In the Spotlight: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series season 2 debut

East High: The film set of the iconic High School Musical trilogy. The bright red cafeteria seats are calling your name. You start to hear Stick to the Status Quo. You follow the sound to the rehearsal room, where a group of theater kids rehearse the song. Yes, East High is hosting a High School Musical production.

So unfolded the central plot of the first season of Disneys High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (HSMTMTS), whose abundant name recognition among millennials and zoomers has placed high stakes for its production. Ultimately, the debut not only fulfilled but surpassed the big shoes of the trilogy, and the series was renewed for a second season a month before the first season was released in November 2019.

As with many other TV shows, COVID-19 has put production on a hiatus for the second season, which began in February 2020 but did not resume until last November. Still, Disneys’ team of health experts and a dedicated cast managed to produce a 12-episode second season, which is slated for release on May 14, 2021. On April 19, Disney held a press conference with two of the stars of the show, Joshua Bassett (Ricky) and Matt Cornett (EJ), to discuss the show’s debut and promote its new season.

Bassett and Cornett noted that they were initially skeptical of the show’s premise, given the high school music trilogy’s towering precedent.

When I first heard about the show, I thought it was going to ruin High School Musical, Bassett said. Then, as soon as I read the script, I was like, Oh, I get it, it’s completely different.

Basset also described the pressures that come with being an actor, especially those that were intensified while working on a series called High School Musical.

A lot of people will ask you when you’re on a show like this, what’s a tip? How did you get there And I’m like, I have no idea; I absolutely pretend as I go, and not everyone lets them fool you, Bassett said.

Like the characters undergoing self-doubt and self-discovery on the show, Basset brought up feelings of impostor syndrome while filming the conclusion of the first season. He often wondered if he deserved his success, and one day on set discussed that pressure to live up to other people’s expectations with showrunner Tim Federle. At that difficult but monumental moment, Federle consoled him by telling him that countless actors thrive on a fake until you make it the mentality.

Basset added that to overcome these feelings you have to believe in yourself. All it really takes is believing that I’m going to figure this out, I can do it, nobody really knows what they’re doing, I’m going to own it, and I’m just going to go, concludes Bassett.

Indeed, the mockumentary style and the contemporary medium surprised many fans. Yet its impressive original soundtrack and the heartwarming performances of its young talents have set HSMTMTS apart in the entertainment industry.

As Cornett describes, [The HSMTMTS cast] We have to pay homage to the movies, but also branch out and do our own thing, with our own music and our own stories.

Not only have the actors bonded through their TV co-creation, but Bassett and Cornett have professed that the shared navigation of COVID-19 production challenges has brought actors together in counterintuitive ways. While they couldn’t see each other in more casual settings, their filming time in Salt Lake City had its fair share of intimate moments. Bassett and Cornett each recounted spontaneous occasions with Joe Serafini on the piano, the cast performing various Broadway songs and when they were lucky, someone on camera to capture the magic of it all. Bassett admitted that a recording of the cast singing Ben Platts Grow As We Go always makes him particularly emotional.

It was such a special and beautiful moment that the dynamic of the cast is really like a second family that we get to do things on camera with, he said. It’s the best job in the world.

Bassett stressed that the actors’ passion for the material and the remarkable cohesion of the group motivated them to go all out for a successful second season. And when it came to promoting material that premiered on May 14, neither Bassett nor Cornett was short of praise.

It’s bigger and better in every way, says Cornett. Whether you saw the first season or you haven’t, you can still enjoy the second season. There is still something for everyone.

Bassett asserted the relatability of the shows and expansive storytelling.

Season two is really just double at all: double the vocals, double the dancing and double the drama, he said. We’re really expanding the universe and getting deeper into all of those characters that everyone loved from Season 1. Anyone who even loved Season 1 from a distance will be in love with Season 2.

The series has been lauded in particular for its diverse cast, including Filipino actress Olivia Rodrigo and several characters of color Gina (Sofia Wylie), Carlos (Frankie A. Rodriguez) and more who are celebrated but not essentialized in their various racial identities, socio-economic status and sexualities. HSMTMTS even received the award for Outstanding Programming for Children and Family at the 31st Annual GLAAD Media Awards, which honors the media for their fair, accurate and inclusive portrayals of LGBTQ people and issues. Even so, its diversity efforts sometimes fail. Courtneys’ character carries on the black sidekick trope, and the show focuses on white runs. While its accolades and accolades support the diversity of its cast and character, the show and Hollywood still have a long way to go. Yet many viewers, especially younger viewers, find solace in these genuine, albeit flawed, efforts for diversity and inclusion.

[The writers] normalize a lot of things that might have been a bit taboo 10 years ago, Bassett muses. It’s really special to be a part of something like this, where people can find solace and a little bit of escape in a few hours of entertainment.

In the upcoming season of the show, the East High Drama Club is hosting a production of Beauty and the Beast as part of a statewide theater competition, a major source of explosive dramatic performances. As rivalries and conflicts move past them, the characters learn that their connections to each other eclipse any bad blood brought in by the competition.

It’s just a matter of not letting the shiny things blind you and hiding what really matters and that’s just having your people, Cornett thought.

Ultimately, the show reminds viewers of the immense value of the unique people around them: while the show focuses on high school students, its central themes carry an indistinct impact. Bassett sheds light on this panoptic vision.

Like all art, much of this writing is very authentic, he said. As long as you’re telling the truth, even though it’s technically fiction, that universal truth resonates with people.

Season 2 of High School Musical The Musical: The Series will be available May 14 on Disney +.