High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: The Recap: “Typecasting”
“Yep. Old drama.”
Season two, episode two of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, “Typecasting,” was directed by Kimberly McCullough and written by Ann Kim.
Over the weekend, Olivia Rodrigo released her debut album, Sour, to acclaim and extreme popularity. She’s essentially become the pop star for the first half of 2021 and it’s been an enormous explosion of fame and talent for her, which just so happens to be occurring concurrently with the rollout of season two of HSM: TM: TS.
One of the popular reactions to Sour came from people in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties talking about how they would’ve really obsessed over Sour if it had come out during their high school years. (This, in turn, inspired a reaction from people who are online too much where they tried to come up with some sort of psychological condemnation for what is a meme response to a stellar pop album.) It’s a natural reaction from a generation that grew up with Internet culture being catered to them, now feeling as if a younger group of people have taken over. Let them! The teens know. I will always believe this.
That younger identity that seems to be passing people in my generation by was present throughout “Typecasting,” yesterday’s installment of the East High drama club. In an incredible, seemingly unparalleled touch, the show referenced itself when a student auditions with “Wondering,” a song that originated from Ashlyn and Nini in season one. (Perhaps blowing right past the idea of referencing other mockumentaries, which Big Red does when he “Jims” the camera, admittedly.) A reference is also made to Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, a musical that is not even three years old yet. When Nini FaceTimes Ricky, it looks like actual FaceTime and not a sanitized version of generic phone apps. E.J., ever the funniest character on the show, even delivers the sort of Paul George press conference-esque cursory statements when he discusses the winter musical with, “I’ve been very blessed.” “Typecasting” even touches on the ways in which younger generations have embraced the culture of Disney when Ashlyn gears up to “Disney bound” (dressing minimalistically in a way that evokes a Disney character) as Mrs. Potts.
That brings us to the biggest development of the episode, though: the casting of East High’s Beauty and the Beast performance. This time around, everyone wants a part in the play. Carlos is seeking a MEGOT (adding a Menkie to the mix), so he foregoes his choreography duties; Kourtney has fully embraced the idea of a stage presence; Big Red has perhaps eschewed his stage crew knack altogether.
I won’t keep teasing anything, though. As I correctly predicted last week, Big Red is LeFou. However, he’s not Ricky’s sidekick this time because E.J. was cast as Gaston. (Matt Cornett does evoke the sort of Gaston one might meet in Fantasyland.) Surely, this pairing will open up new dynamics so we can see Big Red flourish outside the lens of Ricky’s growth.
Speaking of Ricky, though, he received the male lead (Beast), even though his audition was lackluster. This was partially due to E.J.’s disinterest in competing with Ricky for the second semester in a row and partially due to Miss Jenn betting on Ricky figuring out whatever is currently holding him back.
With new choreography leadership waiting for her, Gina also refuses to scheme against her friends and is seen widely happy to be cast as Babette, a feather duster who admittedly doesn’t get a lot of play in the musical. She definitely shone as a potential Belle during the drama club’s ensemble rendition of “Belle” (which, gratefully, mixed in the reprise), but the casting of Belle is a bit telegraphed when we see Miss Jenn knowingly grinning when Ashlyn takes on the slowed-down, fountain-side verse.
I’ve always felt that Ashlyn, Seb, and Nini had the best voices in the entire cast, so it’s not surprising that Ashlyn will be taking on the leading role (and one of my favorite characters, Disney or otherwise, in all of fiction). Coupling that with her composition and songwriting abilities, it’s clear that Miss Jenn will not be wasting one of the top talents in the club.
With Mrs. Potts open, Kourtney slides into the role, allowing us to see her interact with more people (tercet or otherwise) not named Nini. Seb will play her son, Chip. Lastly, Carlos will take on the coveted role of Lumiere (joining a storied history of Jerry Orbach and Ewan McGregor). I felt that Seb would’ve been a better choice for Lumiere, but I’m open to seeing what Carlos can do in the candlestick spot. There’s still one character unaccounted for, though. Tim Federle, we have to know: Who is Cogsworth???
While the casting was well done in “Typecasting,” it’s the paths the characters took to arrive at those points that helped them (and the subsequent camaraderie of the cast) feel delightfully earned. For one, the episode began with Ricky learning from past mistakes and supporting Nini’s ambitions, rather than blaming her or pausing their relationship. It’s a refreshing, non-drama approach to a dangling thread that had been set up in January 2020.
It’s also a move that sets up an arc for Ricky as being reliable, independent of Nini. With his main motivation for joining the play at a completely different school now (and it’s not so easy for Nini, either, as her new teachers are much stricter and less open to creativity), it’s enriching to see how Ricky reacts to his newfound friend group as his own person. It’s like a litmus test for his own morality.
Just as it would have been easy for HSM: TM: TS to slide back into Ricky’s old tendencies for drama’s sake, it would’ve been easy for it to do the same with Gina. Instead, the show embraces its serialized storytelling and continues to authentically respect who the characters have become. Gina could’ve become cutthroat for the role of Belle when interacting with a new drama student, Lily (Olivia Rose Keegan), who is described as looking similar to a Disney princess come to life.
Instead, Gina rises to her own growth (just as Ricky does when he shakes of Lily’s mocking of Big Red and helps his friend finish his tap dancing routine) and turns the auditions into a supportive celebration of students putting themselves out there and starting something new. Lily finds the ordeal to be an audition, not a friendship circle, but that’s how Gina learned not to be. She begins the episode not wanting to be a co-writer, co-singer, or co-choreographer, but she eventually defends her friends against Lily’s mean girl persona and joins with Ashlyn and Kourtney for a rousing musical number. “1–2–3” is not among my favorite original songs from the series, but it utilizes one of the series’ strongest tools (magical realism) for characters who hadn’t been showcased in that way before. Even if Nini (and, by extension, Rodrigo) are flourishing outside of East High, supportive and collaborative moments like these show that the characters will continue to grow and change, while always remaining riveting to watch.
