High School Musical turns 15! 🎉

On January 20th 2006, teenagers' lives all over the world changed overnight with the premiere of Kenny Ortega’s High School Musical on Disney Channel.

The musical film stole young kids’ hearts and carried them throughout their adulthood.

From posters, dolls, t-shirts, lunchboxes - you name it, Troy and Gabriella’s faces were on it. 

Then came a sold-out concert tour in the states, travelling ice shows, touring stage productions and 2 more movies! 

The stars appeared on the covers of teen magazines, schools across the globe put on their own productions of “HSM” and the soundtrack became the top selling album of 2006 with 3.7 million copies sold and even a Billboard Music Award!

This movie introduced a new generation to musicals and found its place as a global phenomenon.

Thanks to Troy Bolton, Gabriella Montez, and their friends and rivals at East High, High School Musical defined a generation and still holds a special place in our hearts. 

In honour of the movie’s anniversary, we wanted to look back at some of our favourite moments from the iconic movie.

“The Start of Something New” Duet

This is where it all started. From the instant connection between Troy and Gabriella to the way Troy takes off his jacket when he starts getting into his singing, this moment most definitely sets the scene for the rest of the movie. To the man who forced Troy and Gabriella to sing, thank you! 

When Troy and Chad are in a tree together

If this scene doesn’t shout bromance, then we don’t know what does. There are many funny moments in the movie, but this one is heightened when Coach Bolton storms in looking for his missing players and shouts, “What the heck are those two doing in a tree?” after Darbus puts Chad and Troy in detention for using their phones in class. Typical.

Zeke the baker!

Hands up if you also rooted for Zeke during this movie! “Stick to the Status Quo” is a musical sequence, filled with several stand out moments, but the one that takes the cake is Zeke admitting that he likes to bake. We still want to try his crème Brule! 

Ryan and Sharpay’s Audition

This scene will most definitely not leave our memories of this movie simply because of it being so bizarre. 

“Everybody loves a good jazz square.” 

This has got to be one of the most quoted lines from this movie right? I think we can all agree that Ryan is often overshadowed by Sharpay’s dramatic personality but in this scene we got to see how much of a true musical star he is.

The Secret Garden 

Who else dreamt of being Gabriella in this scene? When Troy tells Gabriella that his friends don’t know his secret hideout exists so that he can come here and be himself, our hearts melted (and still do to be honest!).

“Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma”

How could we forget this? We’d be lying if we said we didn’t still use this in our everyday lives. Everyone knows that Sharpay and Ryan are extremely into show business, but their warmups are definitely the best part of their performances. To this day, we still love imitating the sounds and motions.

“We’re Soaring, FLYING!”

Let’s talk about the call-back audition. No High School Musical favourites would be complete without this iconic scene. This moment is everything and just makes us fall deeper in love with Zac Efron. This scene makes us laugh, cry, but most importantly has us belting out the lyrics alongside Troy and Gabriella because “Breaking Free” is an absolute CLASSIC that could never be forgotten.

The ‘We’re All in This Together’ Dance Sequence

Hands up if you still remember every dance move from this musical number? We loved dancing around in our living rooms pretending to be a student at East High. Every time we watch this scene, we’re so jealous that we don’t attend East High. It’s not just the song itself that is one of the greatest in the entire High School Musical trilogy, the choreography is just as iconic. 

Sharpay’s confession to Zeke

From the get-go, Zeke has a major crush on Sharpay but she has no interest whatsoever. At the end of the film, Zeke tries to give Sharpay some of his best cookies, but as she’s not interested, Ryan takes them instead (we definitely would’ve done that too!). However, the end scene gives us all hope as Sharpay comes running towards Zeke, declaring her love for his cookies! At this moment, we cheered so hard for Zeke!  #TeamZeke 

What is your favourite moment from High School Musical? Let us know in the comments below!