Emmy-winning director returns to set of movie that ‘put Utah on the map’

It’s been 20 years since Troy Bolton dominated on the basketball court. Since Sharpay Evans commanded the attention of a bustling cafeteria. Since an ordinary Utah high school with beige lockers, wide hallways and a feline mascot was transformed into the set of a Disney Channel original movie franchise.

In 2006, Salt Lake City’s East High School became a silent, additional cast member to the “High School Musical” film series. Kenny Ortega, the director of the films and the brain behind other hits like “Cheetah Girls 2” and “Hocus Pocus,” said everything about the school appealed to him two decades prior.

“The colors were there,” Ortega recalled in an interview. “We didn’t have a lot of money to build things. When we walked in here, I just saw the movie coming to life.”

When Ortega saw the cafeteria with its balcony, the movie suddenly had visual layers. The gymnasium, meanwhile, “sang” to him. “The space just called out to us,” he said.

Ortega returned to the school Wednesday to commemorate the original film’s 20th anniversary. He told The Salt Lake Tribune he never thought the movies would blow up the way they did.

“I did believe that we had something special,” he said. “We were on the gymnasium floor doing ‘We’re All in This Together’ and I saw something there that I had felt before, probably with ‘Dirty Dancing’ — there was this synergy, excitement and chemistry that was shared.”

When the first “High School Musical” was released, 7.7 million people tuned in to Disney Channel. The movie’s sequel broke that record in 2007, capturing the attention of 17.3 million viewers.

East High School, Ortega told students at a Wednesday assembly, “changed my life.”

Bringing the movie to the stage

Current students welcomed Ortega, production designer Mark Hofeling, and actors Lucas Grabeel (Ryan Evans) and KayCee Stroh (Martha Cox) to the school this week to preview elements of an upcoming musical production based on the original film.

The students performed a few songs, danced in the aisles of the auditorium, quoted iconic lines from the film and brought their own version of the musical to life while Ortega watched in the crowd, laughing and cheering. For the past week, Grabeel has been working with the budding actors and singers.

Ortega worked at great length with the students on Wednesday, giving them advice on how to draw the crowd into their performance. He coached the four students cast as Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez, providing them with feedback as they sang “Start of Something New” and “Breaking Free.”

He praised a student named Jack who asked him about choreography, noting that 20 years ago, it was rare to find males who wanted to sing and dance. Ortega also spoke to theater students about how to make their performances memorable — and shared why he thought “High School Musical” hit home with people of all ages.

“There’s a connection between those people that are on that screen that is so inviting that the world wanted to be a part of it,” he told the students, “You can create that with your version of ‘High School Musical.’”

The film series follows a group of students as they navigate the trials of sticking to the status quo or breaking free from what is expected of them. It’s about fitting in and being yourself and the inevitable tension between those two things.

Kevin McClellan, East High School’s theater director, said his students are huge fans of the films, and that they find its themes to still be relevant today.

“The whole idea of students trying to be the best they can be, figuring out who they are and trying to expand their horizons … everybody relates to it really well,” McClellan said.

Liam Reidlebach-Armer, who plays Chad in the school-produced musical, said he sees similarities between the film and his everyday life. “A lot of theater kids just stick with theater kids. And you can tell who plays what sport … [The movie has] kind of stood the test of time,” he said.

Putting Utah in living rooms around the world

Two decades later, people still flock to East High for a glimpse of the film’s set. The campus, McClellan said, draws hundreds of tourists.

“High School Musical really put Utah on the map,” said Virginia Pearce, executive director of the Utah Film Commission. “It put Utah into living rooms around the world.”

Pearce said the fact that the series attracts visitors to Utah aligns with a recent study the film commission conducted, which found that 39% of travelers say a show or film influenced their decision to visit the Beehive State.

The “High School Musical” franchise spent $76 million in Utah and also launched the careers of Zac Efron and, later, Olivia Rodrigo, who acted in “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.”

“It just was like this perfect synergy that Utah had that really allowed ‘High School Musical’ to be as great as it is,” Pearce said.

East High School’s production opens Feb. 19 and will run until Feb. 24. Tickets cost $10 for adults.