Zac Efrons comment that kids who watch HSM brought back musicals

[kristinchenofan570]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 10:55pm

Was anyone else a little annoyed at Zac Efron saying that kids who watch things like HSM and Camp Rock bring back musicals?

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/HIGH_SCHOOL_MUSICAL_3_Wins_at_Nickelodeons_Kids_Choice_Awards_20010101

[TimeSquare3]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 10:59pm

I have never wanted to punch someone in the face so badly.

[KingKong]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:06pm

This just in, Zac Efron is an idiot. Breaking News ladies and gentlemen. We'll have more on this story, including shocking film at 11.

[winston89]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:07pm

The question that I am asking myself is this. Where did musicals go in the first place?

[TimeSquare3]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:11pm

Te he he...
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/230/42663672.png

[scott68]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:14pm

I mean, obviously in the grand scheme of things musicals are and always have had a presence... but are you all really arguing that the popularity of musicals (even watered-down, bad musicals like High School Musical) among the tween age group, who made the second HSM the highest-rated movie ever shown on TV, hasn't had a large effect on musicals regaining a cultural relevance they haven't had in recent decades?

[Pianolin717]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:17pm

TimeSquare3!
I saw an Adam Lamber one before! lol

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:39pm

Discussing Musicals is so, not Zac.
Dear boy.
Noel Coward would have known what to do with his talent,
Cole Porter also.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:54pm

Next, maybe Zac will think he was the cause of it.


When will these kids go away?

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:57pm

Agree entirely, scott. I was really brought into the world of musicals by Rent, my interest in which, in turn, led me to discover more and better musicals. It just takes something populist like High School Musical to get them in the doors, where they learn that, hey, it's okay for people to burst into song. Without High School Musical, would Hairspray have been the success it was on film? Without megahit movie musicals like Hairspray, would we have gotten film adaptations of more "artistic" musical fair like Sweeeney Todd or Nine?

High School Musical is garbage, but Zac is right. That garbage is giving musicals cultural relevance that the genre hasn't seen in decades.

Updated On: 3/30/09 at 11:57 PM

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 12:07am

"Zac Efron dropped out of the "Footloose" remake last week. The "High School Musical" actor (shown here at Thursday's London premiere of "17 Again") reportedly told the studio that he's not interested in doing another musical right now."

So much for 'bringing back the musical".

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 12:13am

Who said Zac Efron was personally responsible for bringing back the musical?

Updated On: 3/30/09 at 12:13 AM

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 12:50am

Yo Mama.

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 12:55am

It's really cool to hate Zac Efron. Didn't you guys get the memo?


Get off your high horses, everyone. He's right.

[KingKong]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 12:56am

There is nothing RIGHT about the boy, least of the amount of Covergirl he slathers on before appearing in public.

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:19am

Very intelligent, articulate arguments guys. Thanks...

... for nothing.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:21am

TMZ has pictures of his ear dirt.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:40am

The question that I am asking myself is this. Where did musicals go in the first place?

They were deliberately killed by the Hollywood studio systems as new young hot shot producers took over and resented all the awards going to "old fashioned" musicals like MY FAIR LADY and SOUND OF MUSIC. The studios liked these big cash cows and wanted more, so the producers set out to overspend lavish budgets on bloated turkeys: STAR!, PAINT YOUR WAGON, CAMELOT, DOCTOR DOOLITTLE, MAME... to look at these you have to wonder who thought any of these were good or even entertaining? They were big expensive failures because they were lousy movies, not because audiences were no longer interested in musicals. By the late 1970s musicals were passé. GREASE brought them back. Oh we can't have that so along came SGT PEPPER and THE WIZ and CAN'T STOP THE MUSIC and ANNIE and BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE to make sure that coffin was nailed ****.

Now with the success of CHICAGO, HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL and others the genre is still kicking but let's be clear, the core audience fro movie is teen boys and they don't buy musicals. Their girlfriends may and they will maybe go along. But when films like BATMAN rule the box office you see where the big money goes.

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:53am

So teenage boys helped Sex and the City make $150 million domestically?

Fine, we'll stick to musicals:
Chicago- $170 million
Mamma Mia!- $144 million
Hairspray- $118 million
Dreamgirls- $103 million
High School Musical- $90 million

Teenage boys? I don't think so. And you can go on about Batman all you want, but I don't think anyone was expecting any of these movies to earn $600 million dollars at the box office. That said, those are all some serious dollar amounts for any movie, let alone a musical!

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 2:44am

Hate him all you want, but HSM DID make a change in YOUNGER kids and their views on MUSICALS. Kids are simply NOT exposed to the genre as they once were. HSM put it pack in their reach and on their radar.

Having been teaching/directing at the middle school level when this came out, I can attest to the rise in both MALE participation in Drama Class as well as participation in our schools musical....and it hasn't yet waned.

Also: the statement was made to an auditioruim full of KIDS. He was talking to them. THEY gave him the award, sowhat is so wrong to pumping them up?

[Weez]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 4:18am

Much as it may offend your "I've been into musicals since FOREVER, they never went ANYwhere!" snobbishness, the kid isn't exactly wrong. High School Musical is an effective gateway drug for young kids. They see it, they love it, they think Zac's cute, they rent Hairspray, and it just all goes from there. I'm currently working on getting my niece into theatre, and it wouldn't be anything *like* as easy if she didn't love the HSM franchise. Just because it's not Sondheim doesn't mean there isn't room for it. Get over yourselves, and be glad that while some kids will think it's the best thing ever and never get any further into musical appreciation, others will. :P

[Plum]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 5:42am

But to say HSM is the thing bringing back the musical? Is a wee bit self-centered on Efron's part.

[bschneid76]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 6:27am

Perhaps if High School Musical had decent songs, I might give it more credit. I did not find it good on any level. At least Can't Stop the Music has camp value and is a tad bit entertaining. I wonder how many kids watching HSM would ever dream of watching An American in Paris, Gigi, My Fair Lady, Oliver, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, etc?

Many of my friends don't enjoy musicals because they don't understand why people burst into song and dance and say it is not realistic.

[BroadwayBound062]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 6:44am

I just threw up in my mouth a little

[TalkinLoud]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 7:08am

Did anyone stop to consider that he may be (in part) right? Him and his castmates have turned an entire generation on to musicals.