Plot: Popular basketball player Troy Bolton and Ms.-Einstein Gabriella Montez meet at a ski resort over winter break and are forced to sing karaoke together on New Year's Eve; afterwards they exchange numbers. When Troy returns to East High in Albuquerque, New Mexico, surprise. Gabriella is a new classmate. They become friends quickly and decide to audition for the Winter Musical together. They get callbacks and arouse the ire of drama queen Sharpay Evans and her brother Ryan. Troy's friend Chad becomes afraid that Troy will become distracted from the basketball championship. Gabriella's friend Taylor will do anything to get her on the Decathlon team. Chad and Taylor decide to film Troy saying Gabriella isn't important after Chad tricks him into saying it. Taylor shows the video to Gabriella, who refuses to do the callbacks with Troy. Meanwhile, Sharpay and Ryan manipulate the callbacks to the same time as the championship game.
Alternative Plot: Troy Bolton (Zac Efron), the star athlete at a small-town high school, falls for nerdy beauty Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Anne Hudgens) at a holiday karaoke party. When they return to campus, Troy and Gabriella audition for the upcoming school musical. Meanwhile, the jealous Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) conspires to squelch their chances. The two must struggle to make it to auditions while also meeting their existing obligations to the basketball team and the academic decathlon.
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