Troy Bolton
Troy Bolton is the main
protagonist
of the first three films. Depicted as one of East High's most popular
students, Troy is also the captain of the school's varsity basketball
team, a position he earned in his junior year after joining the team as a
sophomore.
[1]
The majority of the student body, especially Troy's best friend, Chad
Danforth, expects Troy to lead East High to victory. Troy is the only
child of Jack and Lucille Bolton; Jack is also the coach of the East
High basketball team and puts additional pressure on Troy to excel. Troy
is also involved with the school's golf team. In the
first film, Troy meets Gabriella Montez at a ski lodge karaoke party on
New Year's Eve.
When the school year resumes, Troy finds that Gabriella is a new
student at East High. For fear of what his father, friends, and
classmates would think, Troy asks Gabriella not to mention his singing
performance to anybody else. However, the secret eventually gets out
when Troy and Gabriella unintentionally audition for the winter musical
after singing in the auditorium. The news throws East High's social
order out of balance. Troy finds himself having to choose between
Gabriella and the musical callbacks or his team and the championship
game. Although his friends initially try to thwart Troy's chances of
being cast as the musical's lead, they help him make both the game and
the callbacks, which had been scheduled on the same afternoon. Troy and
Gabriella earn the lead roles, somewhat angering the drama department's
president, Sharpay Evans. In
High School Musical 2,
Sharpay has her mind set on capturing Troy's affections and coming
between him and Gabriella. Troy, Gabriella, and their friends are hired
at a local country club, Lava Springs, but are weary of their new-found
employment when they learn the club is owned by Sharpay's parents.
Sharpay uses her wealth, power, and influence over Troy, tempting him
with college opportunities in exchange for him singing with her at the
club's Midsummer Night Talent Show. Troy gives into Sharpay's plot,
causing Gabriella, Chad, and their friends to see Troy as a whole new
person. Although Troy is being offered a college scholarship, he soon
realizes he must not compromise his character while on the quest for his
future, and returns to his old self. In the franchise's
third film,
Troy once again feels uncertain about his future as high school
graduation draws near. While Troy is set to attend the University of
Albuquerque,
he begins to have second thoughts about other schools he and his father
talked about. Coach Bolton and Chad are both insistent on Troy
attending the university, but he decides to attend
University of California, Berkeley in order to pursue both basketball and theater and to be closer to Gabriella, who enrolls at
Stanford University.
In the first three films, Troy is portrayed by
Zac Efron, with
Drew Seeley providing his singing voice in the first film. The reason for this dubbing is still somewhat unclear, although Efron has told
Rolling Stone that the songs for the first film were written prior to casting and out of his vocal range.
[2] Casting for the role was a multi-audition process, and candidates for the role included
Hunter Parrish[3] and
Sterling Knight.
[4]
Efron had previously audition for a Disney Channel pilot that was not
picked up by the network a few years prior to casting for
High School Musical.
[5] Although the franchise will continue with a fourth film, Efron and his character will not be returning
No comments:
Post a Comment