What is the deal with that quick reprise while the actors smile at the audience? I get that it’s supposed to be their “curtain call” but, in that case, THEY SHOULD EACH TAKE A BOW. However, the film really should have blacked out after the song’s button when the actors all jumped. Swinging on the fly rails either proves that Troy has a death wish or is totally ignorant about technical theater, because anyone who has ever been backstage has been given the lecture to stay far away from those things unless you’re a certified rail operator.

This number is shameless, even more so than “Bet On It,” and I love it. It is a mental breakdown epitomized in musical format, and the best part of it is that it all feels so true – exaggerated to the point of comedy, especially from an adult’s perspective (that choreography is so angsty), but it’s the part of high school that this trilogy got so right: making choices about your future is really hard and it makes you want to scream. There is an actual thunderstorm outside, Troy wears a moody hoodie and skulks through the hallways singing a sad lament before the gymnasium rains basketballs and the school starts spinning upside down and Troy turns into a maniac, crawling over the stairs and punching basketballs and kicking walls. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you “Scream,” the top song in High School Musical 3 and one of my favorites in the trilogy and just one of the best things to grace this planet. The guy is a mess.īut maybe it’s for the best that Gabriella leaves, because that drives Troy to such a breakdown that we get the best number of all time. Let’s take it back to the beginning.Īs a kid, I thought that the opening with Troy’s sweaty face was horrible, but in retrospect it’s kind of fitting given this film (and the whole trilogy) are basically all about his mental breakdown caused by external pressure. Those two are not going to see each other that frequently, I promise you.īut I’m getting ahead of myself. Also, with Bay Area traffic, the commute from UC Berkeley to Stanford isn’t as easy as they make it sound. I’m still not down with Troy basing his college around where Gabriella is going to school, though. And the soundtrack is just as solid as the other films’ (or at least the second one). So, unlike the other two, this installment doesn’t feel as iconic to me as its predecessors – even though, in many ways, I suspect that it’s better than the second film, and, as an adult, I actually have a lot of respect for what it’s trying to say about growing up and moving forward. Prior to this rewatch, I had only seen High School Musical 3 once: when it was released in theaters (and maybe some snippets on DVD).

High school musical three soundtrack