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How High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Paid Tribute to High School Musical

Exclusive: Take a look at some of the HSM Easter Eggs and references to the original movies that you might have missed in the Disney+ series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series

By Lauren Piester Feb 04, 2020 8:29 PMTags
High School Musical: The Musical: The SeriesDisney+

It seems like nobody loves High School Musical like High School Musical: The Musical: The Series loves High School Musical

You could argue that the entire series, which recently finished its first season on Disney+, is a tribute to the franchise. Not only is it filmed at the same Salt Lake City high school where the original movies were filmed, but it's set there, too. The show is all about the students at that school putting on their own production of High School Musical: The Musical, meaning the whole thing is already just about as meta as you can get. 

In truth, the meta-ness goes deeper than that. We've got an exclusive rundown of some of the biggest Easter Eggs the show was hiding, some in plain sight and some you'd have to be paying really close attention to notice. 

Did you recognize a familiar fedora? A backpack strap? A microphone?

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Watch High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Take On "Get'cha Head In the Game"

Take a scroll through our gallery of Easter Eggs and feel free to get a song or two stuck in your head on the way. We personally were singing "Getcha Head in the Game," and now we're "Breaking Free" and we can't help it. 

Getcha Head in the Game

The very first episode of HSMTMTS gave a little shoutout to "Getcha Head in the Game" on a poster behind Nini. 

Sharpay's Locker

The first episode also revealed that Sharpay Evans' legendary pink locker from High School Musical is still pink. It even looks like it's gotten touched up over the years!

HSMTMTS filmed at the same high school as the original movies, the real East High in Salt Lake City, Utah, where the locker really is pink and is actually used by students. 

Pop and Lock and Jam and Break

KayCee Stroh appeared in episode six of HSMTMTS to recreate her famous "Stick to the Status Quo" moves, and she's still got it. 

Troy and Gabriella's Microphones

Troy and Gabriella sang into some pretty cool and totally real wireless mics during their first song together at the beginning of HSM, and somebody kept track of them...

Ricky and Nini were then able to use the exact same microphones to sing into each other's eyes in episode seven. 

Ryan Loves a Hat

Ryan was almost always caught wearing a fedora of some sort during the HSM movies, and while Lucas Grabeel was technically playing (a dream version of) himself, he didn't let us down when he appeared in episode eight. 

In fact, he wore one of Ryan's actual fedoras. 

Troy's Backpack

Does Ricky's backpack strap look familiar?

In episode nine, Ricky wore Troy's actual backpack from the first HSM movie. 

Shoutout to Kenny Ortega

During a flashback, Miss Jenn gave a shout out to Kenny Ortega, director of all three High School Musical movies. 

The first season of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series is now streaming on Disney+. 

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