After a generally successful first season, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series has logically been renewed by Disney. But, while waiting to see the continuation of Nini (Olivia Rodrigo), Ricky (Joshua Bassett), EJ (Matt Cornett), Gina (Sofia Wylie) or Carlos (Frankie A. Rodriguez) adventures, it is through a special episode that we will find the theater troupe of East High.
Entitled High School Musical: The Musical: The Holiday Special, this 45-minute episode will see the series’ actors sing their favorite Christmas, Hanukkah or New Year’s songs. They will also reminisce about their holiday memories, family traditions and New Year’s resolutions.
For EW, Tim Federle, the series’ creator, looks back at the genesis of this episode: “I was like, I miss the cast, I could use a little Christmas, let’s make a holiday special. And I still kind of can’t believe we made it.” He adds: “Knowing that the cast would be separated and in their own hometowns, I thought, let’s just use this as an opportunity to learn who they actually are, not as their characters. Mark St. Cyr is so different from the uptight teacher Mr. Mazzara and Matt Cornett has such a different life story than who E.J. is, so knowing who they are as people just makes them more lovable for what they’re able to pull off as characters.”
Joshua Bassett, Ricky’s interpreter, says: “I’m just excited for everyone to get to know the cast a little bit better on a more personal level than maybe they did by watching the show.“ Olivia Rodrigo, for her part, is happy to be back with her sidekicks from the series: “Before shooting this, all of us were in quarantine for like five months or something, and so to get to be on a set with these people who you had missed for so long and to finally get to see them in person was just amazing. The joy of having that experience shows through on camera.”
This special episode will also provide a glimpse into the second season as Tim Federle says: “The first episode of season 2 picks up right where season 1 left off,” Federle says. “It’s a very holiday-themed episode. I said to Josh, ‘What if you wrote a new Christmas song from Ricky’s point of view?’ It’s a really great Joshua Bassett original. It’s a really sweet moment in the episode.“ Joshua Bassett was thrilled to be allowed to sing his song in the special episode: “I was so honored that they asked me to perform it in the special. The key element of the song is that Ricky is trying to get a gift for someone and he doesn’t really have much money, and so it’s like, ‘I can’t afford a gift so instead I’m going to write you a song.'”
And one more gift: a sneak peek at #HSMTMTS Season 2, coming soon to #DisneyPlus! pic.twitter.com/ZyyEO0a4eb
— Disney (@Disney) November 13, 2020
The original soundtrack of High School Musical: The Musical: The Holiday Special will be available on November 20 on major music streaming platforms. The episode will be previewed on December 11th on Disney+. Olivia Rodrigo, Joshua Bassett, Matt Cornett, Dara Renee, Julia Lester, Sofia Wylie, Larry Saperstein, Frankie A. Rodriguez, Joe Serafini, Mark St. Cyr and Kate Reinders will be in this episode.
Dara Renee 
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series 
