In my periodic Tivo search for “keyword: musical,” I stumbled across an airing of High School Musical on the Disney Channel. I admit to being out of the loop on this phenomenon, which aired originally January 20, 2006, so I sought to remedy my ignorance by commiting the movie to my DVR.

Said the Times of the film’s release in the UK in 2006, “The story might seem hackneyed to anyone over 20, but High School Musical has caught the imagination of an army of American kids and is about to sweep the world.” And sweep the world, it did, with a 2007 sequel , a third installment on the way (see below), a stage show, a concert tour, a book series and an ice show.

To this viewer, nearly twice the Time’s recomended viewing age, (but still a twentysomething at heart) the journey of Troy, the Montague’ish basketball star, and Gabriella, the Capulet’ish brainiac, breaking out of their individual high school cliques to be swept up by the magic of (pop-infused) musical theatre was rife with cheesey dialogue and rampant stereotypes of just about every inhabitant of an American high school.

But as students start to confess in song their secret desires and talents (the honor student who break dances, the jock who bakes, the skateboarder dude who plays the cello) I began to understand the appeal this film has had to teenagers enmeshed in the torture chamber that is high school peer pressure.

And a few days after viewing the “pop up” version of this film on the Disney Channel, I stumbled across this news of the sequel to the sequel, or HMS3, to those (like me now) in the know.

From E! online: “After months of playing coy and holding out for approval of a final script, [Zac Efron] has at long last signed on to reprise his tween heartthrob role in High School Musical 3 for a $3 million payday, per Entertainment Weekly.

For weeks it’s been reported that Efron, along with [on-screen] girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale, were all seeking pay hikes for HSM3, which, unlike its TV-movie predecessors, is targeting a theatrical release.

Cameras roll on HSM3 in March, with Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman and Lucas Grabeel also due back.”

In the immortal words of Richard Maltby, Jr. “The story goes on…and on…and on…and on. And on!”

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