20 Things You Didn't Know About High School Musical

What time is it?

1. The first film's soundtrack was the best-selling album of 2006 in the United States.
2. Peter Barsocchini, who wrote all three films, named the character Gabriella after his own daughter.
3. Hunter Parrish, who later went on to star in Weeds, and Sterling Knight of Sonny With a Chance both auditioned for the role of Troy. Zac Efron had previously auditioned for a pilot for Disney Channel before being cast in High School Musical. For the first film, Drew Seeley provided Troy's singing voice, but Zac did his own singing in the subsequent films.
4. Ashley Tisdale auditioned for Sharpay at the last minute. Though executives were already familiar with her, they didn't think she could play mean based on her performance on The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. For her portrayal of Sharpay, Ashley channeled Rachel McAdam's performance in Mean Girls.
5. High School Musical 2 premiered with over 17 million viewers, making it both the most-watched cable TV movie as well as the most-watched basic cable broadcast of all time.
6. To compensate for the PR nightmare that was Vanessa Hudgens' nude photo scandal, Disney slashed her paycheck for the third film, and both Zac and Ashley were paid more. Sucks to suck!
7. Corbin Bleu auditioned for the role of Ryan before getting cast as Chad.
8. Disney Channel had tried to get writer Peter Barsocchini to set the script in middle school, but he insisted that nobody would want to watch that shit!
9. There was a "no yawning" rule on the set of the first film; anybody yawning had to put a quarter in the yawning jar. Lord Jesus.
10. The first movie was filmed at East High School in Salt Lake City during the summer, when school was out of session. The second movie filmed all of its school scenes when East High was out for spring break. When the third movie came around, East High was in session and closed several of its hallways off to its actual students to accommodate filming. #publicschoolproblems
11. Monique Coleman, who played Taylor, did not know how to swim and was nervous to jump into the pool during the finale of the second film. She said that she received enormous support from the cast and crew, particularly Corbin, who jumped with her. If you're wondering why you've never seen Taylor jump into the pool, it's because after ALL OF THAT, it ultimately wasn't shown in the film.
12. After the success of the first film, Disney offered recording contracts to all of its main stars with Hollywood Records. Only Vanessa and Corbin inked a deal. Ashley opted to sign with Warner Bros., as she hoped to make music for an older crowd that Disney tweenboppers. 
13. With "What I've Been Looking For" and "Bop to the Top", Ashley became the first female artist in history to debut on the Billboard Hot 100 with two songs simultaneously.
14. The first film was to include a duet between Coach Bolton and Ms. Darbus. I think I speak for the entire world when I say that whoever decided to cut it before filming began is a gift from God.
15. High School Musical wasn't intended to be the film's title, but by the time production wrapped, a better title hadn't been thought of, and Disney hesitantly went along with the simple but catchy title.
16. High School Musical 2 was the first Disney Channel Original Movie to be advertised outside of the Disney Channel on networks like ABC and USA.
17. Upon its initial announcement, the third film was to be titled Haunted High School Musical and focus on a Halloween plot... Mm.
18. Jemma McKenzie-Brown, Matt Prokop, and Justin Martin were all cast in their roles for the third film with the expectation that they would carry on the series afterwards. However, after everybody realized how shitty they were, the three newbies were effectively fired from the fourth film, which would have focused on East High's rivalry with West High. The fourth film never materialized, but the fuckery that was Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure happened instead.
19. Selena Gomez was offered the role of Tiara Gold for the third film but turned it down. She later stated that she felt it would be a good opportunity for somebody else. Miley Cyrus, who has a cameo in the second film, was also allegedly tapped for the role.
20. In 2010, Disney was developing a musical comedy series called Madison High. Though it would have remained separate from the film series, the character of Ms. Darbus would link the two universes. Thankfully, Disney Channel didn't pick up the series.