have had it two
or three with just In Brittany.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
No, that's for sure, because this was supposed to be
a one off to be one, so no one was
locked down. Well, it's hard to get people to do
a three picture deal like someone like that. They wouldn't
have done it for Disney. They're already like in the strategy.
So yeah, no, we got we got lucky. We got
lucky to get Zach and Vanessa for all three for sure.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Speaking of Zach, the next rumor Zach doesn't sing in
the movie.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Oh uh, well false, that's that's false. But there's nuance here.
So people are gonna say, yeah, but Drew Seally is
what they're gonna say. And Drew Seille is an amazing town.
So here's an interesting thing about the music in high
school musical. It was written before, long before Zach was cast.
So have you ever liked a few singers out there,
(05:50):
You'll know if you try to sing music that's outside
of your range, it's it's miserable. It's terrible, it's awful.
You sound awful. I know, I do. And uh so
the music did not fit Zach's vocal range, and it
was all completely rewritten for number two and three for Zach.
But when you tried to sing number one, like, there
was some parts that were just it just was not good.
(06:12):
It was not pretty. So they brought in Drew Seay.
And there's sometimes, matter of fact, you can listen to
some some of the songs and you can hear the
difference in the voices very clearly. Once you know, you're like,
oh yeah, right here.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
So so Drew did that, and Zach was often and
doing movies right away, so he couldn't be on tour,
so Drew was. She was on the music tour with
everybody you know. And he has it. He has a
beautiful voice to that guy, and by the way, the
best guy. Like, oh, he's amazing, like such a good guy.
Uh just I was family man, like, he's just he's
(06:47):
an awesome dude all the way around.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Like and he had to understood with two and three
why his voice wasn't being used.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Oh totally. Yeah, No, I don't think that. Yeah, it's
just it's the business. That's how it goes. But it
was really important for Zach. He's you know, he really is,
like I have to do my singing in two or three.
I think that was like I make a break deal,
like that was really important to him. So and I
thought he did great. He sounds terrific.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Next rumor, Troy and Gabriella didn't stay together after graduation.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Oh man, do you mean like after number three? Yes,
I think that's I think that's false. I in the
universe that that uh you know, I think it's uh, well,
there's there were several concepts and several scripts and several
iterations of the story. But I think, like, how this
(07:39):
is what I think in my in my world, the
only way I see it is that there's there's still
they're still together, there's still That's what we want, that's
what we want, that's what we want. Like that, I
think they split. The show's over, you know, so I think,
you know, I mean they're not that old. I mean
they're mid thirties now. I mean even now, they could
(08:00):
still be figuring it out and in a charming, lovely way.
And maybe they're not married yet. Maybe they started as
a little family. We follow that story.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
It could be and that's what four will be about.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Well, since High School Musical three ends with them choosing
different colleges, a lot of fans speculate that they broke
up shortly after graduation, despite the very hopeful ending.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Well, yeah, breakup doesn't mean it's over. Well I would
just leave it then.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
M you know, yeah, I went back and forth with
the same guy for years, you know, right.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
That's love story, so makes sense, all right.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Next rumor, Vanessa Hudgins and Zach Evron dating was all
staged for the movie one hundred.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Percent not that is one hundred percent false, and that
that was actually really fun for me, like, like, as
one of the two adults in the movie, to kind
of watch how they were so cute together. I just like,
I'm so charmed by they were so young, they were
so young. They were both you know, relationship of some
sort when they started high school, musical one and they
(09:03):
just you know that it happens a lot in movies
because you spend a lot of time together. You know,
you start spending one on one time in all these scenes,
you're rehearsing together, you're on set together. It's just like,
by the dynamics of shooting a movie, you spend a
lot of time together and then you have theas of
romantic settings and if there's something there, it's gonna get
(09:24):
flushed out. So it was over time, but you could
see them getting closer and closer. I think they were
like keeping it on the low for a long time,
but one hundred percent not true. To see how the
people think that these are things are fabricated. I've heard
this so many times in my life, and I have
(09:45):
a lot of like family in the industry, and I
see things firsthand a lot and all the speculation, all
the stuff, all the rumors and the tabloids, and they're like, oh,
this is what's really going on, Like that's not that's
not true. So many bull crap store it's just it's
it's true, it's not true, and it's this one, one
(10:07):
hundred percent for sure. I know that is that is
not true.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Well, recently it came out I loved Pamela Anderson and
Liam Neeson like the fact that they might have been
dating where they weren't they, And then it came out
that it was all a pr stune. I refuse to
believe that. I refuse to believe it now.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
That one. I don't know, I know first hand experience,
but it was fun to watch, like, oh, I mean
clearly they really liked each other. Yeah, clearly, whether it
was this friendship with their goof around or whatever. But
that was really fun and really sweet. I really enjoyed that.
But I don't think Dizzy's getting involved in like with
kids in that kind of stuff. Yeah, that's of you know,
(10:45):
maybe you know the actors. I think, if anything, the
actors would maybe choose to do something like that. Not
they didn't in this one for sure, But I don't think.
I really don't think the studios are doing maybe back
in the fifties, I don't know. Maybe they do. I
just kiss for the ones I know, and I see
like I'm inside their homes and be like, that's not
what they're saying is not true. It's crazy, and then
(11:06):
everybody believes it. But it's like, you can fabricate these stories.
I've seen it, like these fabricating their stories and they
get little pieces of truth and they put them together
and they build the story, and then everybody's like, well,
look you can this part's true, so the whole thing
must be true. Oh, it's just it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Many fans believe their relationship was a Disney pr stunt
to promote the franchise, while they were indeed a couple
for several years. All these rumors would always persist that
they were just it was all staged for Disney. False, okay, fact,
next rumor, Ashley Tisdale e Vanessa Hudgens feuding.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
No, now then that's to me, that sounds like something
they would want to fabricate because they're the Yeah, they're
the two that would go out of the most. But
it's not it's not that that's not true, not at all.
There they were great friends. They got along. I know,
I ever saw them once not get along. They were
always always friendly with each other, not just friendly each other.
(12:05):
You're like, everybody's really close, so you know, now everybody's
getting married to have a kids. I don't think everybody
spend as much time together. But as far as like
during the movies, no, they were, They're like they're besties
for sure. I think it's really interesting the fan debate
on who who is the villain. I don't know if
(12:26):
that's on the list anywhere, but no, please, that's a
whole nother thing. But like a lot of people say,
like that Gabriella was the villain and Sharpey was the
hero of the show, and there's this whole like story
of like, well, Sharpey was trying to try to help
out Troy and like get him to step out of
his comfort zone and take chances and be awesome and
(12:49):
be amazing and all. There's all the stuff, and then
that Gabriella was the one that was trying hold I
was trying to hold him back. So it's up, it
goes deep, it goes We should probably do a whole
entire hour log on this, on this storyline. It's very
very important.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Well, because Sharpayn and Gabriella arrivals on screen. I know
a lot of people thought that they disliked each other
in real life, but they have both said that they
were very close on set.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
I saw firsthand. I could put my name on that one.
That is one hundred percent false.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Okay, here's another rumor. Did Corbyn blues mic fall into
the pool in high school musical two?
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Now I've heard this one, but I actually don't know.
I don't know about that one. Is that is there is?
Oh wait, I think I saw a video. I think
I saw.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Yes, this post went viral, Yes, yes, yes, but no,
personal I was not there that day.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
That was when we were shooting down in Saint George
at that resort. That amazing. That's a real resort down
there on the golf course with all the red rock
and everything. It's beautiful down there in Saint George. And
I was not there that day. I've seen the two talk,
I have not had a conversation personally them, and I
wasn't there. So I'm gonna say I'm gonna have to
pass on that one. I cannot verify or deny that one.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Well, in case you haven't seen the video, Chad drop
the mic into the pool. No one really notices, and
then the mistake takes place. In the left hand corner
of the shot, Chad is singing over the pool he
knocks the microphone off off the stand, it falls down
into the pool. He then proceeds to like visibly react
to this falling, and then if you go back and
watch it again, you'll notice that the mic is falling.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Okay, I think it was happening kind of behind smacktion
or something. Is that like it was kind of in
the background.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Yeah, it was just like kind of in the lower corner.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I like to keep up on
my tiktoks, So I think I saw that video, but
now I can't. I cannot verify that one.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
So that's all the rumors we've got for you. Thank
you for debunking all of those. And now we're going
to go into some high school musical trivia to see
how well you know the movies.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Oh gosh, Okay, I'm a little nervous about this one
because honestly, I watch the movies. I like, I'll go
to screenings or like if there's like a charity event,
I'll go and introduce the movie, and you know, and
the kind of sit there and everybody talks to me
during the way. So I'm like, I'm there. But as
far as like the last time I sat down matter
of fact, you know, I was thinking about doing and
(15:27):
I think we should do this for all the all
the good iHeart people out there. Is do a screening
party like the night the movie premiered. Do a big
screening event. And I don't maybe I'll throw myself. I
don't know, but like, uh, well I'll watch the movie together.
I think that'd be really fun, just like a free event.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
We have an amazing iHeart theater right there.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Oh I did not know that.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Yeah, well, let's make this happen.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
That'd be cool, okay.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Question number one. The cell phone ring that gives the
class attention has the tune of what's.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Has the the oh that gives detention?
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
I went from ringing bell to the summertime song of
course in number two. By the way, summertime, Yeah, try
to flix mylog bellerspathetic? Oh jeez? Uh okay, detention when
this is? When? When Troy? Where's Troy? And Chad? Okay,
(16:33):
I'm bringing myself back there? Uh tens that? Okay, you
could you repeat the question please?
Speaker 2 (16:41):
The cell phone ring that gives the class attention, that's
the tune of what song?
Speaker 1 (16:49):
I don't know?
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Start of something new?
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Start of something new. Well, how did that get in
his phone.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
At Chick of Disney right there?
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Whoa okay? Okay, question number two okay, I didn't do
good on that one.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
What rule did Ashley Tuesdale originally audition for.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
God? It must have been Gabriella, that is correct. I mean,
well Gabriella of course original, ye.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
But Kenny I thought she would do better Sharpey.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
You know, Ken, I gotta say, Kenny top tier casting director.
He is so good. I mean, we gets Jason Lapador
and Natalie Hart, the amazing casting directors. But Kenny himself,
he sees these things. He sees it. I mean, could
you imagine a better Sharpey. There's not one, not one
she brought. She made us laugh on set so much
(17:51):
and just literally from day one. It's like hook. It
wasn't like the movie came out and everybody said, who
is a better Sharpei than? It was like I was
like every day shooting high school musical. One. It was appreciated,
like how funny she was and how much she cared
about the thing and the musicale and the auditions and everything.
(18:14):
She was so great. She was great. Now she's she's
shar Pei, like she could come she could have come
in for any character she would have. She would have
ended up with Sharp Pey because Kenny knows.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Next question question. Matthew Underwood was offered the role of
Troy Bolton, but because of his contract with Nickelodeon, he
was he was forced to decline the role.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Oh that's that's true.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
That's true. I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Yeah. Yeah, again, like Zach was an unknown, you know.
And I feel like so many movies today on movies
that I auditioned for and don't get are are like
they're just trying to get a name, you know, they
want to get who's hot right now instead of who's amazing,
Like who's really incredible for this part? And I'm you know,
(19:04):
thank Heavens for Kenny Ortega because he he puts together
pretty pretty amazing casts. Another great, great casting choice. Well done,
Kenny Ortega and leumpardar Okay.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Next trivia question for you. Which famous singer called Zach
Fron to tell him he enjoyed his work in high
school musical?
Speaker 1 (19:27):
I know this one, Michael Jackson.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
My mind is blown. I did not know this. Oh yoh,
oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Yeah, yeah, no, this is true, and and he met
Michael Jackson. I don't know if you know this one
or not, and he expressed to Zach like what a
fan he was, and he was Zach's like what what
this is pretty early? I mean, Zach's a big superstar.
Now he's an amazing talent and he's done a million movies.
But back then, like to have the King of pop
(19:58):
like tell you like, oh, you know such a He's like,
what that's.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Crazy, that's crazy, that's so cool.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Yeah. Yeah, Well, Kenny were taking choreographed Michael Jackson's tourist
for like fourteen years, and he was really close, really
really close with Michael, so he obviously is going to
pay attention to what Kenny's doing.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
But he love he loved High School Musical because he
did this is it right, the last film he did?
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Sure? Yeah, Okay, if you haven't seen that movie, it's
an amazing documentary on Michael Jackson and it shows you
how focused and hard working and how just what a
brilliant talent Michael Jackson is. And what's really fun is
like we went to the premiere of that and all
the Jackson's were there, like the entire Jackson family was there,
and you see all the people from high school musical
(20:46):
like in this movie, Chucky the Choreographer's there and Just
and Kenny was just You could see how important he
was to Michael Jackson. So it was for all of
us all this is wildcats out there that really know
the East High universe. It's pretty fun to watch that
the King of pop with the greatest musical director of
(21:08):
all time, mister Kenny Ortega.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Next question, where was the opening scene at the beginning
of the movie where Troy and his dad played basketball
originally shot?
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Oh jeez, where we were playing basketball?
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Opening scene?
Speaker 1 (21:28):
I remember it because we were supposed to be at
the dance and by the way, that dance, okay, now,
the dance. The karaoke scene, right, the famous karaoke scene
that was shot in Midway, Utah at Soldier Hollow, which
is a cross country ski venue for the Winter Olympics,
(21:49):
for the two thousand and two Winter Olympics. And it
was so hot, everybody's sweating to death, and ever you
gotta wear coats and pretend like it's snowing outside and
we're dying. And the basketball scene was shot right before that.
It wasn't anywhere near that. I believe that was. I
believe that was. We shut that in Salt Lake? Was
(22:11):
it East High?
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Does the word ballet mean anything to I mean that
easy even more context?
Speaker 1 (22:26):
No ballet? Gosh, man, no it doesn't. What is okay?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
There were ballet bars in the back because it was
shot in a dance studio?
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Was it BONDI Stories dance studio? Is that we shot?
Speaker 2 (22:43):
They covered the mirrors and it was in a dance studio?
Are we wrong?
Speaker 1 (22:50):
No, that's that's how No, that's right, that's right. Uh,
I don't remember. Is that all we know?
Speaker 2 (22:55):
It?
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Was it a ballet studio?
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yeah, that's it?
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Okay. So, so Bonnie Story was the local choreographer for
the for the movie. She was amazing, and we use
so many of our dancers. She's like an incredible teacher.
And she has a school in Utah and we were
probably shooting in her school.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
I'm guessing, Oh, okay, that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Maybe, I mean maybe I don't know so many dancers
of hers though she was she was trific as she
worked with uh obviously with Chucky and Kenny, and the
three of them did all the choreography in this movie
and then they are incredible. So I'm gonna say, uh,
my final answer is Bonnie's story's placed idiots.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Okay, we're gonna take it that side.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Don't you know a liar on this one?
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Okay, maybe you know this one. How long did it
take to record the first soundtrack?
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Oh man, the first soundtrack? How long did it take
to record the first soundtrack? Well, I I don't know.
I don't know that one. I don't know. I know
when when I went in I recorded, I got jipped
on my songs. And I'm a singer, you know, I
come from from musical theater, that's my background. So I
(24:07):
thought this was my big change, and I love musical
sound I just singing in the Ring is my favorite
movie of all time. Gee, Kelly's basically the best. That's
the bad, uh, Donald O'Connor, everybody's like it's incredible, And
this was like, oh man, I'm gonna finally do a musical.
I can't wait because I like, you know, all those
on stage of course, and uh, and then I don't
(24:30):
get to sing or dance, so I was really upset
about that. But then I go into the music studio
chord be like okay, so you're gonna be in the song. Well,
they give me the song ahead of time, They give
me the It was pretty cool because they give you
the soundtrack before you shoot the movie. Before you shoot
the movie, they give you the soundtrack and it's already
you know, the songs are animated and they're you know
there there's certain lines in the music where like come on,
(24:54):
let's go, let's go, and you're like, what, we haven't
even shot the movie yet, like what are they yelling at?
Like what are they excited about in But it's all
mapped out and they know exactly when people are responding
to certain things of the music. But it's a really
interesting process if you haven't ever thought about the process
of that. You're recording your songs before you really know
what's going on, so you don't know how excited or
(25:15):
what the intensity level is or what you're responding to exactly.
So it's kind of like a tricky thing. You got
to plan it out and then you then you because
they need the music on set for playback, so then
you lip sync right to the to the music. Because
you do over and over and over. There's all these
moving pieces, so you have to lip sync to the
to the playback of the music, and then sometimes you
go back and re record the stuff that you add
to it, so it's a it's a little bit of
(25:37):
a process. But I know, like, here's your song.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
I was like, let's go.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Like I finally I got to be on a soundtrack.
I get to sing, and then it's like, oh, hey,
here's here's your part. I'm like, let's go. Boys, It's like,
that's it. And then I'm like, oh no, no, there's more.
There's more. I'm like, okay, well, well right here, you're
gonna say sixteen once, I would just say sixteen. No,
you could say sixteen several. I'm like, okay, sixteen, sixteen,
(26:03):
all right, Like okay, that's come on, boys, come on.
There's like a few. I'm like, that's it. That's all okay. Well,
at least I'm on the soundtrack. And I think the
album went platinum, so officially, I guess I'm a platinum artist.
Yeah you are, so I need my I don't have
my record. Though I don't have it, we need to.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Get that too. And like you said in the first episode,
you almost had a song.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
That's true. That's true. I almost had a song. I mean,
I had a song. It was rescinded. Dang it, Disney
took it away.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
We were robbed. Well, the soundtrack took five days to record.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Five days, okay, five.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Days, which that's that makes me like my mind is
blown with that one.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Yeah, you know, I remember we recorded in the music
director's home, like in the basement of his house in
Santa Monica, So it was like pretty late, you know.
Oh prew simple, yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Next question, which actor had to undergo three hours of
basketball practice every day?
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Well, I mean everybody did, really, like the whole Like,
those guys are working really hard. There's saying one in particular,
h really extra hard.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
One of them had to do three hours.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
I mean I got I mean, it's gonna have to
be Zach. Yeah, right, because he did all the you know,
he had the pressure was on. You know, there's pressure,
you know, lash out of the game and all that
kind of stuff, and obviously, like this is a movie
and you wouldn't think that he had that same pressure.
(27:39):
But I'm gonna tell you, when there's three hundred people
watching on the earth, let's say, two hundred people on
the crew, three hundred people extras watching and it's all
like crescendoing to this moment and then he's got the
ball and he's got to drain it. That's a lot
of pressure. And I can't believe he did it. I don't.
I can't believe he did it. I had to. I
(28:00):
had to do that on a TV show once. I
did not trade it. It took me. It took me
a few I finally got one. But oh man, oh
that's tough. So yeah, it worked really hard. I gotta say,
like Zach, I got so much respect for the guy
because he worked so hard at everything. And they did that.
They would dance all day in preps, you know, for
(28:21):
the movie, and we didn't have a lot of prep time,
and I mean it was the last movie was I
think a month one month of prep. But it was
just every day, every day, dancing, dancing, dancing, basketball, basketball, basketball.
As soon as the dancer, the dance choreographers were done
with them, it's time for basketball. And you'd see these guys,
they're pretty young, and they're all iced up, you know,
ice ever, ice on their shoulders, ice on their knees,
(28:43):
and oh yeah. The first time I walked in to
see everybody for the for this for number three. Everybody's
like laying on the ground, ice all over their bodies.
I was like, okay, you're working on getting ready, let's go. Yeah,
it was. It was a lot of work, all right.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Next question, what was the working title of the movie.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Oh, there was no title for the movie. And I
remember when Kenny Ortega called me and asked me to
come in and audition for this this movie. He said,
we have no name yet, or just calling it high
School Musical until we come up with the name. And
there was never a name. Literally all the way through
(29:35):
shooting the movie, there was no name. We'll we'll just
call it high School Musical for now, and it stuck.
After a while, we're like, well, it actually kind of
makes sense because you know that they named it high
school Musical because that's exactly what it is, just like
right on the nose. We'll come up with a clever
name later. And then, you know, it's kind of brilliant
(29:56):
the way the way it was.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
So they yeah, I can't think of a better name, Kevin.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
And then and then what in number three? Then that
was the name of one of the songs, was high
School Musical.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
So right, number three, okay, which cast member had to
wear a knee brace when filming. Bopped the top.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Had to be Lucas. That's right, Yeah, yeah, that's right,
that's right. And Lucas killed it like he he came
in having to keep up with Ashley, and I thought
he was every bit as good. He was so good.
He really embraced that character and just brought so much
(30:38):
to it. Man, I thought he was. He was such
a good Ryan, such a good Ryan, and his dancing
was great, and he's such a great musician, and yeah,
he was. He was terrific. I love I love. The
thing I love about Sharpay and Ryan so much is
they're just so invested, you know, they just they love
what they do so much and everything so apport like
(31:00):
even the small things are so important to them a
level level, and on a personal level. Love Lucas, he's
the best. But yeah, you're work at working through those things.
That's it's like one thing to do at once. But
when you know you got to perform and this is
on camera forever and you got to go all out,
that's man, that's that's hard. You could get you could
really get hurt.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
So it's grolling to begin with, But then having an
injury on top of it.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Oh my gosh, yeah no you could really you can
really hurt yourself, but can't tell you did great? Look
good Bop to the top man, which scene.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Had to be cut short because of thunderstorms.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
I remember the thunderstorms. I remember that. Let me think, well,
I think we were at East High. We were at
East High when that happened. Boy, was that the I mean,
I'd want to say it's the rooftop scene, but I
don't remember. It's gotta be the roof to up you
(32:00):
are correct, I mean, it's so dramatic it had to
be right. Yeah, I remember that. I remember that. That's tough.
You know, you you have your whole movie like scheduled out,
and you only got so much time, and you really
want to do this scene great, and you just you know,
you're fighting sunlight, you're fighting weather, You're fighting lighting and thunder.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
And it was speaking of the rooftop scene, how are
items placed for the rooftop garden scene?
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Oh? Did they crane those things up there? Good? Yeah,
thank you were there. You know, it's pretty great because
it's uh that was an actual rooftop of course, uh
that you could access. But yeah, it was. You know,
after we got done with East High, like, they added
(32:51):
so many cool things to it that when the movie's over,
usually kind of take everything down. And East Time was like, hey,
uh well keep every like. It looks like the place
looks great, you know. So, uh yeah, they kept a
bunch of the stuff. I wonder what the rooftop looks like.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Now, well, some of the teachers wanted the garden to
stay in place, so I don't think even after all
this time.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Yeah, the oh you know what, I'll go investigate. I'll
make a video about it. Okay, I'm going next week,
so I will go up there. Are you really check
it out? Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Who was the youngest cast member at the time?
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Youngest? Oh gosh, well, I was going to say, we
had a couple of new ones on number three that
were young, really young, but the six men, let's see,
let's see the youngest. I would hmmm, I would think
maybe was it was it Corbett?
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Yes, you're right, he was the youngest. He was seventeen
at the time of the film's release.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
And then Monye Coleman was the oldest.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Twenty five. Yeah, yeah, she's twenty five. Yep, Yeah, I
think yeah, she was, like I think she was twenty
eight when we did the third one.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Two more questions for you. Okay, how long did the
cast have to rehearse before filming the first High School Musical?
Speaker 1 (34:13):
I'm going to say we had a two week rehearsal.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Yes, yes, two weeks of intense dance rehearsals before. Yeah,
before film.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
And by the way, that's crazy, like such an ambitious
shoot with so much dancing and singing, and yeah, that's
a lot of work. So it's like you're working long,
like you're working pretty much NonStop to make that happen.
So yeah, two weeks. It was a it was a
really small budget, so they didn't have a lot of
a lot of money to fly everybody up and put
them up in hotels and have that time with everybody.
(34:43):
So I did pretty good for two weeks.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
That's yeah, that's that's very good. Yeah, okay, last question,
this one's a tough one. Oh how many hats did
Lucas wear? Oh, myke during the first movie?
Speaker 1 (34:58):
How many hats?
Speaker 2 (35:01):
I don't know, five, even more, I don't know, nine
nine nine hats.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
I didn't know that, but I did not know that.
I remember it was a lot, But I guess I
guess that's you know, in a movie that it doesn't
you know, it takes there's a lot of dates when
a movie takes place in one day, which movies happened,
that's that's a lot of hats. But you know, we
the movie was a what a long way? So yeah,
(35:29):
you know your stuff A plus not bad, right, yeah,
but that's you know, that was hard, that was a
tough one. That's good times, that's good good the best
memories ever. It was like literally, I mean I've done
like one hundred movies now one hundred movies TV shows,
and uh, that remains just the most special for so
(35:53):
many reasons.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Well, we're so happy that you're doing this podcast because
so many times actors and actresses who are a part
of these big films. You know, I've interviewed a lot
of people on our show and they don't want to
talk about it. You know, there's certain things that they
don't want to talk about, and I love and we
love the fact that you're giving us all the insight
and all of these fun facts and behind the scenes
stories like the people that love high school musical. Thank you,
(36:17):
Thank you for bringing this podcast together and thank you
for giving us a glimpse into these movies that we
loved so much.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
Oh, I appreciate that so much. I've truly just I've
fallen in love with the fandom of it. I think
I'm the biggest East High fan and the whole community
I like to see it was my East High family.
They've just been so amazing and it's so fun to share.
You know, I did enough jobs before high school musical.
I worked for you know what two decades before I
(36:45):
did high school musical, So I knew this was a
special one that I was just gonna like, I'm gon
cherish this one. Man. This is These don't come along
all the time. This is going to have meaning for
the rest of my life. So glad, dude, hap you
I'm here. I'm really doing it. I just want to
give back to the people that have given me so much,
so I hope I can deliver something special for everybody.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Definitely, Well you passed. You did a great job.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Whoo. I was nervous. Thanks Jill, Thank you so much
for doing this, and I love doing this with you.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
You're the best time anytimes. It is so cool for me,
So thank you.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Awesome
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Will Friedle
Sabrina Bryan
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