BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Oh, boy, just what have I gotten myself into?

I'm in the Stardust Room of the Beverly Hilton Hotel, but the luxury locale belies what's happening. The stars of High School Musical 2 are in the house, and there's a din as press people try to get some one-on-one time with the principals.

Good luck. It seems like everyone in Beverly Hills wants to spend a few minutes with Zac Efron, Vanessa Anne Hudgens, Monique Coleman, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel and Corbin Bleu.

Since HSM debuted in January 2006 virtually under the critics' radar, it's been seen by 170 million people worldwide, has won two Emmys and has sold almost 8 million copies on DVD. The HSM soundtrack sold 7 million copies in the United States alone (the top seller of 2006) and posted nine singles on the top 100 charts. (That's not a misprint.)

The soundtrack led to a tour to 40 cities in the United States and Canada plus venues in South America, where cast members played to sold-out stadiums.

Grabeel and Coleman both cite a performance in São Paulo, Brazil, as a defining moment. More than 65,000 people attended.

"Now, that's something I would never do if it weren't for High School Musical," Grabeel said. "Things like that you can mark off the '10 things to do before you die' list."

Coleman recalled "a little girl whose face I'll never forget.

"She bawled her eyes out from the moment the show started to well after we were on the bus (to leave). I was worried she would stow away in our luggage. We live out what people imagine being a rock star is like."

HSM also has drawn celebrity fans. Michael Jackson took his kids to see the tour stop in Las Vegas.

"He shook all of our hands, and he thanked us for all the joy we brought to his kids," said Tisdale. "For someone that huge to really enjoy it and have so much fun, that's really cool."

The original HSM also inspired amateur performances. Some 1,500 high school productions of High School Musical have been licensed so far, and 2,000 are projected by year's end.

"The kids are demanding their school teachers and their music teachers to do this production," said Adam Sanderson, vice president of brand marketing for Disney/ABC Cable Group.

At least one of those productions occurred here. St. Francis Episcopal staged the show in May.

"It got the most overwhelming response to any show we've produced at the school," said Anice Duytschaver, a St. Francis parent who served as costume director for the 8th grade production.

"We were sold out for all three performances. Usually our audience is the church and school community but this attracted people beyond that.

But here's the deal: HSM was not a very good movie. The script was not terribly original, the acting was merely sufficient, and the sugary ending could lead to lockjaw if you weren't carrying insulin.

That makes me an idiot, I know, since 170 million people can't be wrong. But the way I saw it, HSM worked anyway because there were singing and dancing. And it told an honest story about learning to express yourself and follow your dreams. There were heart and spirit and purity and wholesomeness — values too easily tossed to the side by the majority of people making teen films today.

HSM clicked because the cliques it depicts were recognizable. Duytschaver said Abe Matamoros, who played Troy in the St. Francis Episocopal production "really is Troy. He plays for the Dynamo training team, he's the student body president and kids look up to him. But here he jumps on stage and has the lead in the musical."

HSM also worked because it was funny, the story made you feel good and, hey, those songs had really strong hooks.

Here's some better news: High School Musical 2, which premieres at 7 p.m. Friday on Disney Channel, is better than the original in every way.

In HSM2, all the principals are back. This time, school is almost over, and everyone's hunting for a summer job.

Sharpay (Tisdale), still licking her wounds from her humiliation at the East High winter musical, comes up with an idea she believes will restore her position in the high school order. It will require some cooperation from her parents and brother Ryan (Gabreel) and some deception that will involve Troy (Efron) and his girlfriend Gabriella (Hudgens) and all their friends.

Sharpay's plan includes landing Troy a job at her country club and putting some distance between him and Gaby. She then must convince him to perform with her at the club's Midsummer Night's Talent Show.

However, all does not come off as planned. Troy works it so that all his friends, including Gaby, also get jobs at the country club. That only makes Sharpay work harder to separate Troy and Gaby, tempting him with things he desperately wants (namely, a basketball scholarship).

Along the way, the cast breaks out into dance and song with engaging regularity. If you thought HSM was warm and infectious, hold on to your iPods.

"What's grand about this is this cast and the energy that they have and the enthusiasm that every single person has," says Kenny Ortega, who returns as director and choreographer.

That's saying something, because another secret to the original movie's success was its energy. But Ortega's right: The bar has been raised for HSM2, and everybody kicks it up a notch.

"It starts off with a bang," says Efron, and he's right, too. It's an end-of-school song-and-dance showstopper called What Time Is It.

Midway through the movie comes I Don't Dance, a song that got me on my feet.

"It's completely organic," said Coleman (she plays Taylor). "It comes out of a real scene. It doesn't have that huge buildup: da-da-ta-yum!, and now our huge musical number!"

The song and dance take place on a baseball diamond, with swings and pitches and tosses to first base worked into the choreography — that's what Coleman means by organic. Before you know it, everyone's "dancing" as one — and as the song says, these boys Don't Dance.

Rich.

Lovebirds will swoon for Gotta Go My Own Way, sung by Troy and Gabriella to goose-pimpling effect.

The movie's overall sheen is more startling when you learn that cast and crew did it with only three weeks for rehearsals.

"I designed these numbers knowing who I had doing them," Ortega said. "This cast is indescribable in terms of their passion, their commitment, their capability. They are extraordinary. What we accomplished in less than 30 days with less than three weeks of rehearsal, no one has done that. It doesn't exist in television history."

If HSM is anything, it's history in the making. Its fabulous ratings and album sales and sold-out concerts are likely to continue as long as these particular people are together to make it happen.

Already there's serious talk about an HSM3, possibly for the big screen. The effect the musical has had on the making of high school musicals has been made into a reality series that will premiere next month.

And there's a joke that all the principals will stick around for years and years, eventually making Rest Home Musical and its many sequels.

"It has turned on a whole new generation to musical storytelling, and that is a thrill," Ortega said. "That, for me, is the most thrilling sort of part of the success."

NEW YORK (AP) - If imitation is a form of flattery, it's likely we'll see a lot of girls dressed like Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale and Monique Coleman this fall.

They're the female leads of High School Musical 2, which many a tween girl - and some fans both older and younger - have been counting down to the premiere of the movie Aug. 17 on the Disney Channel. Each of the young women has a distinct style: bohemian, high-style and body-conscious.

It's a bit different from what they wear on the screen: For example, Tisdale's Sharpay is all glitz and sparkle, but for an interview the real Tisdale shows up in a sophisticated Rebecca Taylor crocheted minidress and Moschino red platform sandals.

The success of the original <i>High School Musical 2.</i> went far beyond Disney's original intention to keep connected with tweens during the dreary winter months of 2006. The movie has been seen by more than 160 million people in more than 100 countries; its soundtrack was the best-selling album of 2006; and its stars became bona fide big names and trendsetters.

The red dress with a ruffle around the bustline that Hudgens' Gabriella wore in the movie's finale was actually a copy of a vintage dress that the actress owned in white. Similar styles were then offered by retailers for prom dresses and Halloween costumes, and it's what Mattel chose to dress its new singing Gabriella Barbie in.

Disney's Consumer Products division rushed out branded T-shirts, pajamas and backpacks into stores after failing to anticipate the initial demand for products, but this time there's a more cohesive marketing plan now with major retailers including Wal-Mart and Macy's, among others.

Potential breakout looks from the new movie include Sharpay's shiny star necklace or Gabriella's girlie white eyelet pieces.

Hudgens, Tisdale and Coleman talked with the AP about their own personal style - and even gushed like the high school girls they portray about how much they liked each other's looks:

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VANESSA HUDGENS

Hudgens looks older than her 18 years when she's dressed up in an Alice McCall silver sleeveless blouse with a green ribbon around the neckline and Jimmy Choo snakeskin heels. She acknowledges, though, that as much fun as it's been having access to designer clothes and the occasions to wear them, she also likes to wear more comfortable bohemian-style clothes that match her personality.

Aside from the fedora moment she's having, she's been wearing a lot of minidresses and oversized off-the-shoulder T-shirts. She also loves clunky, chunky boots. But since she's in Los Angeles most of the time, she mostly wears sandals.

"Growing up, most of my clothes were hand-me-downs, or from Goodwill or a tag sale, but I didn't really care about my clothes,'' Hudgens says.

Or, at least she didn't care until she was on the verge of being a teenager.

"At 12 I got my first pair of Frankie Bs, my first pair of cool jeans,'' she recalls.

Hudgens met Tisdale on the set of a back-to-school Sears TV commercial long before they were reunited at East Side High. Hudgens said she always admired Tisdale's style even though she went through what they've dubbed her "fairy phase,'' wearing more than the norm of sparkly clothing.

Both Hudgens and Tisdale discourage their fans, especially young ones, from spending their money on pricey things with a fancy label.

"It's all about finding one cool piece - that's what I do at vintage shops, it's what I do at home. I pick one thing I really want to wear and plan everything around it,'' Hudgens says.

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ASHLEY TISDALE

"Everyone goes through an awkward stage,'' announced Tisdale, who at 22 is clearly past hers.

She looks every bit the Hollywood starlet with perfectly styled hair and dark Chanel sunglasses, but Tisdale also seems very aware of all the ups and downs tween and teen girls go through, especially when it comes to their appearance.

She likes to see everyone put a bit of their personality into their look. She and Hudgens could walk into the same store, choose the same item but look totally different from each other. In fact, it's happened.

"One day we wore the same dress - it was a white summer dress. She wore it with these cute wedges and I wore it with shorts and a belt,'' she says.

Tisdale already started shopping for fall, picking up a parachute jacket from Ruehl No. 925 on this recent trip to New York.

Shopping for back-to-school clothes was a highlight of the year, she says, it was an annual tradition for herself, her sister and her grandmother when she still lived in New Jersey before moving to California. "I'd find that perfect outfit. It was a chance to be the new you - who you wanted to be.''

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MONIQUE COLEMAN

She's the oldest of the bunch at 26, but Coleman says she's learned a lot about confidence and how to carry herself from her co-stars.

When she first began riding the <i>High School Musical 2.</i> bandwagon, she took the word of her stylist as gospel. She looked great but she didn't think she looked like herself.

"You know your body better than anyone and you know what you feel comfortable in,'' Coleman says, who plays the brainy character Taylor.

For her, key pieces include empire waist dresses (she's wearing a black silk one by Joie on this day) and shorts. She's very aware of her curvy figure and takes care to balance her outfit with a conservative bottom or top if her dress has a revealing neckline or her shorts are particularly short.

Coleman also knows what doesn't work: The loose bohemian styles that Hudgens favors. "I look like a balloon,'' Coleman says. That doesn't mean she has to be completely left out of the look, though. "I can always find one element of a trend that works,'' she says.

An off-the-shoulder top is her nod to boho.

Coleman says she can still play a high schooler because "my truest, most naked face looks 15 ... and without extensions I look 12.

She adds: "When I try to look older, I feel like I'm playing dress up.''