Guest Author - Marci Ann Peterson

High School Musical 2, the sequel to Disney Channel’s Original movie High School Musical, premiered on Disney channel on August 17, 2007. With 17.24 million viewers, High School Musical 2 has now earned the spot of highest rated basic cable broadcast of all time.

School’s out and summer vacation is here, but it’s not all fun in the sun for these Wildacts. Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) makes sure that Troy (Zac Efron) gets a job at her family owned Country Club Lava Springs. Troy manages to get the rest of the Wildcats jobs at the country club. Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) is the new lifeguard while Troy, Chad (Corbin Bleu) and the other Wildcats are working in the kitchen. Sharpay’s plans to steal Troy away from Gabriella, seem to be initially thwarted.

The country club holds a talent show every summer that brother and sister duo, Sharpay and Ryan(Lucas Grabeel) always win. Kelsie (Oleysa Rulin), who is the new rehearsal pianist, writes a song for Gabriella and Troy to sing together at the talent show.

Sharpay, seeing her chances with Troy slipping away ends up using her family’s wealth and power to start luring Troy away from his friends. She lands Troy a better job and even dangles a basketball scholarship in front of him. Troy starts changing and he even agrees to sing with Sharpay, the number he and Gabriella were suppose to perform at the talent show, and ends up pushing all his friends away. Meanwhile in her quest to get Troy, Sharpay ends up dumping Ryan as her singing partner.

Gabriella ends up breaking up with Troy. But things do not end up the way Sharpay has planned. Troy takes a closer look at himself and realizes that he has lost all his friends and now his girlfriend.

He learns that Sharpay has made it so none of the junior staffers are able to perform in the talent show. Troy asks for his old job back, quits the talent show and ends up leaving Sharpay with no one to perform with. Thinking that Ryan will come sing with her again she tells him that he can have his duet part back. Ryan who after being dumped by his sister had started working on a number with the junior staffers refuses to sing with her, telling her that she always wanted the spotlight and now she has it.

Troy decides to sing with Sharpay only if she allows the junior staffers to perform their number as well. Ryan plotting with the Wildcats tells Troy he needs to learn a new song that Sharpay has decided at the last minute that she wants to do. Troy asks Sharpay why she changed the song on him at the last minute, before Sharpay has a chance to answer Troy is pushed out on stage and Sharpay realizes that she is no longer part of the duet. Troy begins the song and hears Gabriella’s voice from the back of the room. Troy and Gabriella sing the duet joined in by the Wildcats and even Ryan and Sharpay are pulled on stage to participate.

Sharpay announces that her brother, Ryan, is winner of the talent show. The Wildcats end up walking off over the golf hill, Troy and Gabriella kiss. The show ends with a staff pool party with our main characters singing and dancing.