What time is it? Time for a Wildcats reunion!
On the second day of the FanX Pop Culture and Comic Convention in Salt Lake City, actors from the beloved Disney Channel trilogy “High School Musical” gathered for a panel in which they reminisced their time on the series — much of which was filmed just over three miles away at East High School.
The first “High School Musical” movie was released in 2006, with the sequel following the next year, and the third and final movie released in 2008. The Wildcat nostalgia was present throughout the room Friday.
Corbin Bleu, who played Chad Danforth, one of the six main characters in the series, led the panel off with a rendition of his iconic hype chant from the movies, asking the crowd, “What team?”
The crowd, full of fans who wore “High School Musical” merch or donned East High red, loudly responded, “Wildcats!”
Bleu acknowledged that many in the audience grew up with the series.
”It’s just as much a part of our childhood as well,” he said.
Bleu was joined by other actors Lucas Grabeel (who played Ryan Evans), Bart Johnson (who played Jack Bolton, Troy Bolton’s dad and the basketball coach) and KayCee Stroh (who played Martha Cox).
During the Q&A panel, audience members asked the actors a variety of questions. One young fan asked the actors about their first impressions of the “High School Musical” sets.
“Salt Lake City is home now to one of the most iconic high schools, and it’s a real high school,” Bleu said, referring to East High. “I remember walking up to that campus in person just being floored, because it’s truly stunning. It’s beautiful.”
The series was filmed at different locations across the state, though the high school is the most well-known and continues to see visitors and fans.
In 2019, a spin-off mockumentary series called “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” premiered on Disney in a nod to the original film series, and was also filmed at East High School. The series helped Olivia Rodrigo launch her career as a pop sensation.
Bleu said when he returned to East High for the spin-off series, he hadn’t been back since filming the original movies. “Walking into that gymnasium immediately, just tears started flooding up to my eyes ...,” he said.
Throughout the panel, the actors nodded to things their iconic characters were known for, like Garbeel running through the voice warm-up his character Ryan does and Johnson repeating his iconic “What the heck are those two doin’ in a tree?” line.
The actors also praised director Kenny Ortega, particularly for bringing back musicals to Disney, and spoke about what it means to be a part of this film series.
“The fan interactions are everything, especially like for me, I didn’t grow up seeing people that looked like me on TV,” Stroh said. She also said she was told in a letter from a fan: “Thank you so much for showing all of us that talent doesn’t have a waist size or a dress size.”
The actors also talked about their favorite songs from the series. Bleu said his is “I Don’t Dance,” and highlighted that the song’s origins go beyond the Disney film series.
Bleu pointed to music icon Frank Sinatra, and said when Sinatra first came on the scene, he could sing, but not dance. Sinatra ended up learning from Gene Kelly, Bleu said.
“[Kelly] said, ‘Meet me at the baseball diamond,’ so Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly went to a baseball diamond, and through baseball movements, Gene Kelly taught Frank Sinatra how to dance,” Bleu said.
Stroh said her favorite tune is “All For One,” while Johnson named “Now or Never,” because of his line mid-song and monologue before.
Grabeel said now that time has passed, his favorite track is “You Are the Music in Me.”
“You guys have carried this torch and kept this project alive,” he said. “‘You are the Music in Me’ describes how I feel about all of you so much, and into such great detail. I love that song so much more now than I used to, and it’s because of all of you.”
