Disney Channel’s High School Musical premiered in 2006.
The film’s first Disney Channel broadcast took place on January 20, 2006. Directed and choreographed by Kenny Ortega, it stars Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu, and Monique Coleman in a musical story about students breaking away from expected social roles.
High School Musical was produced as a Disney Channel Original Movie and became a major television success. Its premiere attracted 7.7 million viewers in the United States, then a record for a Disney Channel premiere. The soundtrack became an important part of the phenomenon, eventually reaching number one on the Billboard 200.
A frequent mix-up is confusing the original film with its sequels. High School Musical 2 premiered in August 2007, while High School Musical 3: Senior Year arrived in theaters in October 2008. The original movie was filmed in Utah, using East High School as a prominent location, even though the story is set at the fictional East High in Albuquerque, New Mexico.