Disney's teenage musical 'phenomenon' premieres in London

Musical stars: Teen stars of Disney's massive hit film High School Musical
11 April 2012
The Weekender

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A low-budget Disney film billed as "a modern-day Grease" and "a little bit Romeo and Juliet", looks set to repeat its massive US success in Britain.

High School Musical, a squeaky-clean teenage musical, has become a global phenomenon since it was first shown in the US, and last night had its British premiere at London's Leicester Square.

The production which began life as a low-budget TV movie has taken the US by storm spawning a number 1 soundtrack on iTunes, five top 40 hit records and millions of DVD and CD sales.

"Its popularity has snowballed. It's just kept growing," said Zac Efron, who plays the male lead, Troy Bolton.

The films director, Kenny Ortega who choreographed the 1980s hit teen movies Dirty Dancing and Ferris Bueller's Day Off said: "It becomes a phenomenon because there's something there you want to return to over and over again,".

"There's something in there in one of the characters that you find accessible and touches you."

The film centres on the friendship between Troy, the handsome, cleancut captain of the basketball team and Gabriella, played by Vanessa Anne Hudgens, a pretty but shy geek.

They come together to perform in the high school play but rival school cliques - the "jocks" and the "brainiacs" - conspire to keep them apart. In the end, of course, they triumph through the power of catchy musical numbers.

Like its predecessors 'Grease' and 'Dirty Dancing', merchandise attached to the film has sold millions.

The DVD has sold more than 2.3m copies and the soundtrack has shifted 3m copies in the US alone. Nine songs from the musical made the top 100.

Since then spin-offs have included the stage play, the T-shirt, the book, the dance craze and the theme park rides.

Kids are performing the dances on YouTube and buying the songs in droves on iTunes where the soundtrack hit the number spot.

In the six months since its premiere, the film was shown 13 times in the US on the Disney Channel and was watched by 37 million viewers

Disney executives said the idea of "putting on a show", easily explained its global appeal.

Rich Ross, the president of Disney Channel Worldwide said: "The idea of putting on a show goes on in every school around the world.

"It's not the story of kids having a rough time with divorced parents or having a drug addiction. Not every story about school has to be about the darker side of the school experience.

"Parents think it's wholesome, but kids think it's about being unable to express themselves because of what their parents want and what other kids will allow them to do."

The film, which cost just $4.4m (£2m) to make, will air on Disney's newly free-to-air digital channel this month and on BBC1 at Christmas.

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