Review of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series

I began watching the first episode of HSMTMTS not really knowing anything about it. I thought it was going to be a remake of the original series without all the cheesy heart that made those movies so beloved to millenials and early gen-z (my generation). This is not your typical heartless Disney remake banished to a streaming service however. The show takes place in East High, the actual high school where the original HSM movies were shot. The plot follows the East High drama dept (and as a drama geek myself, I was so happy to see high school theatre accurately portrayed on screen) as they put on a production of High School Musical. The drama in this show is handled really well, especially with leading man Ricky Bowen, whose arc throughout the series had me tearing up more than once. Nini's character also goes through the very relatable arc of every high schooler of trying to figure out who she is in this world and what she really wants. My main issue with this show is that aside from a few other characters (Ms. Jenn, EJ, and Gina), the rest of the characters feel like they are there simply because they needed somebody to fill those roles for the musical. That's not a discredit to the actors, who all do an amazing job. I just don't think the 20-25 minute run-time per episode left much time for them, which is somewhat disappointing because there was a lot of potential for some great character moments with all of them, not to say there weren't any. I just don't think there were enough.