A Chat With High School Musical 2 Star Lucas Grabeel

With the overwhelming success of the original High School Musical, it was only a matter of time before Disney delivered what the millions of fans were begging for - the highly anticipated sequel, High School Musical 2 which debuts on the Disney Channel on Friday, August 17th.  BroadwayWorld sat down with Lucas Grabeel who is better known to the HSM fans as drama club die-hard, Ryan Evans. Here's what he had to say about making the original, the sequel, going on tour, and more!

Having previously done a made-for-Disney Channel movie ("Halloween Town High") - did you have any notion going into the original High School Musical how BIG it was going to be?
No, I was actually still working at Blockbuster after I finished filming "Halloween Town High" (and had been recognized there for that movie) and you know, because I didn't have enough jobs to keep me afloat before "High School Musical," I still had to have my regular job.  So I figured I would do that after "High School Musical."  I was set up at Blockbuster, but I was still thinking I would have to get a job somewhere else…but, I didn't.

Why do you think HSM is resonating so much with its audience?
You know, that's a hard question and a lot of people ask me that.  It's just one of those pop culture things. Now this is all my opinion but I think it's just one of those pop culture iconic phenomenons that come about every now and then – like "Full House," "Saved by the Bell," and "Friends." It's something that kind of clicks and, like you said, resonates with the audience.  But you know, there's a lot of things that go into it, there's a lot of people who put their hand into the process of creating it, so no one's really able to take credit for it solely…it's kind of a conglomerated effort.

HSM has clearly exploded onto the scene - how has it changed and affected your life and career?
Personally, it hasn't changed a whole lot of things.  Obviously, monetarily I don't have to work another job now, and it kinds of bleeds into my career life because I have been able to get a lot of work from "High School Musical." I get an audition because I've been in a movie or something like that.  It's gotten my face out there, I suppose.  Ryan is a lot different than who I am.  The person that I kind of have to be with Disney is all me - but you know - when you're standing in front of 15,000 people that are all 9-12 year olds - you're kind of walking on eggshells.  You don't want to offend anybody.  I kind of have to…not censor myself, I'm not a horrible person or anything…I'm just kind of an introverted person who stays away from everything…so I don't do a lot of the publicity, etc.  I don't really go to too many premieres, parties, events or anything.  I just kind of keep low-key. Occasionally, I'll get recognized by a kid, which is great, because they're smiling and so happy to see you. I have no idea why. I've never understood getting pictures or getting autographs from people, but you know…if I can make a kid happy, I'm not going to turn that down!

You went on tour all around the US and world - what was that experience like?
I had done a lot of growing up, so I felt that I was prepared.  Doing the live show is different from working on the film set in the sense that you have a lot more responsibility – you take care of your own things, you make sure that your costumes and your props are in the right place, you know your whole show, and you know what you're supposed to do.  Especially with me - I was the emcee of the show and I introduced all the acts. I was onstage a lot, changing clothes a lot, and always had to be on top of my game…which is exciting!  There's a sense of adrenaline that feeds you when you've got a lot to do in a very short time; when you go out and are facing 15,000 screaming fans, it kind of boosts your adrenaline even more. It's really an indescribable experience as far as the energy you feel when you're onstage. Especially when we went to South America and got to perform in stadiums with crowds up to 65,000. I've never even been to a concert that's had 40,000 people, I think.  So the first time going to a concert that big and being on the stage as the only person with a microphone -  and talking to people in Portugese - I never thought that would happen.  That's a pretty cool experience to mark on the "10 Things to Do Before I Die" list!

What was your audition process like for the original "HSM?"
Just a normal movie audition except for the final callback. That was kind of like a what you might see when auditioning for Broadway or Off-Broadway or something like that.  It was seven hours long, and there was a giant group of people that were called there to prepare a song or scene.  We also danced. We would go in as pairs to audition, and they'd switch us around.  We also did a mix-and-match, which is common for movies, but with the music and the dance aspects, they kind of changed up things a bit.  It was fun to do a different audition for once because a lot of them get very similar for a while.  It was cool.  They finally told some people to leave and it dwindled down to the last few, and then, they sent us all home and I think a month later they called me.

Did you base your portrayal of Ryan on anyone in particular?
Yeah, I actually talked about this with a couple of my buddies from high school.  There's a lot of people that fed into him, but really, my high school experience was High School Musical in a nutshell. I think Ryan represents my high school very well. I went to a pretty normal school, and maybe not being the best thing – you know, it's not really bad but not really good either – we were like really good in all of the sports; we had the jocks and the geeks and the skater dudes.  It was just like the stereotypical high school.  So we were very proud – overly proud – and boastful most times. We thought there was only way to believe. I grew up in the Bible Belt, so to some degree, it was very close-minded in a way. 

Can you share any humorous on-set stories that took place during the filming of HSM2 - or something audiences should make sure to watch for?
You know, I don't know.  I haven't seen the movie yet, so I don't even know what it looks like. I can't remember anything funny happening on the set. We were under a time crunch every day and had a very short schedule to shoot a lot of movie. We shot a lot that I'm sure is not even going to make it to the final cut because, well we just shot so much.  So, a lot of the time we were very serious about getting stuff done.  Yeah, we were having fun, but it was pretty hardcore. With the choreography, getting everything right... I'm usually pretty quiet and serious on-set.  I'm a goofball off-time.