Grab your dancing shoes and get your jazz hands ready,
because today's episode is all about "High School Musical:
The Musical: The Series."
We'll also be talking about Disney Legend
Tyrus Wong, and so much more.
I'm Jenny.
(CHANTING) And I'm Andre, and this is "What's Up, Disney+,"
where we talk all things Disney+.
Go Wildcats!
We're getting up to speed for the season two premiere
of "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series"
with a fast break recap of everything
that happened in season one. Brought to you by Geico.
Switch today and see all the ways you can save.
Start the clock, Andre.
It's showtime.
"High School Musical: The Musical: The Series"
follows the students from the actual East High,
where 15 years ago, the original "High
School Musical" was filmed.
Needless to say, drama ensues when they learn the school will
be putting up a production of none other than,
you guessed it, "High School Musical."
JENNY: It's a brand-new school year,
and Ricky has returned to East High
and learns the difference between break and break up
when he finds out that Nini has started
something new with heartthrob EJ,
who she met in theater camp.
During auditions, Nini sings her way
to the top, beating out talented new girl, Gina,
for the role of Gabriella.
Meanwhile, Ricky and EJ compete for the role of Troy.
To everyone's surprise, Ricky lands
the part opposite Nini, which makes
things a little complicated.
ANDRE: Jealous of Nini and Ricky, Gina and EJ
concoct a plan to steal Nini's phone in order to cause
a rift between the two leads.
JENNY: The plan works until Nini discovers the truth,
and then she steals a bunch of Gina's stuff in retaliation.
Oh, and she also dumps EJ.
Summer's over.
All of this is understandably stressful
for Nini's BFF, Kourtney, Ricky's BFF, Big Red,
and EJ's cousin, Ashlyn, all of whom
are also part of the production.
Over the course of the season, Kourtney comes into her own
as a powerhouse singer, and an adorable showmance blossoms
between Big Red and Ashlyn.
Speaking of showmances, the musical's choreographer,
Carlos, asks Seb to homecoming, but Seb shows up a little
bit late due to a farming emergency.
JENNY: Nini and Kourtney skip altogether and opt for a girls
night out with drama teacher Miss Jenn, who has been trying
to keep the musical afloat despite science
teacher Mr. Mazzara's efforts to expose secrets of her past.
In fact, Miss Jenn almost loses her job over speculations
about her qualifications, but the students
crash the school board meeting to save
the day in true musical theater fashion.
JENNY: Miss Jenn and Mr. Mazzara eventually find common ground
when they unintentionally spend the Thanksgiving
holiday together.
Unfortunately, they also managed to burn down the school's
theater, leaving the musical in jeopardy.
(SINGING) Dun, dun, dun.
ANDRE: In addition to trying to find a new venue,
Ricky struggles with his parents' divorce,
Nini considers applying to a prestigious performing arts
school in another city, EJ embarks on an apology tour
and goes way off the rails, and Gina's mom gets a new job
and they to move once again.
On opening night, Kourtney confesses she
submitted Nini's application.
What?
JENNY: And Nini is nervous because she
sees the dean from the performing
arts school in the audience.
ANDRE: Ricky has trouble handling
his feelings when his mom brings her new boyfriend to the show.
He asks EJ to take over because he doesn't want to ruin Nini's
chances of getting to the performing arts school,
but Nini wants her Troy, Ricky.
Aw.
And they come together onstage again,
closing the show with a splash and a happy ending.
JENNY: In the end, Nini and Ricky get back together.
He finally tells her that he loves her.
I love you.
JENNY: And she gets offered a spot at her dream
performing arts school.
But, wait.
There are cliffhangers.
JENNY: Will Nini leave Ricky and East High to attend
the performing arts school?
ANDRE: Will Gina come back and live with Ashlyn next year?
JENNY: And when did Big Red get mad tap dancing skills?
Find out in season two.
Yay!
That was a lot of drama for one drama club.
I can't wait to see what's waiting
in the wings for these Wildcats in season two.
One thing we do know is that the new East
High musical will be--
drum roll please--
[DRUM ROLL]
--"Beauty and the Beast."
So exciting.
Stream the new season of "High School Musical: The Musical:
The Series" tomorrow, and catch up
with season one now on Disney+.
Now we get to hear from the cast of "High School Musical:
The Musical: The Series."
Hi, I'm Kate Reinders, and this is how we keep
our vocals in tip-top shape.
[BILABIAL TRILL]
I use a straw.
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.
[ROLLING TONGUE] Ma!
Ma!
[ROLLING TONGUE]
(HIGH TO LOW PITCH) Oohhh.
(LOW TO HIGH PITCH) Oohhh.
(LOW TO HIGH PITCH) Yeahhh.
(ALTERNATING PITCHES) Ooohhh.
(ALTERNATING SCALES) Miss Jenn.
Miss Jenn.
Miss Jenn!
Derek Hough!
That's a great one.
This season on "High School Musical: The Musical:
The Series," our East High students are going head-to-head
with North High as they are competing
for the Menken Award.
They're doing a production of "Beauty and the Beast,"
and there's so much drama as per usual.
But there's a lot of fun as well,
and I can't wait for everyone to see
all the amazing performances.
People can expect a lot of competition, a lot of drama.
Drama, and maybe even some, what's the word, drama.
In season one, we got to meet them all,
but season two, you get to really dive into each
of their personal storylines.
There's some new characters that
kind of bring in a new rivalry.
The East High group starts to realize some things
about themselves and realize that really what's
most important is just having the people
that you love surrounding you.
Buckle up for season two because it's going
to blow it out of the water.
I promise you.
The most exciting part of making season two
was watching all the kids shine in new and amazing ways
and feeling myself shine with Derek Hough.
Working with Kate Reinders, she's just a phenomenal woman,
great talent.
Just being back with everyone and having fun.
I think a lot of our chemistry and fun
really comes through on camera.
For me, the most exciting part was getting
to do "Beauty and the Beast."
We all grew up with "Beauty and the Beast,"
and being able to bring it to life
and actually see the wardrobe and the songs, it's amazing.
All of the new music, we get to reimagine some of the songs
from "Beauty and the Beast."
I got to write a song.
Olivia wrote a song.
There's a bunch of beautiful music in season two,
and that's always the best part.
Stream season two of "High School Musical:
The Musical: The Series" tomorrow on Disney+.
And now, here's what's new.
Wednesdays are the new Fridays.
Mark your calendars for new episodes
of Marvel Studios' "Loki" streaming Wednesdays
starting June 9.
ANDRE: And check out the brand- new character posters for
Marvel Studios' "Black Widow."
Experience the movie on Disney+ with Premier Access on July 9.
Additional fee required.
JENNY: Connect, share, and dream alongside some truly
inspirational women.
Don't miss the first look at "Turning the Tables With
Robin Roberts," an Original Series
streaming July 31 on Disney+.
ANDRE: And cue the lightning.
Mayhem takes a chilling turn this fall with
"Muppets Haunted Mansion," an original
special coming to Disney+.
JENNY: And, finally, check out this inside look
at "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series"
as you count down the hours until the new season starts
streaming.
In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month,
we're shining a spotlight on Disney legend Tyrus Wong,
and here to help us is researcher
Doug Engalla from the Walt Disney
Animation Research Library.
Thank you so much for being here, Doug.
Hi, Jenny and Andre.
Thanks for having me here.
So, Doug, for any viewers who may not know,
can you tell us a little bit about the Walt Disney
Animation Research Library and what
you do there as a researcher?
DOUG ENGALLA: The Disney Animation Research Library
is the home to more than 60 million pieces of art that
is created for the production of an animated feature and short
film, a collection that spans almost 98
years of the studio's history.
I really hope to visit someday.
Yeah. [LAUGHS]
We'd love to have you there.
Tyrus Wong is a Disney legend and a hugely influential
Asian American artist.
What should people know about Tyrus?
Tyrus was born in Taishan, China.
He emigrated with his father to the United States
when he was only nine years old, and as part of his upbringing,
his father insisted that Tyrus practiced
traditional Chinese calligraphy.
He won a scholarship to Otis Art Institute
in Los Angeles, a school which he did very well,
and he eventually came to the Walt Disney Studios
where he first worked on animated shorts
as an inbetweener.
Being an animation inbetweener means
that you draw all the poses that happen between the key poses
of an animator.
So Tyrus noticed that the studio was planning on adapting
Felix Salten's book, "Bambi, a Life in the Woods,"
and this appealed to Tyrus's sensibilities
as a painter of landscapes.
Tyrus's work found its way in front of Walt Disney.
When Walt saw Tyrus's work, he was immediately enthralled
with what he saw, and Tyrus began working primarily
in concept and visual development art
on the Disney classic, "Bambi."
So a lot of Tyrus's original work
is housed in the Disney Animation Research Library,
and I've got a few of them to show you today.
Oh, cool.
Oh my gosh.
I can't wait to see it.
DOUG ENGALLA: So this is a rough layout drawing from early
in the story of the film.
A layout is a kind of a blueprint
for creating the stage for the animated characters' action.
That includes the type of mood and lighting for that scene.
So this is a visual development piece
for a sequence in the film.
The objective of visual development
is to explore the overall look and mood for different parts
of the story.
Tyrus liked the dreamy and ethereal style,
and that was influenced by traditional Chinese art.
He liked to juxtapose the scale of nature
to the living creatures, but what
he didn't know during the production of "Bambi"
was that his style of art, which is very impressionistic as you
can see here, was being followed closely by the background
artists, so much so that Tyrus was credited as a background
artist, even though he didn't actually
paint backgrounds for the film.
It's funny because he was never influenced by the Chinese art
until he came to the United States.
He was so young that he didn't have that opportunity.
He actually discovered it while he was just
walking home from art school.
That's fascinating.
That's really neat because then it reconnected him
to his culture and his roots.
It did.
JENNY: This is very dreamy.
DOUG ENGALLA: It is.
We always considered this to be a background painting.
The paintings of that time were almost never signed either,
so we never had the artist attribution for this painting,
at least not until the documentary of Tyrus's life
was in production.
Someone had sent over a still photo
of Tyrus that showed that he was painting this exact piece.
Without that photo, we would never
have known that it was his, but when you look more closely,
it's definitely his work.
Wow.
You're able to figure that out decades before social media.
That's impressive.
Yeah, it was kind of accidental detective work.
How long did Tyrus work for the Walt Disney Studios?
You know, he was only there for three years,
and it was just for that film, "Bambi."
But it's unquestionable that his impact on that film
had shaped the future of the studio.
Tyrus spent his entire life creating beautiful watercolor
paintings, pastel art, and he was
named a Disney Legend in 2001.
And he lived to be 106 years young.
[GASPS]
Wow.
That is amazing.
Amazing.
What have you learned about the history of representation
at the studio, and why do you think
it's so important to preserve the work
of artists like Tyrus Wong?
Walt Disney was always interested
in finding talent that played to their strongest attributes,
and it didn't matter where you or your family came from.
As long as you excelled at what you did,
you were always included.
Tyrus's contribution to the look and feel of "Bambi"
makes this film stand out from the others.
I mean, you can look at a frame of the film,
and you know it's "Bambi" thanks to Tyrus.
It's important to remember that such a beautiful film was
influenced by the work of a Chinese immigrant, who
loved to draw.
That's really special.
It really is, yeah.
It's just a reminder of just when you listen
to so many different voices, you can come up
with different influences and inspirations you may
never even thought of before.
That's what's so special about art
is about how we look at the world
with a certain eye and appreciation for what
we sometimes don't see.
Well, we appreciate your work as well--
Yes.
--with what you're doing at the Walt Disney
Animation Research Library.
Can you tell us what you're working on there now?
We're working on projects for Disney+.
We're celebrating the 70th anniversary of "Alice
in Wonderland" and the 30th anniversary of "Beauty
and the Beast," and there are a number of upcoming books
in production that will feature art from the Disney Animation
Research Library collection.
Thank you so much, Doug, for all the work that you're doing.
Keeping this animation history preserved is so important.
Thank you, Andre and Jenny.
It's been my honor to talk about Tyrus and his legacy
to Disney animation.
You can stream Tyrus Wong's incredible work in "Bambi"
right now on Disney+.
This has been quite an episode, Andre,
and I don't know about you, but I'm
feeling jazzed for "High School Musical:
The Musical: The Series."
Jazzed is right.
Well, that's our show for today.
If you want to find what you're looking for, be sure to head
over to Disney+ and stream all of your favorites and more,
and we'll see you next time.
All right, let's warm up for the second season.
[BILABIAL TRILLS]
Ma! Ma!
Ma!
Ow.
Stay in character, Lumière.
Ow.
[MUSIC PLAYING]