When High School Musical: Get In The Picture was in its audition stages, I had a pretty good feeling about the show. The faculty members, who served as judges during the process, were not just letting anyone through to the next round. The contestants had to not only impress vocally but through their dance skills and personality as well. They passed on people that I thought were good enough to go on but the standards were set high for this new reality show. When they narrowed it down to the final group of contestants, though, they had to start performing weekly tasks that made me wonder: What the heck does this have to do with anything?

The prize for High School Musical: Get In The Picture is a music video that will air at the end of High School Musical 3, set for an October release. Why, then, are students singing in K-Mart, hugging strangers, and practicing breathing exercises for 45 minutes? For half of every episode, the students still in the running for the grand prize must complete random tasks that pull them way out of their comfort zones and really provide no help in terms of landing a music video. For example, last week, each contestant had to sing “Get’cha Head In The Game” in about 7 different languages. It the music video is going to be in English, what does it matter if they can hack it in Greek?

I suppose that if they just aired the real audition process to land a small part in High School Musical 3, then it wouldn’t be a very long or exciting process, would it? In actuality, a candidate would go on a few auditions that would only last a few minutes and certainly would not involve random, embarrassing tasks. These weekly assignments given to the students are purely for entertainment value but the faculty members push them as “things that will help them grow as performers”. What would really help them grow are some dance classes or vocal training. That would be too obvious, though, I guess. Hugging strangers it is!




- Gina Scarpa, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of ABC)