NEW YORK – When Kenny Ortega first read the script for "High School Musical," the director-choreographer saw a version of his younger self in the character of Troy Bolton. And then Ortega took his time to find the actor who would eventually play Bolton on screen.
"My life was complicated and I was involved in both sports and theater," Ortega, 75, tells USA TODAY alongside actress Monique Coleman, who played Taylor McKessie in the Disney franchise. "But there was enough there that I completely understood what was on the page and I was like, 'Let me add to it.'"
Ortega was born and raised in Palo Alto, Calif., and his father was a big sports fan, so he understood the conflict that Bolton faced in pursuing both athletics and theater. And the director recalls, after seeing many contenders, when he knew that a then-unknown Zac Efron was the one to play Bolton.
"I remember one of the auditions, I had everybody for six hours, we were improvising and doing music and playing basketball," Ortega recalls. "I and others felt confident that the promise was there, that Zac was gonna be able to handle all that was there and bring even more."
"High School Musical," which marks its 20th anniversary with a dedicated streaming channel on Disney+, brought more to the cast and crew than they could've imagined. The initial movie spawned two sequels and turned a few of its stars into household names. Those sequels, along with the series "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series" will stream on a special channel through Disney+ from now until March 4.
