Tonight's High School Musical: Get In The Picture begins in homeroom. There's the usual chit chat about how all the girls love Stan, especially Shayna. Nick Lachey starts a group discussion about walking in other people's shoes. Segue to the gym, where Rob Adler has set up mannequins wearing different kinds of outfits, for example, disco, goth, hip hop, etc. They will each be assigned a persona, and then they'll have to perform "A Whole New World," filtered through their assigned persona.

Everyone collectively chooses what style each person gets, selecting the style that each person is least like in real life. Tierney gets rock and roll, Isaiah gets folk, Christina gets disco, James gets hip hop, and Stan gets goth. Everyone is outside of his or her comfort zone, especially Stan who hates goths

Tiana Brown leads the chorus rehearsal and teaches them about modern dance. Anthony and TJ, the two large dudes, have a hard time with it, but Tiana is very enthusiastic and supportive of everyone.

Finally, it's time for the performances. Tierney finally gets why rockers are so cool. I'm glad that her eyes have been opened. She performs her rendition version of "A Whole New World." It's good, but a bit too pop-rock for my taste. A hip hop-ified James takes the stage next, and I am just so embarrassed for him. He embodies exactly the type of hip hop that Disney endorses. That's all I'll say about that. Isaiah does a pretty good job doing folk, except that I don't really believe his performance. You can tell that he is playing the role of a hippie folk singer dude too much. Christina does a passable disco performance, and Stan's goth performance is just funny. He's way too melodic and not punk enough, and it's just weird that he still has a full head of hair along with his mohawk. It's not even a faux-hawk; it's more like a mohawk toupée. Also, the funny thing is that there is an honest-to-goodness "goth" in the audience whom James bonds with.

The finalists visit the chorus, and predictably, the girls get all ga-ga over Stan. Poor Anthony observes that High School Musical: Get In The Picture is just like real high school because it's the popular kids who are still finalists, while everyone in the chorus is a geek. Aww, that's so ..... true.

Back to homeroom. Nick Lachey tells everyone all about the '80s because they will be performing a medley of '80s songs, recreating an '80s prom.

Uh oh, Tierney pulls Stan aside to talk about their flirty relationship. Stan is being an ass. Then Shayna and Tierney have a little clearing the air conversation about Stan. The hilarious thing is that everyone breaks into song spontaneously with four-part harmony. Oh, the drama of drama geeks is the best kind of drama in the world!

Performance time! Everyone actually does a really good job with it. Tierney and Stan are featured prominently (Stan flubs some lines), and Isaiah gets a plumb gig covering a Sting song. James rocks out a rendition of "Jesse's Girl." Naturally, High School Musical: Get In The Picture Rick-rolls us for the final number. I'm going to have a helluva time getting "Never Gonna Give You Up" out of my head.

The faculty awards Isaiah with the best performance of the day. He reads the names of those still in contention: Christina, Tierney and Stan. That means that James will be going to the chorus.



-Debbie Chang, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of ABC)