By Sally Cohen-Cutler

I have a really obvious confession to make: I watched the sing-a-long version of High School Musical 2. Nope, that's not the confession; I couldn't help which version was on when I sat down to watch. The admission is more that by the end, against my own will, I was trying to sing along. Still, that's obvious. Because High School Musical 2 is impossibly catchy and lovable.

Disney Channel movies have a long history of cheesy, clean, wholesome fun. High School Musical - the original - fit directly into this mold. A fluke of a success, the original film was cute, catching the attention of tweens across the country. But the popularity spread at an exponential rate, making it so there was not one group of friends without a closet HSM lover. The premiere of the second was hotly anticipated - there are tons of stories on the internet of kids postponing their birthday parties, parents planning official get-togethers around the largest tvs, and there were even some college kids I knew who made quite a few calls to make sure someone had a cable package with the Disney Channel.

By Maya Motavalli with Ed Martin

When they talked in February 2006, Ashley Tisdale told MediaVillage junior correspondent Maya Motavalli that she had a ball playing "mean girl" Sharpay in High School Musical. She must have had a blast reprising the role, because Sharpay is even meaner in HSM2. Read on to learn how Ashley prepared for her career-making role the first time around.

By Maya Motavalli with Ed Martin

Currently starring in both High School Musical 2 and the feature film Hairspray, Zac Efron is one of the hottest actors in television and movies today. Early last year, when the media spotlight had yet to focus on him, Zac talked with MediaVillage junior correspondent Maya Motavalli about the first HSM, how he prepared for the role of Troy and what it was like to have his first "passionate" on-screen kiss during the making of the movie.

By Maya Motvalli with Ed Martin

Originally Published February 15, 2006

Zac Efron, Ashley Tisdale and their co-stars in the two High School Musical movies are household names today, but that wasn't the case in early 2006. It wasn't until weeks after the first film premiered and its soundtrack album blew through the roof that adults learned what kids and tweens already knew: The stars of Disney's HSM were the stars of the future, and the franchise was one that would live on for years (and possibly generations) to come.

MediaVillage, however, had the inside track on the HSM phenomenon. Junior correspondent Maya Motavalli, who was 11 years old at the time, was talking about the movie months before it debuted. Indeed, it seemed that Maya and her friends knew the words to all of the songs on its soundtrack even before they saw the movie. Such is the influence of the Internet, especially on the young.

Maya (with a little help from MediaVillage editor Ed Martin) interviewed Zac and Ashley in February of last year for a series of columns on MediaVillage. With High School Musical 2 about to make its wildly anticipated debut on the Disney Channel we thought this would be an interesting time to rerun those interviews and see what had been going through the young stars' minds when HSM mania was just beginning.

By Ed Martin

Returning stars Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu and Monique Coleman are all in fine form. Together, they're the most perfect six-pack of young television talent the medium has produced since Friends debuted in 1994.

BACK: MONIQUE COLEMAN; ZAC EFRON; RICH ROSS, PRESIDENT, DISNEY CHANNEL WORLDWIDE; ASHLEY TISDALE; ANNE SWEENEY,CO-CHAIR & PRESIDENT DISNEY/ABC TELEVISION GROUP; KAYCEE STROH; GARY MARSH, PRESIDENT, ENTERTAINMENT, DISNEY CHANNEL WORLDWIDE; VANESSA HUDGENS; OLESYA RULIN
FRONT: RYNE SANBORN; KENNY ORTEGA; LUCAS GRABEEL; CHRIS WARREN, JR.

We're two days away from what may be the most eagerly anticipated telecast of the year -- Disney Channel's High School Musical 2, the not-too-long awaited sequel to last year's unexpected blockbuster. Among kids and tweens it's going to be even more popular than the year's other giant TV entertainment event, the season finale last May of American Idol. I suspect it's going to appeal to millions of teens and young adults, and adults who are young at heart, as well.