ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS

Learning to be 'High School' stars

By Nancy Churnin
Thursday, June 1, 2006

Try community theater, young actors advise

Zac Efron and Vanessa Anne Hudgens had no idea the movie High School Musical would be such a hit.

"I love doing musicals, and I've always wanted to do movies," says Vanessa, 17, on the phone in May from Los Angeles, where she and Zac were promoting the release of the High School Musical DVD and special- edition two-disc soundtrack.

The Disney Channel movie premiered in January to Disney's highest household ratings for original programming, and the soundtrack has topped the Billboard, Amazon.com and iTunes charts. A movie sequel is planned for 2007.

Zac, 18, who graduated this spring from a high school similar to the one in the movie, says he understands why so many kids like the story about basketball star Troy (Zac) and whiz kid Gabriella (Vanessa).

The two characters want to be friends but find it difficult because they're in different cliques. Troy and Gabriella mix up things even more when they try out for the high school musical, upsetting the tightly knit theater kids.

"There are always cliques in high school," says Zac, who heads off to the University of Southern California in the fall. "But I was lucky. I wasn't part of any clique. I had friends all over school."

Vanessa, who was home- schooled, and Zac answered questions e-mailed from kids taking theater classes at Plano Children's Theatre and their friends:

I want to be an actress. What things can I do to make that happen?
Vanessa: I started dancing at 3, acting in community theater at 7 and did my first professional show at age 9.
Zac: Go out and try theater. Audition. Make your own path. If you're enjoying it, you'll get there.

What do you think would happen to your characters in a sequel?
Zac: I don't know, but wouldn't it be cool if we all found out we had superpowers and Troy was a spy and Gabriella was, too?
Vanessa: And it was all in 3D?

How did you prepare for the audition for this movie?
Vanessa: We had to sing and dance and act. They sent us a song to learn, and we learned the dancing there. It wasn't like Gabriella and Troy, who stumble into the audition, stand by the piano and sing and get a callback.
Zac: Ours wasn't as easy as Gabriella's and Troy's audition, but I had only done a little singing in community theater before this. I feel very lucky!

Did you get hurt or have any injuries while you did your choreography?
Vanessa: My feet really hurt because I was wearing heels when I danced.
Zac: I got twisted ankles, shin splints and got all beaten up – but it was all for a good cause.

From Dallas Morning News