When Disney Channel decided to shoot High School Musical at East High in Salt Lake City 20 years ago, nobody expected pop-culture gold. The movie-musical centers around basketball jock Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) and bookish transfer student, Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens), who make a love connection while auditioning for the lead roles in their school musical, all while upsetting the school’s cliques.
It was supposed to be just another made-for-TV movie—no budget, no stars, a 30-day shoot and a cast pulled largely from Utah. Zac Efron was a fresh-faced teenager with little more than a resumé line or two.
The film went on to become Disney’s most successful television movie ever—spawning sequels, a spin-off series (also filmed at East High School) and a soundtrack that sold millions of copies. Casting director Jeff Johnson credits Kenny Ortega, the Broadway choreographer turned director, with spotting the opportunity in what Disney executives dismissed. “They told Kenny there wasn’t money to fly in 50 dancers from LA,” Johnson recalls. “Kenny wasn’t worried—he knew Utah was a reservoir of talent.” Having just staged Salt Lake’s Olympic ceremonies, he had already tapped into our endless well of dancers and singers.
The rest is well-worn Disney history. By 2019, HSM had been seen by 225 million viewers worldwide and catapulted Zac Efron to A-lister status. But in Utah, the story isn’t just about pop stardom—it’s about a real high school still caught in the aftershocks.
The Real East High
Today, East High is both a functioning public school and a tourist attraction. Student government member Lilli Williams helps run the school’s HSM tours, watching loads of visitors spill onto campus every day after school. They snap selfies in the gym where Troy led the Wildcats to victory, pose in front of Sharpay’s double-wide bubblegum-pink locker, or re-create the cafeteria dance number.
“My cousins from Louisiana brag to their friends about us going to the real East High,” Lilli says with a laugh. The school is even floating plans to invite the cast back for the anniversary, she says. “I think it would be cool for the actors to see us, the real students of East.”
Lilli Williams, a real East High School student, provides tours to HSM fans. Photos by Adam Finkle.
Beyond the photo ops, East High is a study in contrasts. Its long, narrow boundary stretches from the wealthy east-bench foothills to neighborhoods west of the airport, reflecting immigrants, refugees, as well as many of Utah’s most established families.
As one of the state’s oldest schools, it carries deep traditions—generations have worn its red and white with pride. But through many boundary changes, it now serves a majority-minority student body navigating starkly different realities: 72 percent of students live below the poverty line, translating into lagging graduation rates, housing insecurity and literacy gaps. A decade ago, East High parents joined together to create a first-of-its-kind on-campus “pantry” providing food, washing machines, clothes and showers for struggling kids. (It became a prototype for 70 tax-backed and privately funded Teen Centers in Utah schools.)
Principal Ryan Oaks sees the anniversary as more than nostalgia. “It’s a chance to connect with the community,” he says, adding that the school is celebrating by performing the stage version of HSM this February. He says talks between the school and a prominent filmmaker are underway for a documentary about the school, its musical production and the film’s legacy. “There’s tradition here, and real needs too.”
The Alums
And then there are the alumni—not the school’s alumni—but those faces from the cast that still make fans swoon and sing along.
Bart Johnson, better known as ‘Coach Bolton,’ has leaned into his legacy. A Midway, Utah, resident who once attended Wasatch High, he now hosts an iHeartPodcasts series called Get Your Head in the Game, and his TikTok feed doubles as a nostalgia machine for fans who never left East High behind. If you think Bart’s living in the past, you’d be wrong—even our interview at a small restaurant in Park City turned into a mini fan convention. “I’m ‘Coach’ everywhere I go,” Bart shrugs amidst a photo-snapping restaurant staff. “People even point at me in confusion and say, ‘You coached me, right?’”
While he’s produced and acted steadily since HSM, he says he doesn’t mind the typecast.
“Although I knew nothing about coaching basketball, in real life I’ve coached both of my daughters’ soccer teams for 14 years.”
While a full-scale HSM gathering hasn’t occurred since the thirdquel wrapped in 2008, mini reunions happen from time to time. In 2016, Disney produced a 10-year reunion special with most of the main cast and a taped message from Mr. Efron himself. Last year, a handful of cast members gathered at the FanX Pop Culture and Comic Convention in Salt Lake City. Amongst them was Corbin Bleu, who played Chad Danforth in the original movies.
“Salt Lake City is now home to one of the most iconic high schools, and it’s a real high school,” he said to fans. “I remember walking up to that campus in person and just being floored, because it’s truly stunning. It’s beautiful.”
Corbin came back to the school a decade after the final filming to play a fictionalized version of himself in the 2019 Disney Channel series, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (it’s a mouthful), which became its own phenomenon—this time catapulting cast member Olivia Rodrigo into global pop stardom.
“Walking into that gymnasium again,” Corbin recalled at the FanX event, “immediately, just tears started flooding my eyes.”
If You Build it…Will They Come?
So…to untangle it: first came High School Musical. Then Disney launched that mockumentary about theater kids who attended the “real” East High (still played by actors, not the real thing). And finally, there are the actual East High students, like Lilli, navigating the same hallways where the franchise was born. Together, these overlapping realities blur into one legacy, all converging on the weight of this anniversary.
For now, the question looms: Will Disney bring the cast back to Salt Lake for a victory lap? Will East High’s efforts to invite alumni back for its show be answered? Whether or not Zac Efron ever returns to that high school gym that made him a star, the legacy of High School Musical—part cultural phenomenon, part Utah oddity—remains very much alive.
Where to Find HSM in Utah
East High School, 840 S. 1300 East, SLC
This is the iconic school where High School Musical 1-3 and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series were filmed. After-school tours take you to the cafeteria, gym, entrance, hallways and Sharpay’s pink locker (still pink).
Murray High School, 5440 State St., Murray
See the auditorium where Troy & Gabriella audition in the first movie was filmed here. You can visit by appointment.
The Inn at Entradam, Snow Canyon, St. George
The Inn served as the fictional Lava Springs Country Club for High School Musical 2, where the gang took summer jobs. Stay at the Inn to enjoy the pool (site of a massive pool party as well as Sharpay’s iconic “Fabulous” number), or play a round at the golf course, site of Troy’s “angry dance.”
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