Sequel sensation

Like countless ‘tweens and teens around the globe, Rose Selland developed a huge crush on “High School Musical,” the Disney Channel mega-hit that bopped to the top of the television, DVD and music charts. Oh, but that was so last year. Now she’s expecting even greater things from tonight’s wildly anticipated sequel.

“It’s pretty important that it be big and amazing,” says the Moraga, Calif., high school student before revealing a personal wish list.

Among the things she desperately desires from “High School Musical 2” are:

“More upbeat songs. (A couple of tunes in the original were “too depressing.”)

“Dance numbers that are “even more exciting.”

“Additional screen time for her beloved Corbin Bleu.

“A kiss between Troy (Zac Efron) and Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens), the film’s Romeo-and-Juliet-like leads.

“That one is a must,” says an adamant Selland. “It needs to happen.”

Do you get the idea that there’s some pressure on the cast and crew to live up to the incredible success of the original?

Yeah, just a little.

“We definitely feel the weight of expectations,” Bleu says.

” ‘High School Musical’ was able to capture lightning in a bottle and it’s really hard to do that twice. But, of course, everyone is expecting us to. Everyone wants No. 2 to be just as good, if not better, than the first.”

According to the Disney Channel, the original feel-good film has been seen by 160 million viewers worldwide. The accompanying soundtrack, packed with catchy tunes, was the top-selling album of 2006 and the top-ranked DVD sold 400,000 units in its first day.

The movie has spawned a concert tour, an ice show, a best-selling series of junior novels, the TV sequel and a big-screen production slated for next year.

The “High School Musical” franchise, which is projected to eventually generate $500 million in retail sales, has helped Disney get a leg up on Nickelodeon in the increasingly important competition to attract youthful viewers, and has bolstered its reputation as a factory adept at churning out the next generation of fresh-faced stars.

Perhaps even more impressive, “High School Musical” has pulled off a minor miracle by turning on traditionally ambivalent youngsters to the stage.

More than 2,000 high schools and community theaters have licensed with Disney to stage their own productions, most of which have drawn overflow audition sessions.

“To me, that’s one of the great things to come out of all this. We’ve helped to make musicals cool and sought-after again,” says Efron, who recently appeared in the big-screen version of “Hairspray” and is set to star in a remake of “Footloose.”

So how could a modestly made and undeniably sappy movie about a hunky jock (Efron) and a straight-A bookworm (Hudgens) who break out of their respective teen cliques to establish romantic harmony on a school stage come to wield so much pop-cultural clout?

Director Kenny Ortega, who choreographed the 1987 big- screen musical smash “Dirty Dancing,” immediately sensed Patrick Swayze-and-Jennifer Grey-like chemistry between his two leads while shooting the original “High School Musical.”

As location shooting on the $4.2 million film wound down inside a high school gym in Salt Lake City, Ortega huddled with his budding stars and issued a few words of advice.

“I told them that I really feel we’re onto something special here and that if everyone else (on the project) makes the same investment that you have, your lives are going to be dramatically different at this time next year,” he recalls.

“And then I told them to hold on to your hats, and to who you are – and don’t forget where it all started.”

When the cast reported, completely intact, for Round 2, Ortega was thrilled to see that their gung-ho verve was still burning brightly.

“Amazingly, they did hold onto their hats,” he says. “If there were any egos, they were certainly checked miles away from our doors.”

And that’s a good thing, too, because the bar was dramatically raised for the sequel. Not only did some of the actors figure more prominently in the plot, the new song-and-dance sequences were much more labor-intensive.

“They certainly kicked my ‘Dancing With the Stars’ butt,” says cast member Monique Coleman, referring to her experience on the ABC reality show. “The numbers were so much harder this time.”

Even Bleu, considered the best dancer among the bunch, was humbled by the challenge.

While shooting a number called “I Don’t Dance” with 200 bat-wielding extras on a baseball field, he got conked on the head with a ball three times.

“It’s bad enough that you’re mixing acting with dancing and singing all at once,” he says. “But then you throw sports into it and it’s incredibly difficult – especially for me.”

The follow-up tale shifts the setting from East High School to the posh Lava Springs country club, where Troy and Gabriella land low-end summer jobs. But trouble is afoot as the film’s chief antagonist, drama queen Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale), schemes to drive a wedge between the lovebirds.

After watching the original “at least a dozen times” and learning the lyrics by heart, Selland is certainly ready for the start of something new.

Tonight, she and her pal, Ali Schreiner, plan to get an early start to the evening by playing a “High School Musical” board game and once again grooving to the soundtrack.

Then they’ll hunker down in the living room for the sequel.

“I’m just a little worried that it’s not going to be quite as good,” Selland says. “Regardless, though, it’s going to be big.”

Especially if Troy and Gabriella wind up sharing that kiss.