MTV packs music, dance into 'Mall'
After the phenomenon known as "High School Musical," it had to happen.
Inevitably, success that huge breeds attempts to duplicate it. MTV's call to the same producers has resulted in "The American Mall," another movie packed with song, dance and fresh young faces. The cable network debuts it at 9 p.m. Monday, and viewers who like it will have to wait only a few hours to own it: An "extended edition" hits DVD the next day.
The new film's setup will be familiar to anyone who knows the "High School Musical" saga. At the shopping mall where her mother (Yassmin Alers, "Rent") runs a music shop, melodically inclined Ally (Nina Dobrev, "Degrassi: The Next Generation") falls for Joey (Rob Mayes), a young custodian with untapped performing talent. Can they help each other's dreams come true? Is the sky blue?
Much as "High School"-ers Troy and Gabriella had scheming Sharpay to deal with, the new couple could be thwarted by the mall owner's daughter, Madison (Autumn Reeser, "The O.C."), who has designs of her own — literally, but her fashion-world ambitions don't impress her dad (Al Sapienza, "The Sopranos"). The cast also includes Neil Haskell, last year's third-place finisher on Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance."
"The American Mall" may seem a follow-up to "High School Musical," but the irony is that it was devised first.
"It was a script submitted to me about nine years ago," says Bill Borden, a producer of both projects. "At the time, it was about a bunch of teenagers who worked in a mall, which we thought was an absolutely great concept. We added a couple of songs to it, but we ultimately couldn't make it. Then, after 'High School Musical,' people said, 'Do you have anything else you'd like to make?'"
As further proof of timing being everything, Borden maintains the original work on "Mall" helped shape the approach that yielded "High School Musical." He recalls, "We noticed how to add more and more music and still keep the story moving forward. It felt like you got to a certain part of the script and you just went, 'Music.' When I started watching every musical I could, trying to understand why I liked them so much, I realized music didn't stop the story and added depth to the characters."
That discovery has been a saving grace for co-star Reeser, who displayed her perky personality as high-maintenance Taylor Townsend during the final two seasons of "The O.C." A musical theater major when she attended UCLA, Reeser hasn't found many places to practice those skills on film — until "The American Mall" came her way when the casting almost was complete.
"A lot of of the other cast members had been involved with the project for months, doing very intensive auditions," she reports. "I got really lucky. I had only two auditions in the space of a week, then a week later, we were ready to shoot."
Reeser's theater credentials, which she's been racking up since age 7, clearly came in handy. "I was looking for something like this," she says, "and I really loved it, plus it was an amazing group of people. We got along really well in real life."
Along with the screen versions of "Mamma Mia!" and "Hairspray" in addition to "High School Musical," "The American Mall" is giving the genre a reboot.
"There's been a lot more of it over the past few years, which is really fabulous," she says. "When I was in college, 'Moulin Rouge!' came out, and my friends and I obsessed over it. It was the first musical that had come out in a long, long time.
"This part is the perfect thing for me," Reeser adds. "I love playing villains; they're just delicious. I try to make every person I play her own character, as opposed to, 'Oh, it's just the ingenue.' I think Maggie Gyllenhaal does that; she makes every part special. ... I admire that."
Also a star of the forthcoming CW series "Valentine," Reeser may get to add more layers to her "American Mall" alter ego in the future. It's a common practice — especially with something that could turn into a franchise — but the MTV film's principal players signed multiple-picture deals, should sequels be warranted.
While the two "High School Musical" TV movies (and the theatrical feature due in October) have suited the Disney Channel demographic ideally, Borden believes "The American Mall" serves the same purpose for MTV's audience.
"I think pieces like 'The Sound of Music' and 'Hair' and 'Grease' tell you that you can make this format appeal to any age group," he says. "When I was a teenager, I'd watch the Elvis movies and the 'Beach Party' movies, and when (the actors) broke into song and dance, I thought it was great. There's no reason musicals have to be just for kids."
