Legendary DCOM film franchise High School Musical wasn’t just a film trilogy but spawned concert tours, stage shows, a direct-to-video spin-off, and a reality series, all before the advent of Disney+. Disney’s homegrown streaming service has struggled to find long-term success with non-Star Wars/Marvel series with but one exception – High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. It enters its fourth and final season on August 9th, but like the film series, the personal lives of its stars have dominated the conversation. The two leads became an item, broke up, and one of their careers was launched into the stratosphere. The Olivia Rodrigo/Joshua Bassett dynamic somewhat rivals the Zac Effron/Vanessa Hudgens tea, and with Rodrigo having officially departed the show, is there enough to make the class of 2023’s senior year worth watching?
(Disney/Natalie Cass)
15 years after High School Musical 3: Senior Year was released, the original cast is getting back together along with a few new stars for High School Musical 4: The Reunion. The original Wildcats are returning to East High in Salt Lake City to film it just as the Leopards are starting rehearsals for their senior year show, a stage musical adaptation of High School Musical 3: Senior Year. What could go wrong?
Season 4 brings back Corbin Bleu (Chad in the film trilogy) alongside more High School Musical alumni playing parody versions of themselves – Monique Coleman (Taylor), Lucas Grabeel (Ryan), Bart Johnson (Coach Bolton), Alyson Reed (Ms. Darbus), and Kaycee Stroh (Martha). But like Olivia Rodrigo’s absence, the duo that started it all are also not on the call sheet – Troy and Gabriella – nor is Sharpay. Like all recent revivals that have been unsuccessful at a full reunion, the premise is guaranteed to underwhelm diehard fans.
Ricky (Joshua Bassett) seems to have forgotten all about Nini and is all wrapped up in Gina (Sofia Wylie) following their secret summer romance at Camp Shallow Lake. However, Gina is unable to avoid the gravitational pull of her childhood crush Mack (Matthew Sato), a TV star who is at East High to film HSM4. And his co-star Dani (Kylie Cantrall) has a crush on Ricky. Will the new lovebirds survive having superstar classmates? What happens if the production decides to cast some local students for roles in the film?
(Disney/Fred Hayes)
Season 4 has better drama than the past two, both of which underwhelmed me. On the plus side, the music has remained consistently good, and there are some bangers this season. On the downside, some fan-favorite characters have had their roles greatly reduced, with EJ (Matt Cornett), Big Red (Larry Saperstein), and Seb (Joe Serafini) downgraded to recurring roles instead of series regulars. But ever since Season 1, HSMTMTS has struggled to be genuinely funny, going from laugh-out-loud in its debut to groan-inducing efforts in all subsequent seasons.
Overall, Season 4 of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series improves on the past two while not quite measuring up to the freshness of Season 1. Still, there are some questionable choices made, not the least of which is the fact that High School Musical 2 (my favorite of the trilogy) was glossed over in favor of two other Disney shows (Beauty and the Beast and Frozen) only to rush to the finish with High School Musical 3: Senior Year. That film was plagued by efforts to set up new characters that could continue the film series. While new arrivals this season don’t feel as erroneous, the loss of original cast members as the series drives towards an intended satisfying conclusion yields cause for concern that it won’t stick the landing. I hope it does.
I give Season 4 of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series 3 out of 5 Sharpay phone cases.
All 8 episodes of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Season 4 will stream Wednesday, August 9th, exclusively on Disney+.