‘High School Musical’ gets its new lead

JOSHUA Bassett of Disney Channel comedy “Stuck in the Middle” and crime drama “Dirty John” will take the main role in a new “High School Musical.”

Having played a recurring character on the most recent, third season of family comedy “Stuck in the Middle,” Joshua Bassett is sticking with Disney to lead its reboot of “High School Musical: The Musical.”

The song and dance teen drama is in development for Disney’s streaming service, which is anticipated for a 2019 launch.

Before then, he’s to appear partway through 2018’s endof-year Bravo and Netflix true crime series “Dirty John,” based on the hit 2017 podcast about a confidence trickster whose schemes got wildly and dangerously out of control.

The “High School Musical” movie trilogy began in 2006 and helped propel its principals, Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale — already on the Disney Channel’s roster — to make mainstream breakthroughs.

The first two movies were broadcast on the Disney Channel, with soundtracks and home video editions subsequently released, with the third, rolled out in cinemas as 2008’s “High School Musical 3: Senior Year,” racking up a US$252 million worldwide box office take on a modest US$11 million budgets.

The franchise has also spawned a host of related spinoffs including books, video games, stage shows and concert tours.