High School Musical: The Music in You (Disney Channel)

Airing in brief installments between shows on the Disney Channel, the documentary HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL: THE MUSIC IN YOU follows two schools' real-life production of a stage adaptation of Disney's hit musical High School Musical. The program treats viewers to a backstage tour of try-outs, rehearsals, and opening night, and also shows how the theater can unite teens from different backgrounds. Brief interviews give some of the students, who hail from two rival high schools in Fort Worth, Tex., a chance to express their love of drama, their personal goals for the show, and their feelings about their castmates. Some episodes focus on particular aspects of the stage production process while other installments focus on the journeys of a select few key cast members. For some, landing a lead role is less a goal than an expectation; for others, just stepping from the stage crew into the cast is a major accomplishment.

Seeing the process behind the show in The Music in You may inspire some young High School Musical fans to check out try out their own stage legs. The documentary also evokes hopeful messages about the unifying nature of drama by showing how these teens were able to set aside their previous judgments and school rivalry and create a cohesive cast and a stellar show.

But much of that may be lost on young tweens, whose patience for the show's disjointed nature will be as brief as the 5-minute installments themselves. Parents' patience, on the other hand, may be tested by the barrage of High School Musical branding...

TV Rating: NR
Network: Disney Channel
Cast: Lauren-Claire Poitevant
Genre: Reality TV
Where to watch: Disney Channel