Alyson Reed as Mrs. Darbus
Ms. Darbus of Disney Channel's
High School Musical is played by Alyson Reed. Ms. Darbus is a long-time drama teacher at East High, and is an advocate of theater. Having very little knowledge about basketball, she often gets into arguments with Coach Jack Bolton. She also dislikes cell phones as they tend to disrupt the theatrical performances.
In the first film, Ms. Darbus is seen as a quite haughty teacher who is very immersed in her passion for theater. At times, the students of East High find her absurd, but she always gets her way when she wants it. During the first few days of class, she announced that there will be a Winter musical and that auditions were going to be held soon. Of course, Sharpay and Ryan Evans, the two most prominent drama students were confident that they would land major if not lead roles in the play.
Sharpay and Ryan gave an overwhelming performance, which Ms. Darbus liked. However, things don't turn out the way they wanted to when Troy Bolton, school heartthrob and basketball team captain was convinced by new girl in town Gabriella Montez to audition for the play.
When Troy and Gabriella finally mustered up their courage to try out, the audition was over, and Ms. Darbus refused to see them. They were about to leave when they saw Kelsi Nielsen, the composer, trip and fall on stage. They helped her pick up the strewn manuscript and she offered to play for them. Troy and Gabriella sang along and Ms. Darbus heard their duet. Ms. Darbus then asked them to return in the callbacks.
When an angered Sharpay heard the news, she schemed against Troy and Gabriella so that she would land the lead role. She manipulated Ms. Darbus to schedule the callbacks on the same day that Troy would be busy with his basketball game and Gabriella would be participating in the Scholastic Decathlon competition. Despite the rescheduling, Troy and Gabriella were still able to make it with the help of their friends, and they successfully pulled of an audition which Ms. Darbus and the rest of East High truly enjoyed.
(Photo courtesy of TVGuide.com)