"High School Musical: The Music In You" Documentary to Air in Fall 2007 on Disney Channel

In fall 2007, the Disney Channel will present a special telecast, High School Musical: The Music in You, a docu-musical from two-time Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, USA, American Dream). Kopple followed the month-long process of Fort Worth, Texas, students producing a stage adaptation of Disney's High School Musical, capturing with her camera the auditions, rehearsals and performances and how students balanced it with the rest of their lives.

(Editors please note: Photos are available at www.DisneyChannelmedianet.com.)

The telecast will coincide with the launch of Disney Channel's public affairs initiative in association with the NAMM Foundation. The theater-grant program is designed to strengthen and provide access to music and arts education in schools as part of quality education for all youth. NAMM is the international association whose mission is to unify, lead and strengthen the global music products industry and to increase active participation in music making.

In addition to the High School Musical: The Music in You telecast, a series of interstitials illustrating students involvement in the arts as part of their core curriculum, will be presented on Disney Channel, DisneyChannel.com and Radio Disney.

Launching in fall 2007, the NAMM Foundation and Disney's High School Music School Grant Program allows for middle and high schools across the United States to apply for a grant to waive all licensing fees to put on their own in-school stage show and to receive a cash grant that will help support additional teaching and production needs, including music and/or dance coaching to enhance the educational opportunities that are part of the production. Grants are competitive and will be evaluated based on grant funding guidelines, including the school's and community's planning and producing concrete educational outcomes as part of a production of High School Musical: On Stage in a public performance that involves students in all aspects of the production. Grant guidelines will be available at nammfoundation.org.

Kopple's subjects were found in Fort Worth, Texas, where Western Hills and Arlington Heights High Schools are long-time rivals. But for the past four years, the schools' drama departments have united for Heights-Hills Operation (H2O), a summer theater workshop funded largely by their two teachers, Julia Worthington and Ann Hunter, and through the support and volunteering of parents and community members. Among the 40 performers are Jeremy Holt, cast as "Troy Bolton," and Lindsay Landgraf and Lauren-Claire Poitevent, each cast as "Gabriella Montez."

From the inside out, Kopple provides a look at how creating theater and experiencing the performing arts can transform students and be an elevating experience for their families and their teachers. Kopple's knack for being unobtrusive has allowed her to skillfully show profound moments between the young H2O Company: the moments that expose a real collective experience, when people experience something together for the first time, allowing them to communicate. For one student, theater is her life; to another, this is her foray into a new world. From these very different beginnings, their dreams and goals converge into a mix of shared creative passion, and nerves. Students from rival schools and different cliques begin with a confusing set of off-key songs. One month later, they turn it into the grand accomplishment of a stage-ready performance, and Kopple captures their journey.

For the Fort Worth production, NAMM Members donated their services to update the school's more than 30-year-old theater audio and lighting systems. Charitable efforts and loans of professional sound and lighting equipment to H2O were made by Full Compass Systems Ltd. of Middleton, Wis., and sound and lighting manufacturers Electronic Theater Control (ETC) and Bosch.

Disney's High School Musical is a story of teens from East High School who find friendship in unexpected places. The separate social cliques unite behind athlete Troy Bolton and the new shy girl, Gabriella Montez, as they find courage to ignore the urge to ''Stick to the Status Quo.'' Complicating the story is the brother-and-sister team of Sharpay and Ryan Evans, who will do almost anything to preserve their reign over the drama club's musical. The drama teacher, Ms. Darbus, encourages them all to take risks in order to reach new goals. Along with choreography and fast-paced songs, High School Musical: On Stage features the ballads ''Start of Something New'' and ''Breaking Free.''

The H2O production of High School Musical: On Stage was presented in association with Musical Theatre International (MTI) and Disney Theatrical Productions. High School Musical: The Music in You is produced and directed by Barbara Kopple. It is a production of Cabin Creek Films.