The cast of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series...
...will be taking a stroll down memory lane...
...as we share childhood memories...
Uh, I got involved in theater very young.
A couple of bloopers.
Was that okay?
A few surprises.
We are very excited to share a special world premiere.
And a whole lot o' music.
Welcome to High School Musical.
- The Musical. - The Holiday Special!
So this is Arizona.
I know it's not exactly the North Pole, but this is where I've grown up,
this is where I spent almost every Christmas of my life.
Whenever I think of Christmas, I think of my family.
Waking up on Christmas morning, seeing the presents under the tree,
seeing that the cookies and the milk
that we left out the night before is all gone.
And of course, every Christmas needs an elf,
so I luckily have my little dog, Violet.
She is the sweetest thing.
She always opens up presents on Christmas Day,
and it's the funniest thing, and she gets so excited.
Over the years, I have been so blessed
to be able to meet and connect with so, so many people,
so I really wanted to dedicate this song
to all the fans out there who have grown up with me,
and of course, to my amazing High School Musical family.
I miss them so much.
We might not be together for the holidays,
but music always finds a way to bring us back home.
Oh, boy.
So, I grew up right outside San Diego
with five sisters and two wonderful parents
and all the music you could imagine.
My dad was a professional pianist and drummer.
I think each of us have a little bit of that in our blood.
And now, music is obviously such a huge part of my life,
uh, as I write music almost every single day.
Um, and I was fortunate enough in season one
to be given the opportunity to write a song
with my co-star, the lovely Olivia Rodrigo.
And then when season two came around, I was afforded the insane opportunity
to write my own Christmas song, uh, for my character, Ricky,
that he sings to Nini because he can't really afford a gift,
and so he does the second best thing he can,
and that is write her a song.
Writing that Christmas song was a dream.
Um, and I can't believe that I get to say this,
but I am going to be able to perform it for you tonight,
um, for the first time ever.
So, enjoy my song, slash, Ricky's song, The Perfect Gift.
I was born and raised in Selma, California.
And we are the raisin capital of the world,
if that gives you any idea of the town.
Okay. I grew up outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
and I come from a very musical family.
Every Christmas, we would go to my Nana and Pap's house,
and we would all stand on chairs and just sing for all these relatives.
And they would either sing along or just watch adoringly
as we made fools of ourselves as children 'cause we had no fear whatsoever.
I have seen the footage of Joe Serafini singing Feliz Navidad.
Joe's so little.
And he says "From the bottom o' my heart."
It's so cute.
My favorite things about being a part of the cast of High School Musical
is that you have this whole second family.
And it's great, 'cause you have this whole group of people
that are loving and supporting and just there to encourage you.
I grew up singing with my family,
and, uh, you know, as everyone gets older,
we all go our separate ways, and now I have a new duet partner.
And now...
I feel like the person that would give the best homemade gift
would be Julia Lester.
Has to be Julia. She's very into tie-dye.
I feel like Olivia.
She's definitely the most thoughtful when it comes to gifts.
I think Olivia. She will go beyond.
Feel like it'd be Dara.
Dara or Frankie, 'cause they, like, truly, like, think about you.
I remember Frankie got me a present,
and Frankie spent like some money.
So, I would only pick Frankie 'cause I know he not gonna be cheap, so...
Mm, I don't wanna snitch on nobody. Um...
I think Joshua Bassett.
Probably Josh.
- Joshua Bassett. - Joshua Bassett.
Yeah, it's got to be Joshie.
I bet everybody said me, didn't they?
I feel like he's up to no good sometimes.
- He's a little terror. - No way!
Of course they said that. Yeah.
Joe Serafini played Tiny Tim, like, four years in a row.
I played Tiny Tim as a child.
Joe Serafini actually did play Tiny Tim as a kid.
That had to have been Larry.
Was it Kate Reinders as Tiny Tim?
What's Tiny Tim?
What is that?
Ooh!
I grew up in Woodland Hills, California, in a super theatrical family.
My dad, Loren, and my mom, Kelly, met doing theater,
and my sisters, Jenny, Lily, and I grew up doing theater.
We caught that acting bug super early.
So, definitely a lot of musical theater energy
radiating through our household.
Both sides of my family are Jewish,
so we grew up celebrating Hanukkah predominantly.
- Happy Hanukkah. - Hanukkah's tomorrow.
Well, are we gonna open the presents?
You sure are. You gonna light the candles?
Open presents?
Yeah, that's right.
I remember making gingerbread houses with my sisters every year.
Um, but not out of gingerbread, out of graham crackers and frosting,
because again, Jews.
I give you the tower of Julia.
Wow!
So, I got to thinking about what I could sing,
and I could definitely sing you
100 different Christmas songs off the top of my head,
but where's the Mariah Carey version of a Hanukkah song?
So, I thought tonight
I would add a little bit of music video flare to Hanukkah,
and because I'm 100% a theater dork,
and it's literally in my DNA,
I'm going to be doing it as a medley. L'chaim.
♪ See the faces shine
Um, I grew up in a very small town in Arkansas,
a town called Rogers.
It's the kind of place where everybody knows everybody
because it's so small.
I'm a very family-oriented person.
And, uh, I grew up in a household that wasn't necessarily super wealthy.
But, you know, we had the time with each other
which was most important for us,
but when I said I wanted to come out here to Los Angeles
and give acting a go, you know, my brother,
he decided to take everything in his savings
and what he'd worked his life for and give me a shot.
He gave my parents the money and my mom and I moved out to Los Angeles,
and I started my whole acting career.
There's actually a photo of me on Christmas morning,
wearing, to a T, the exact same stripped-blue T-shirt
that EJ wears in season one, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.
I guess there's a fun fact I didn't know about myself
and the fact that I never outgrow clothes, so that's fun.
There's a lot of things I love in my life. My family, my faith, um,
and up there, at the top of my list, is my Camaro, my baby, my car,
my red beauty, that I call Arrow.
So, today I get to sing my song in Hollywood
with my beautiful car making its TV debut,
with a song from the 1980s. It's gonna be so much fun.
It's literally a true dream and Christmas miracle at that.
I grew up in New York City, and I was a true theater kid.
I actually have a picture of me in a menorah costume at, like, age five.
I loved putting on performances for people.
I'll say that sometimes I would feel embarrassed
about the fact that I celebrated Hanukkah and not Christmas.
I remember when I was younger, asking for a Christmas present from Santa,
because I was always nervous I wasn't gonna get a present from Santa
even though I was such a good kid.
And now that I'm an adult, I've taken real ownership over the fact
that I am Jewish and that I do celebrate
a holiday that might not be what everybody celebrates.
And it makes me unique, and I'm so proud of that.
This song that I'm singing
is all about dreaming about something that isn't there.
It's kind of like what it's like to be an actor.
Being able to create something from nothing.
Also, fun fact, written by Irving Berlin,
a nice Jewish boy like me. So I hope I can do it justice.
Always wanted a baby elephant, which I thought'd be the coolest thing.
I asked for the black Power Ranger costume,
and I got the blue Power Ranger costume.
A school desk. That's right. So, what? So I could play school?
Every year, I would ask for a new American Girl doll,
even though they're all the same. You know, quantity over quality.
I could pretend school
when I was not at school. Like a really cool kid.
- A younger sibling. - Probably to be a mermaid.
Barbie's dream house.
I actually wanted a Barbie laptop.
All I wanted was a bride dress.
My parents were giving me all this stuff,
and I didn't care, I wanted this bride dress.
So, I think a bride dress.
Ho-ho-ho-ho!
What is up? Merry Christmas.
I was born in LA, but I grew up in Baltimore
because my mom wanted to open a performing arts school for kids.
One of the reasons she did it is because I was so shy when I was younger.
And that school literally broke me out of my shell.
And I'm just so grateful that my mom created it,
and she's just been such an inspiration to me.
This song is about Christmas and seeing through the eyes of a child
and that wonder of waking up
on Christmas morning and being able to be with your family,
and also knowing that one day, we all are gonna grow up
and we're all gonna be able to be someone completely different,
but also unique and also special,
with the knowledge of what you gain through all of those years.
So, if I were to tell my younger self, um, something, you know,
some people are going to doubt you, but to always believe in yourself,
have faith in yourself, and make each day,
every single day of the year, as if it were Christmas morning.
Always have that excitement and that joy and that purpose to keep going. Period.
Whoo!
Okay. I am from a little town in Michigan.
And I got involved in theater very young.
I always liked to sing and dance and talk a lot,
and so, I was really lucky to play a lot of the girl roles
every little girl dreams of playing,
like Annie and Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz,
and I also played a bunch of roles
that every little girl doesn't really dream of playing
like Sebastian the crab, Wilbur the pig, and Tiny Tim,
three years in a row. That's right.
Hi. A lot of people don't know I'm from Louisiana.
I'm from the happy, happy land of Louisiana.
I started young with performing, with my stage debut as an angel of God.
And I remember taking it so seriously,
the woman who was designing the costumes handed me this lip gloss
as an artistic flare, and I really thought that was the touch that made me an angel.
Tonight is the best night ever
because I will be singing a duet with Mr. Mark St. Cyr.
Now you may know him as Mr. Mazzara from our show,
and he isn't very nice to Miss Jenn.
But I have to tell you the truth is that Mark St. Cyr is the sweetest.
I have the great honor of being his first-ever singing partner
for his first-ever on-camera singing performance,
and I just have to say, "Get ready, world."
They told me this was a solo.
Just kidding.
One of the amazing things about this year
is I got to spend so much more time with my family,
and I realized that was so important to me,
and I wanna be able to do that again next year in 2021.
To really make the most of the time that you have,
especially with the people you have it with.
To soak in every exciting moment that I have.
I feel like sometimes we let time get away from us,
but focus more on my friends and family and enjoying each second more.
Try to live more in the now
and appreciate what you have, whether it be experiences or memories,
and just kinda take those moments in and cherish them because
once they're gone, they're gone.
I think I have very similar New Year's resolutions every year.
It's to become the best person that I can be.
That's really all I can ever ask for.
My New Year's resolution every year is funny
because why do I even make it?
Never happens.
My New Year's resolution is to meet Beyoncé.
I know that's a little off, but, Miss B, even if it's through Zoom,
I'm totally cool with that.
There are so many home videos of me singing,
like, ridiculous songs that I made up.
I'm an only child, and so my parents just absolutely loved that
and they loved filming me.
Mom, this isn't Hannah Montana...
I got ya', babe.
There's just, like, so much footage of me singing these gibberish songs.
I am so inspired by female singer-songwriters,
I draw so much inspiration from them,
like, Taylor Swift and Fiona Apple and Lorde, and people like that.
I think the best artists are great listeners, and so
I definitely try to learn a lot from them.
Tonight, I'm going to sing a song called River by Joni Mitchell.
Joni Mitchell's one of the most iconic songwriters of all time.
And she did a really good job of writing a sad Christmas song,
which I think is so special.
Christmas and the holidays are nostalgic for a lot of people,
and sometimes that nostalgia doesn't have to always be,
you know, joyful and peaceful,
and she does a really great job of capturing that, uh,
so I'm really excited to sing it.
And now, we are very excited...
...to share a special world premiere...
...with the first song from season two of...
...High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.
Picture this. The drama kids of East High...
...have decided to launch their very own Instagram page dedicated to me.
Well, the theater club.
And they do it the only way theater kids know how.
By singing and dancing through the halls at school.
Then stick around for one more song that'll bring you home for the holidays.
And thank you for joining us
as we celebrate this special time of year together.
Frankie and Dara, take it away!
Ladies, gentlemen, or however else you identify,
welcome to the East High drama club's brand-new Instagram page.
We are excited to announce that behind these doors,
the theater is being restored to its full,
resplendent, 1960s-era glory over the holiday break.
Um, I think Christmas for me really means
being able to sit back from working and traveling
and just remember what it's like to be a regular 16-year-old girl.
Christmas to me now is just a great time
to reconnect with the family that you're away from most of the year.
I think of family, tons of fun in the snow, and food.
Lots and lots of food.
A chance to spend quality time with the family,
bring us all together.
And you might not know this,
but quality time is one of my love languages.
Christmas always made me think of my home that I grew up in.
But now, having Luke, it's really about me making his memories with him.
And I wanna balance it with letting him know
that Christmas is really about being loved.
And it's not about all the presents that I give him,
but it's really that he is the biggest gift I have ever received.
I've had the opportunity to be able to give back,
especially to my parents.
It was kinda difficult for them to, um, get everyone in my family,
you know, a really great gift.
They did the best that they could, uh, and so the thing I'm most excited about
is to be able to give back to them and the rest of my family.
And you know what?
That's Christmas to me.
♪ And all the fun we had last year