A Disney Channel Original Movie inspired by the success of musical episodes of Even Stevens and That’s So Raven, Kenny Ortega’s High School Musical didn’t inspire high expectations when it first came out in January of 2006—yet it quickly became an unequivocal sensation. A fandom grew feverishly around it, enraptured by a love of Troy Bolton (Zac Efron), a basketball star with the voice of an angel, and Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens), the new student whose wicked smarts were matched by her gift for song and dance. Viewers loved to hate mean girl Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) and her doting partner-in-crime brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel), and plenty developed their own affection for supporting stars like Troy’s best friend Chad (Corbin Bleu), whiz kid Taylor (Monique Coleman) and shy composing queen Kelsi (Olesya Rulin).
High School Musical 2 came hot on its heels the next year, introducing smash sensations like “Bet On It,” which earlier this month went Platinum—a signal of the enduring appeal of not only the films but the songs contained within them. For an entire generation, “Get’cha Head in the Game” is a motivating rallying cry, “Breaking Free” a ballad for the ages and “We’re All In This Together” a reminder that community can be found anywhere, if you’re willing to open your heart and mind.
The first two films’ Disney Channel Original aesthetics have a special kind of charm. But for the third and final entry in the series, Ortega and company pushed things to the max by bringing High School Musical 3: Senior Year to the big screen. The kids were graduating and going off to college, and we were going to send them out in style. Making over $250 million worldwide on a svelte $11 million budget, it was a glorious celebration that brought us some of the franchise’s most elaborate musical numbers. With that cinematic stage, Ortega, his co-choreographers Charles Klapow and Bonnie Story, and the whole cast upped their games to a new level, 15 years ago.
What better way to honor their efforts than by ranking the High School Musical 3 numbers from worst to best?
Note: This ranking won’t include any of the renditions of numbers performed in the high school musical within the High School Musical, as that play is almost entirely composed of reprisals of numbers that we see throughout the film as the story is being pulled together. We’ll give a special shoutout to “Last Chance,” the little ditty that Kelsi and Ryan perform to open up the production, which is a unique piece that lets us know how much this production means to all of these kids as they’re about to give us a show one last time.
Here are the High School Musical 3: Senior Year musical numbers, ranked:
10. “Right Here, Right Now”
Facing graduation and the threat of moving a thousand miles away from each other to attend different colleges, “Right Here, Right Now” is Troy and Gabriella’s touching ode to wanting things to simply slow down. Life is all moving so fast, and up in Troy’s treehouse—a symbol of his adolescence that’s slipping away as he’s preparing to leave the nest—they can be together and grasp these final days of innocence before the big world takes them apart. It’s the first Troy and Gabriella duet of the movie and sets up their core dilemma for the rest of the story, but it lacks the thrill of their previous pairings in “Breaking Free” or “You Are the Music in Me”—or heck, even the threequel’s own “Can I Have This Dance?” The extended version of High School Musical 3 does feature a reprise of “Right Here, Right Now” in which we see a split-location duet between Troy in his treehouse and Gabriella on her balcony, taking advantage of the old musical chestnut of having characters express longing from two separate places. It functions a little better, but still isn’t especially memorable.
9. “High School Musical”
It all ends with this, a graduation number that sees the whole cast in their caps and gowns dancing around the outdoor stage after receiving their diplomas. The title is a sweet touch, and it’s somewhat surprising that they saved it for High School Musical 3 instead of using it at the end of the first. As far as final sequences go, “High School Musical” doesn’t have the emotional swell of “We’re All In This Together”—which remains the best representation of the series’ core ideas—nor does it have the groovy vibes of the second film’s closer, “All for One.” Ultimately, it’s fine. A pleasant way to cap off a franchise that gets the job done, but not really anything to write home about.
8. “Walk Away”
Gabriella’s solos are a staple of High School Musical, always expressing her tumultuous emotions in a heated moment—often centered around her needing to part ways with Troy in order to place her highest priority on herself. Hudgens excels in these scenes, giving interiority to a character who, on the page, can feel a little sidelined in favor of Troy’s issues. “Walk Away” is an unsubtly titled number that demonstrates her willingness to make the hard decision to not be beholden to her high school love and throw away her career opportunities to stay close to home with Troy.
When we first met Gabriella, we learned that she’s entering East High as just one of a number of schools she’s transferred to. She’s constantly having to say goodbye, and here she goes with another one as she parts for Stanford. Singing out “This emptiness feels so familiar. Each goodbye, just the same old song. But this time, I will not surrender. ‘Cause I’m gone,” we watch her memories of home—pictures and bedroom decorations—evaporate behind her, leading to her once again getting into the passenger seat of her mom’s minivan.
7. “Just Wanna Be With You”
Kelsi never really got much time to shine across the High School Musical series, so it’s sweet to see “Just Wanna Be With You” open up with a moment between her and Ryan. Two characters who clearly read as gay from the moment we meet them in the first film, there’s a seemingly platonic bond they share that you can imagine derives from how both put so much energy into their passions that they don’t have much time for personal lives. They’re so invested in putting on the best show possible that perhaps they didn’t even consider whether they’d actually be going to the prom themselves, or whom they’d go with. A touching moment at the start of the number leads into an excellent smash transition to stage practice. Troy and Gabriella pick up the beat and the whole cast and crew watches on. We get to revel with these characters in the sheer joy of putting on a production, and it all starts with a surprising dollop of tenderness between the two characters who value the pure love of the stage the most.
6. “Can I Have This Dance?”
While “Right Here, Right Now” left something to be desired, “Can I Have This Dance?” hits the right notes with a charming little duet between Troy and Gabriella where she teaches him how to waltz for their prom. We’re taken back to the (slightly absurd, let’s admit) rooftop greenery location which gives them a nice, calming environment to glide their way through. Ortega wisely keeps this one sweet and simple: No big frills and pizzazz, just two characters expressing their affection through song and dance, with the overlapping lines allowing their lyricism to be as synced as their movements. The choreography is deceptively complex, made to look simple and elegant, and it all ends with a full-blown downpour in pure romantic fashion. Plus, it gets a wonderfully touching reprise late in the film when Troy drives a thousand miles to see Gabriella at Stanford and give her the prom she thought she walked away from.
5. “Now or Never”
Within seconds of High School Musical 3’s opening number, we understand that the production value has been increased substantially. We see the sweat pouring off Troy’s face as he’s in the throes of East High losing their defending championship basketball game. Down by 20 points at halftime, the squad needs some pumping up, and so kicks in “Now or Never,” a massive jolt of energy to get their heads back in the game. Calling back to that iconic number from the first film, we see the production take full advantage of the ceremony of the court for a truly jumping bop that makes you want to stand up in your seats. That’s precisely what Gabriella does midway through the number, when Troy gets hit with a foul and the stadium goes black. Everyone in the crowd becomes covered in their signs representing East High, and Gabriella stands up like she’s in the middle of West Side Story and shouts for her man, declaring “You can do it, just know that I believe.” It’s exactly how you want to open High School Musical’s graduation to the big screen: A full-on stadium anthem with plenty of action.
4. “A Night to Remember”
Along with “I Want It All,” “A Night to Remember” is the biggest production of High School Musical 3, an elaborately choreographed sequence of the characters all preparing for prom that pushes into Jacques Demy territory with its pastel aesthetics, marvelously hand-built sets and colorful costuming. It’s something right out of the old Technicolor Hollywood musicals, while pulling influences from genres as varied as disco and swing—there’s even a random guitar shredding right in the middle. This threatens to turn into a chaotic blur, but Ortega’s tremendous fusion of different dance styles and musical registers plays brilliantly. The gender politics of the song itself are fairly groan-worthy: The women are excited for the greatest night of their lives while the men are moaning and complaining the whole time. But, at least in terms of choreography, there’s a delightful integration of the whole squad, reminding us that they’ve all been on this journey together across three films.
3. “I Want It All”
Sharpay and Ryan. Oh, how we love (and sometimes hate) what these two maniacs concoct in their laboratory of fame-obsessed show business dreams. The first film’s “Bop to the Top” is a fast-paced hoot, while the middle entry’s “Humuhumunukunukuapua’a” is without question the nadir of the entire franchise. Thankfully, “I Want It All” is the pinnacle of what is possible with this duo, utilizing Ryan’s masterful choreography and the insatiable spotlight hogging of Sharpay. This is Ortega going full-on Fosse, total Chicago glam, taking advantage of the elaborate, multi-level East High cafeteria set and an abundance of extras for an absolute showstopper.
We’ve got more production value in this single sequence than perhaps the entire first two movies combined. A rotating platform set takes us from an airplane cabin to a tropical lounge to a nightclub to treadmills and a taxi. It makes entertaining use of the entire cast: Gabriella shows up as a maid, Troy as a fawning Sharpay fanboy, Chad as a New York cop, Taylor as a flight attendant, Kelsi as a cab driver. There are more costume changes than you can shake a stick at. In terms of production, it might just be the best number here, but it doesn’t have the emotional weight of the two placed above it.
2. “The Boys Are Back”
While a lot of High School Musical 3 returns to iconic locations from throughout the series—the rooftop, the cafeteria—one environment we didn’t expect to see here was Troy and Chad’s trip to a salvage yard to scrape up some parts for Troy’s beat up jalopy of a truck. In a fascinating costuming decision, we see the duo donning a look heavy in jeans, flannel and bandanas, with a full lean into mechanical grime. It’s a fun diversion from expectations for the franchise, but what’s most impressive in “The Boys Are Back” is its sentimentality.
Troy and Chad came into the first film as established best friends, and their conflicts always stemmed around Troy branching out while Chad was stuck in his jock-boy ways. This number takes us fully back to their adolescence, allowing them to reminisce on the playground days of pretending to be superheroes, saving the girl and saving the world. It’s an elaborate fantasy number with sights as bewildering as a Christine-like car coming to life and needing to be fought off, and as touching as the masterful transition where the duo roll underneath a car and come out the other side as two toddlers—their literal childhood selves.
1. “Scream”
“The stage can be a wonderful partner in the process for self-discovery,” Ms. Darbus says to Troy in the auditorium after witnessing him bring the house down with his full-chested, throw-every-piece-of-your-soul-on-the-field performance of “Scream.” An immaculate embodiment of song’s ability to convey the emotions too difficult to speak, the best number in High School Musical 3 sees Efron positively bursting out of his skin with the anguish that’s been tearing him apart from the moment we met him so many years ago. Is music his destiny or sports? The age-old question, and now that he’s reaching graduation, he finally has to confront it. (Or does he? Never mind that!)
“Scream” is a tour de force for both Ortega and Efron, as the director utilizes mood lighting and jaw-dropping set-ups like a spinning corridor that would make Inception sweat, while Efron shows why he’s been the steward of this ship for three films running. High School Musical wouldn’t have ever been what it was without Efron’s wholly committed performance selling every high and low with aplomb—the kind of screen presence that comes around once in a blue moon. “Scream” is both Efron’s pinnacle as a performer and the emotional and cinematic high point of the franchise.
Currently based in Newark, Delaware, Mitchell Beaupre is the Senior Editor at Letterboxd, and a freelance film journalist for sites including The Film Stage, Paste Magazine, and Little White Lies. With every new movie they watch, they’re adding five more to their never-ending Letterboxd watchlist. You can find them on Twitter at @itismitchell.