Hudgens changes her tune

At 20, Vanessa Hudgens is finally ready to “graduate” from high school – and “High School Musical.”

She knows that it’s a long way from “HSM” good-girl Gabriella to Blondie, her character in “Sucker Punch,” about a group of girls in a brothel. Set to film this fall, it’s been described as “Alice in Wonderland … with machine guns” by its director, Zack Snyder (“300,” “Watchmen”).

But first, Hudgens wanted to take a last look or two around the halls of a high school.

“Bandslam,” which opened Friday, isn’t by Disney and doesn’t have Wildcats singing and dancing their hearts out. But the musical about a high school battle of the bands will feel familiar enough to kids who have grown up with her.

“I’ve never rocked out before,” Hudgens says. “I’ve performed on stage for years, but usually I’m just up there, ‘dancing around with Troy,’ you know.

“But to be up on stage with a Flying V guitar, playing and singing rock songs, that was so cool!”

Her character, Sa5m (the “5” is silent), is a smart, sensitive loner who is “a step closer to something different for me. Not a graduation. One step closer. I have more school films in me, I figure.”

One more, for sure. Hudgens’ other big movie lined up is another high-school romance, “Beastly,” a variation on the “Beauty and the Beast” tale.

She figures she’ll be criticized for trying to grow up.

“If you continue to do what people expect you to do, that’s all you’ll ever get the chance to do,” she says. “I get bored very easily.

“That’s why I wanted to try something like ‘Bandslam,’ or why I want to do ‘Beastly’ and especially why I wanted to do ‘Sucker Punch.’ You just go with what you’re passionate about and hope for the best.”

The birthday bunch

Actress Maureen O’Hara is 89. Actor Robert DeNiro is 66. Singer Belinda Carlisle is 51. Actor Sean Penn is 49. Singer Donnie Wahlberg (New Kids on the Block) is 40. Actor Brady Corbet is 21.