Newseek had an article everyone seems to have been waiting for in their July 24, 2006 issue. "Disney's Star Machine" helps to shed light on the pop culture phenomenom of High School Musical and why it is such. It's a great article explaining why the heck it's topped the music charts since its premiere, why kids, tweens, parents, and religious groups embrace it and why it is in actuality a fantasy-film. My favorite part was "Lunchroom Politics," an article/chart/diagram of imaginary cliques of today's tween and teen stars: e.g. The "cool kids" is made up of Harry Potter, Jamie Lynn Spears, Drake and Josh, Emma Roberts, and Raven and the "wanna-bes" is nearly all Disney Channel kids.
There was also some information on The Disney Channel and the Disney company. Apparently, everyone's beloved Disney Channel (B.Z. - before Zoogs

) that is often remembered and cried about here was changed when Anne Sweeney, the former head executive from Nickelodeon came to Disney and changed the target audiences of the network. Moving on, here is what many/some are itching to find out...
Newsweek wrote:...They'll all return in full feuding form next summer for the sequel. East High is on summer hiatus, so the battleground shifts to the country club, founded by (who else?) Sharpay's granddad. Troy, Gabriella and the others show up as lifeguards, waiters and caddies. And the haves and the have-nots tee off in athe club's annual midsummer night's musical. There'll be plenty of drama: this time around, Ryan may turn on his sis.
IMO, this is rather disappointinig. I was expecting to see at least some of a stage musical in HSM, but alas I was denied. The sequel brought hope but no...it's still just about the people in a musical. The plot for the sequel sounds exciting...for a fanfiction. Oh well, we'll just have to wait and see what this turns out to be.