Sharpay Evans: Why She Was The Most Misunderstood Character In The ‘High School Musical’ Franchise – And Why Ashley Tisdale Could Never Live Up To Her

News broke recently that Austin Butler and Kaia Garber had broken up after a 3 year relationship. To be honest, I’m surprised they even lasted that long in the first place. In my eyes, they were doomed from the start, especially considering the former couple had a 10 year age gap. But I guess Butler wanted someone vulnerable after spending almost a decade being in a relationship with a powerful woman that’s not to be messed with that is Vanessa Hudgens. Years after their breakup, Butler infamously referred to her as a friend in an interview when he told the story of how she encouraged him to audition for ‘Elvis’, a role that made him a household name.

Following his massive success in his role as Elvis himself, Butler starred in ‘Dune: Part 2’, alongside Zendaya, who was mentioned in the previous blog entry with Iggy Azalea as the subject matter. They both have ties to Disney. Zendaya had two shows made by the Disney Machine. And though he didn’t have his own show himself, he did make a guest appearance on an episode of ‘Hannah Montana’ as one of Miley Cyrus’ weird dates. Butler had a bigger role on Nickelodeon’s ‘Zoey 101’, when he had a recurring role as James, Zoey’s boyfriend, on season 4. Thereafter, he starred in 2011’s ‘Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure’ alongside Ashley Tisdale. They also starred together in 2009’s ‘Aliens in the Attic’ together. Tisdale initiated the role of Sharpay when she starred in the ‘High School Musical’ trilogy, which also starred Zac Efron and Hudgens. It was Tisdale who actually introduced the former couple back in 2011.

Following Butler and Hudgens’ breakup in 2019, it initially seemed that Tisdale didn’t take sides and stayed friends with both of them. She was praised for it by fans of all 3 former Disney stars for being a good friend to both Butler and Hudgens and not letting their breakup affect her individual friendships with either one of them. In March 2024, however, Tisdale revealed some upsetting update on her friendship with her former Disney bestie. She said on ‘Watch What Happens Live’, ‘I haven’t seen her in a long time. I think we’re just — obviously, she’s working, I’m working. I have a daughter so it’s like, you know, she’s a full-time job.’

And yet, she’s still very much close friends with Butler. She even gave him the title of Uncle to her daughter, Jupiter, and praised him for being there for her in her time of need in an Instagram post that chronicled the first time they saw each other in person in 2 years following his stint filming ‘Elvis’. In March 2023, Tisdale told Us Weekly, ‘He has always taken the time, which I think is like the most important thing to me, to FaceTime to be a part of her life in ways. He’s always been able to do that and I think that’s something that has been really sweet.’ In a cosmic twist of fate, it was revealed in 2022 that the two were actually 10th cousins, once removed!

I personally find it very intriguing that Tisdale simply put the blame on being busy with life on the end of her decades-long friendship with Vanessa Hudgens, and yet she’s still closer than ever with Hudgens’ ex-boyfriend, and can’t put enough emphasis on praising him for being a good friend to her despite being so busy with his own work. But then again, who am I to speak on the matter? I don’t know any of these people personally, and I’m probably just talking out of my own a**. And yet, many fans seem to agree with me; that Tisdale did, in fact take Austin Butler’s side in his breakup with Vanessa Hudgens.

But instead of putting all my heart and soul into Tisdale’s personal life and relationships and friendships, I want to put more of an emphasis to her career. The woman behind the creation of Sharpay Evan’s is now the proud owner of Frenshe, a lifestyle and wellness blogging website. If anything, it could be compared to Goop, a lifestyle website created by Gwyneth Paltrow. In her own words, Tisdale founded ‘Frenshe (fren•shē) in 2020 because, like so many of you, I was trying to understand my relationship with wellness.’ Frenshe’s main objective is to is to ‘uncomplicate wellness and empower our audience to their best, authentic selves.’ The website now has been the main priority and focus in her career. Before that, though, she was also an actress and singer.

Contrary to one’s belief, ‘High School Musical’ wasn’t Tisdale’s breakout role. Instead, it was Disney’s ‘The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody’, which starred Cole and Dylan Sprouse in the lead roles. It also co-starred Brenda Song, Phillip Lewis, and Carey Martin. Tisdale played Maddie Fitzpatrick, the hard-working, outspoken, and intelligent candy-counter girl at the Tipton Hotel. She’s best friends with London Lipton, played by Song. London is the lovable, ditzy, and spoiled daughter of Wilfred Tipton, the owner of the Tipton Hotel. She loves fashion; she only wears designer clothes. It was meant for Tisdale to play the role of London and for Song to play Madrid, but their roles were reversed at the last minute for the show to break stereotypes with the blonde girl being the ditzy spoiled one, and the Asian girl being the typical smart one. On the show, the blonde girl is the smart girl, and the Asian girl is the ditzy spoiled girl. It was a legendary twist amongst the show’s target audience.

‘High School Musical’ came out in 2006, and we were all introduced to the world of Sharpay Evans. She was the modern Barbie with musical talents. Sharpay was ambitious and talented but also narcissistic, domineering, and devious. Her favourite person was…herself. Even her twin brother, Ryan, who was her biggest fan, found it difficult at times to support her whims. She’s always had an overwhelming desire to be the best at everything that it’d often dictate her actions. Though seen as the villain of the ‘High School Musical’ phenomenon, Sharpay, actually wasn’t one. In fact, she was the main protagonist. At times, she’d seem spiteful, when in reality, she was just being honest. For instance, when she told Troy and Gabriella that they should audition for supporting roles because they had never been in a musical before, and they had other commitments interfering with theatre. In a real-life situation, that’s exactly what would’ve happened. In what world would a first-time thespian with no previous experience be selected for the main role of a production? Troy and Gabriella weren’t dedicated enough, whereas Sharpay lived for her craft. Troy didn’t even want to be in the arts. He just went along with it because he liked Gabriella.

Sharpay got her own spinoff movie, 2011’s ‘Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure’. The movie saw her (and her dog, Boi) leave for New York for new adventures and new opportunities. It was a big risk for her as she’d never been on her own before, let alone be alone in a big city such as New York before. Instead of staying in a glamorous hotel and living a glamorous lifestyle that she’s used to back home, she stays in a studio apartment that, in her words, has a closet with a tongue as her bed. This storyline was supposed to mark as her redemption arc, but there was nothing for her to redeem in the first place. The entire premise of the first ‘High School Musical’ movie was, ‘If you’re popular and you do everything, you’re gonna be great at it, but if you dedicate your entire life to something you’ll be seen as a villain and now you’re the bad person.’ That’s a whole lot of CRAP. In the second movie, we see Sharpay try to help literally everyone, and is still treated like garbage despite it. She gives everyone summer jobs and even helps Troy get into college for free. Nevertheless, she’s still somehow seen as a villain, and everyone around her, including her brother, tries to punish her for it. And yet, despite punishing her, they still use her when it’s beneficial for their own good. The third movie saw Sharpay focus on her goals and dreams after graduating high school. And again, she got punished for it by others. Troy and Gabriella quit the school play, so Sharpay stepped it. She delivered FLAWLESS and GODLY performance — and then Troy and Gabriella finally showed up to “save the day” after Sharpay did the work and they get all the glory even though they totally ghosted the play for its entirety. Sharpay’s scholarship got taken away from her even though she was even though she was in COUNTLESS MUSICALS. It just didn’t make sense to me that someone who wrote two musicals got a scholarship, whereas Sharpay didn’t. As she said herself, she was a part of 17 (!) musical productions before she even finished high school, and more by the time she graduated. Why not reward her for her endless dedication to the craft?

I loved the fact that Sharpay got her own spinoff movie, because I got to see her work on her ambition without so much toxicity surrounding her and holding her back. It was her moment and her time to shine. We saw her with a completely different friend group in the spinoff movie, which practically confirmed that no one, and I mean NO ONE, ever liked her and that they were all just her friends when it was convenient for them. Troy, Gabriella, and all of their friends who tried to sabotage Sharpay and her success were the real villains of the entire ‘High School Musical’ franchise. Sharpay was merely the victim; the unsung hero. Troy, for one, only cared about what other people might think of him if he joined theatre. Gabriella was never 100% sure if she wanted to join theatre, and whenever she did join, she’d constantly change her mind until the very end of each movie. Sharpay, on the other hand, never had a doubt in her mind, and she didn’t have a care in the world about what others might think of her. She had her goals, she stuck by them, and she did everything she could to achieve those goals.

In hindsight, Sharpay was the biggest failure of the ‘High School Musical’ franchise. She was finally redeemed in her own spinoff movie. She took risks time after time, and those risks paid off. She proved her parents wrong and got the role of a lifetime (along with Boi) that she deserved. And just as a cherry on top, Sharpay got herself a boyfriend, Peyton, who genuinely liked her and wanted her to succeed. It’s more than what could’ve been said about anyone else in Sharpay’s life. Even her parents didn’t believe in her. Peyton, on the other hand, never doubted her talent. When she was ready to give up, it was Peyton who wouldn’t take no for answer and got the producers of the show to get them to see Sharpay’s capabilities by seeing his film with her as the subject matter. I think the best line in the entire franchise was when Sharpay told Peyton she was scared after she got the lead role on Broadway, and Peyton softly said, ‘Finally,’ before she kissed him. Despite initially coming off as ambitious and confident in herself, Sharpay had a vulnerable side to her. It was one that Peyton saw right through, which made them so perfect for each other.

If I were personally to compare the character of Sharpay Evans, it’d be to that of Rachel Berry from ‘Glee’. Rachel was played by Lea Michele, who started her career on Broadway at the age of 8 when she starred in a production of ‘Les Miserable’. Like Sharpay, Rachel was very ambitious, confident, and would never take no for an answer. Someone saying no to her would only make her work harder to achieve what she wanted. It was evident when her goal was to get accepted to the fictional university, NYADA, but didn’t get accepted after she messed up her audition in front of the school’s director, played by Whoopi Goldberg. She eventually got in after Jesse St. James, her high school rival and former love interest, quietly approached the school’s director following the yearly competition and gave a good word about Rachel, calling her the most talented person he ever met. Jesse obviously loved Rachel, but he didn’t do it expecting Rachel to get back together with him. He knew she wouldn’t. He did it because he actually cared about her and wanted her to succeed, and the fact that he did it without her knowing it didn’t diminish that.

Rachel was never liked by the people around her. Throughout the entire 6 seasons of ‘Glee’ Rachel was interpreted to be the villain – the person who’d sabotage anyone to get what she wanted. But she was the one who always worked the hardest, making her the most deserving out of the bunch. As Kurt, Rachel’s only real friend throughout the entire show, once said, ‘She may be difficult, but, boy, can she sing.’ Rachel most certainly wasn’t a saint, and there were many times where she proved that she wasn’t much of a good person, like when she sent Sunshine to a crack house to dissuade her from joining the glee club after hearing her sing and seeing her as her biggest competition. This action was the most unforgivable one of all. It was actually awful. She tried to justify herself in that she was thinking of everyone else in the Glee club, but it never took away from the fact that this was ultimately unjustifiably wrong.

The one person who’d ever called Rachel out for her sh*tty behaviour was Santana. She was seen as the villain in Rachel’s story. Truth be told, however, she was just being honest. She saw Rachel for exactly who she was, and she didn’t take sh*t for it. The most pivotal moment in their entire relationship was when all the alumni members of the Glee club get together one last time before shutting down in season 5. Santana called Rachel out for her malicious behaviour and mistreatment of others. Instead of owning up to it and showing remorse, Rachel started crying and called Santana a lowly understudy’. That’s where Sharpay and Rachel differ. Sharpay would do such a thing as send someone to a crackhouse because she felt threatened. Unlike Rachel, wouldn’t feel threatened in the first place. Also unlike Rachel, she’d still try to help those around her despite her intentions of getting ahead of everyone. And just to go back to Rachel’s ‘lowly understudy’ comment, that lowly understudy saved her f*cking job when she was on the surgeon getting fired.

When it comes to her romantic partners, Rachel wasn’t the greatest at choosing them. Her main love interest was Finn, and they were meant to end up together had the actor who played him, Cory Monteith, not passed away during production of the show. Rachel and Finn were toxic for one another. They just weren’t right. They were too different, they held each other back, and they’d never have worked in the real-world. She then dated Brody, her schoolmate at NYADA. He didn’t seem like a bad guy, initially. But then it turned out that he was a male hooker. And not only that, but he was keeping it from Rachel, which potentially put her sexual health at risk.

In season 6 of the show, which was also the final season of the show, Rachel was paired with Sam Evans (it’s only a coincidence that he has the same last name as Sharpay). It was the weirdest pairing on ‘Glee’ that absolutely made no sense. And yet, in a cosmic way, it did. Sam represented the grief that Rachel felt following Finn’s death. Sam was best friends with Finn, and he was most like Finn of all the men that she knew. Sam, in a way, was Rachel’s way of trying to replace Finn, which was exactly why they weren’t right for each other. It didn’t take long for them to break up. When Sam showed the slightest disagreement in her decision as to whether to go back to school or return to her Broadway roots after failing at ‘Funny Girl’ due to her own doing, she immediately broke things off with him.

As soon as she broke things off with Sam, Jesse showed up. He was actually her first high school boyfriend. They had a history together. He was in a Glee club that was run by Rachel’s mother, and he was sent to befriend Rachel and get closer to her in order for her mother, who gave her up for adoption to her Rachel’s two gay dads, to get access to her. Though Jesse did everything he was told, he developed real feelings for Rachel. Jesse felt pressured to maintain his image at the time, so he ended up hurting her in the end. Rachel refused to believe that he ever cared for her in the first place, but there were too many signs to believe otherwise.

When Jesse returned, he revealed to Rachel that he was the male lead on the Broadway show that she’d auditioned for, and that it was him who encouraged producers to hire Rachel after he found out about the audition. With that said, he encouraged her to take the part. Unlike her defensive reaction to Sam when he told her she should go back to school, she told him she appreciated his opinion, but that she needed to make the decision on her own. He respected that, and he respected her decision to go back to NYADA, and told her he was proud of her because she didn’t take the easy road to success. The difference in her reaction to Sam and her reaction to Jesse was very important, because it showed that she only ever truly respected Jesse’s opinion even if she didn’t agree with it.

In the flash-forward ending segment of the last segment, we saw that Rachel was married to Jesse, and that she was starring in the Broadway production that he was directing. It was a full-circle moment for Rachel. Jesse once told her that he’d do anything to make her dreams come true, and he kept that promise. In hindsight, he was the only one who truly believed in her. He was the only one who ever truly loved her unconditionally. Finn once told her that he loved her because and in spite of her flaws, but not Jesse. Jesse loved her exactly for who she was. He was for Rachel what Peyton was for Sharpay, and I truly wish we got to see more of Jesse and the relationship dynamic between him and Rachel.

I think it’s important to discuss Rachel’s career downfall. It was when she decided to quit her role as Fanny Brice on Broadway to peruse a career in television when she’s offered a TV series about her life on NBC. But the storyline of her failure actually began when she abruptly quit NYADA when she’d been given a choice between concentrating on her schooling or her commitment to the role of Fanny. When she quit, Carmen Tibideaux, the school’s director, told her to think long and hard about the decision she was about to make. She also said that Rachel was talented and ambitious, but didn’t have the drive and the foundation to be successful in the business.

Rachel took offence to that testament, but it proved to be right when she then quit the show after a short period. It was right then that she proved herself to be selfish, self-absorbed, and immature. Sharpay, on the other hand, would never, ever do such a thing. She knew exactly where she wanted to be, and that was on Broadway. There was no other place for her but Broadway. There was no boredom for her on Broadway. She knew what she wanted and she did everything she could to get there. For her, there was no such thing as quitting or better opportunities. Broadways was THE opportunity. Rachel ended up redeeming herself in the end. Her redemption arc wasn’t just in her career, but her personal life too as she became the surrogate to Kurt and Blaine’s baby. This was also a nod to how she was conceived herself. Her redemption arc in her personal life didn’t start there, however. Despite the many shady and unforgivable things Rachel had done, she’d also done some great things, such as not outing Quinn’s pregnancy to a school reporter even though Quinn was cruel to her, supporting Sam when his dad lost his job and the family was forced to live in a motel room, preparing Kurt for his NYADA audition when Carmen Tibideaux put him on the spot, and finally, when she relaunched the Glee club.

Sharpay and Rachel had a lot in common, and even the actresses behind them had a lot in common, like the fact that both Ashley Tisdale and Lea Michele were both involved in separate Les Miserables’ Broadway productions. Both of them also attempted to break free of their characters, but to no avail. Michele tried to get herself into more acting roles following her 6 year stint on ‘Glee’, but nothing was comparable to her success on the show. She also released 4 studio albums, but they failed to top the charts. Her 2020 scandal marked to be a fall from grace. It proved that she was EXACTLY like her character Rachel Berry.

Michele seemed to have learned from her mistakes, though. In an interview with Interview Magazine published in 2023, she said, ‘I think these past two years have been so important for everybody to just sit back and reflect. I did a lot of personal reach-outs. But the most important thing was for everybody to just take a step back. At the end of the day, what matters the most is how you make people feel and you have to put aside your feelings. The conversations that I’ve had behind the scenes with some people were incredibly healing and very eye-opening for me.’

Since then, Michele starred as Fanny Brice on the real-life production of ‘Funny Girl’ when she replaced Beanie Feldstein in the lead role. After Feldstein’s portrayal failed to sell tickets and the show was on the verge of shutting down, Michele made it a smash hit, and her time was extended for longer than expected due to how successful the show became. This only showed that Michele belongs on Broadway; that no matter what area she ever tries to peruse in her career, Broadway will always be where she shines, much like her character, Rachel Berry.

Tisdale also tried to breakaway from her role as Sharpay. She released two studio albums in the 2000’s, but they failed to make it big, especially the second album where she completely stepped away from her breakout role. And the reason for her unsuccessful solo endeavours failing was because her fans still saw her as Sharpay. They couldn’t differentiate the two and see them as two different people. In 2019, she released her third album, ‘Symptoms’, which in hindsight, was an introduction to what was coming next for her as the main subject matter for the album was depression and anxiety, and the relationship with one’s self as they navigate through it. As to why she’s been so successful in blogging?

• Shares personal experiences – Tisdale is open about her own self-love journey, including negative experiences with plastic surgery. 
• Creates a community – Tisdale’s blog is a place to learn about living a non-toxic life and loving yourself more. She also includes guest experts to share their perspectives. 
• Challenges unattainable beauty standards – Tisdale’s blog rejects unattainable beauty standards and confronts mental health stigmas. 
• Based on her own rituals – Tisdale’s clean beauty and personal care line, Being Frenshe, is based on her rituals, aromatherapy, and mood science.

When asked if she’d ever reprise her role as Sharpay Evans, Tisdale told Entertainment Weekly in 2021, ‘I just feel like I wouldn’t be able to really do that again and give it justice. I think at that moment in time, I was very unaware of myself and my surroundings, and I feel like that’s a big part of Sharpay. She is just not really aware, and so as I grew up and became more aware, I think that it’s just something that it wouldn’t be the same. It’s so good, and it’s like, for me, I would hate to ruin something that is perfect for that moment, and yeah, I don’t think I could go back to it.

The most important thing in a woman’s career, I find, is learning when to step away. The other is finding what field actually works for her. And not just for a public figure, but any woman for that matter, no matter what she does in her career path. Ashley Tisdale walked away from her role as Sharpay just in time, and she found exactly what works for her in her career, which is something that has nothing to do with being in the entertainment industry. And the greatest irony of this entire blog entry is that Ashley Tisdale are actually friends. They’ve been friends for more than a facade, and Tisdale even attended Michele’s bridal shower and wedding when she was getting to married to Zandy Reich. They collaborated together when recorded an acoustic version of the 2010 song ‘Dancing on My Own’.