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in: Characters, Characters who are Bert from Sesame Street, Chewy Gladstone,
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Ryan Evans

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Ryan "Ry" Evans is one of the main characters of High School Musical. He's co-president of the Crosslee Drama Club with his fraternal twin sister Sharpay, with whom he's co-starred in 17 school productions to date. In High School Musical, both Ryan and Sharpay function as antagonists, while in High School Musical 2, he acts as a protagonist. His 1st appearance was on January 20, 2006 in the original High School Musical on January 20, 2006, and his 2nd appearance was on August 17, 2007 in High School Musical 2. His 3rd and last appearance was on October 24, 2008 in High School Musical 3: Senior Year. He was chosen by Julliard University to take scholarship along with Kelsi because of his choreography in the Senior Year Spring Musical.[1]

File:Ryan 2.jpg

Ryan.

Character[]

Basic Details[]

Ryan is introduced as a student of East High who, along with his twin sister, Sharpay, is very involved in the Drama Department. Ryan is an excellent dancer and singer, tending to lean toward high-energy, upbeat songs and expressive choreography, often to the point of absurdity. He has a much more highly developed sense of fashion than most East High students, wearing button down shirts and slacks in a variety of colours and patterns and topping each outfit with some type of hat. The hats are one of Ryan's most notable features; he wears over 20 different ones throughout the 2 films, favoring newsboy caps, flat caps, and fedoras. Ryan was born on Feburary 27.1989 or 1990

Early Life[]

Ryan and his sister Sharpay are the children of Vance and Derby Evans, and were the stars of 17 school productions. Ryan played Little League baseball in Rhode Island before he moved to Albuquerque.

High School Musical[]

In High School Musical, Ryan functions almost exclusively as Sharpay's sidekick, as the 2 attempt to keep Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez from winning the roles of Arnold and Minnie in the school's Winter musical, Twinkle Towne. In spite of a few moments where Ryan appears annoyed by Sharpay's domineering attitude, he accepts her leadership unquestioningly throughout the movie, most often acting as a source of comedy relief.

High School Musical 2[]

In the 2nd movie, however, Ryan's discontentment is more pronounced as he struggles to be considered his sister's equal. Toward the beginning of the movie, he assists Sharpay in her plan to win Troy Bolton, but when Sharpay replaces him with Troy in their talent show performance, he gains enough confidence to stand up to her, befriending the Wildcats and agreeing to choreograph their show, instead. Sharpay is shocked by her brother's actions, demanding that he tell her when he became "one of them," to which Ryan merely takes that as a compliment. In the end, after many twists and turns, Ryan orchestrates a plan to have Troy sing with Gabriella (instead of Sharpay) in the Wildcats' show, performing Everyday. Sharpay, apparently moved by the performance, announces Ryan as the winner of the talent show and presents him with the Star Dazzle award. The 2 reconcile, joining the Wildcats in singing the movie's final number, All For One.

High School Musical 3: Senior Year[]

In the 3rd and final movie, Ryan was not seen in the basketball championship because of his performance as the mascot. Afterwards, he appears at Troy's party after the game. The next day, he's assigned to choreograph the senior year spring musical, at which he is pleased.

Eating lunch that day with his sister, she suddenly breaks out into song, trying to persuade him to "want it all" as she does. He is reluctant to the idea at first, but then warms up to it. The siblings are both after the Juliard scholarship, which Sharpay, Ryan, Kelsi and Troy are possible candidates for but can only be acquired by 1 of them, and Sharpay says that Ryan must spend time with Kelsi ("Polish her glasses, buy her ruby slippers, take her to prom! I don't know! Just do it.") so she'll write the best song for them. Ryan is uneasy about his sister's request, possibly indicating that he really does like Kelsi, but obeys.

Putting Sharpay's plan into action, he offers to be Kelsi's date in the prom scene in the musical. The next day, Ryan arrives to school early, and sees Kelsi practicing her new song for the musical. He joins her in singing it, showing talent for playing the piano as well. They sing the 1st 1/3 of the song, Ryan asking Kelsi to the real prom in the middle of their part, and then Troy and Gabriella finish the duet, Ryan helping them with their choreography. Sharpay then tells Ryan that Gabriella is up to go to college early, and that she'll steal Gabriella's part to get closer to Troy, as Gabriella won't be able to make it to the musical. Ryan, exasperated, tells Sharpay that she isn't Gabriella, sticking up for his friends. Nevertheless, Gabriella goes to the college early, and Sharpay steals Gabriella's role in Kelsi's song "Just Want To Be With You".

Ryan still continues to work at choreographing the show, although a bit halfheartedly now. Soon after, the big musical begins. Ryan and Kelsi start off the show by singing the ballad "Last Chance", and then Chad and the East High Basketball Team sing "Now Or Never (Reprise)". Ryan then comes out and sings his 1st solo of the 3 films, "I Want It All (Reprise)". In the final number it's revealed that both Ryan and Kelsi have won Juilliard scholarships. Ryan is very surprised, but accepts it. His sister applauds him even though she didn't win it, and the 2 seem to get on to respectful terms with each other. At graduation, Ryan joins into the sing and dance during the final musical number, reflecting his experiences at East High and singing with his sister and dancing with Kelsi. At the end of the song, Troy, Gabriella, Chad, Taylor, Ryan and Sharpay walk onto a stage where they take 1 final bow.

Intelligence[]

Although seen as perhaps lacking in intelligence in the first movie, unable to read, "Go Drama Club!" on the basketball team's shirts even though he is in the drama club, although this may have had to do with the wearers, Ryan's intelligence becomes more pronounced as the series progresses. He is able to choreograph two shows by his own means, and in a deleted clip from the third film even hints at Tiara's deceit by saying her name "sounds like a stage name". His role as Sharpay's sidekick is obviously meant to undermine his true intelligence. In the second and third films, we find that it is not Ryan, but Jason that is the true ditz.

Homosexuality[]

There is no definite proof of Ryan's sexuality, however his flamboyant fashion choices, incredible dancing capabilities, and his interesting interactive showdown with Troy's best friend Chad in "I Don't Dance," seem to point to Ryan being of homosexual nature. It is to be noted that, while in High School Musical 2, he is said to have a "crush" on Gabriella, but noticeably reacts in the manner of a school girl whenever Troy enters the vicinity. In HSM3, he is seen wearing more obviously flamboyant clothing than in the other two movies. When everyone is hugging during "Just Wanna Be With You", Troy and Ryan twirl each other around, possibly imitating their rehearsal. His relationship with Kelsi is rumored to be an example of Disney executives trying to keep angry parents out of their hair. Interestingly enough, after asking her to prom, he never speaks to her again. And while at Troy's party, he and the basketball star trade lines of a flirtatious nature, sharing several more scenes that implicate things... but, if asked outright, Disney will never give an answer.

In an interview, Grabeel stated “Obviously it’s a Disney movie they can’t have an openly gay character in the movie and that’s a whole other discussion about where the times are in this country. But the relationship between Ryan and Kelsi started from the first movie and cycled through all three. I think of course they would go to prom together and I still don’t think that that makes him gay or straight or anything. He needed someone to be a couple with - he’s not going to be with his sister because that’s gross. I’ll say this – there are so many more subtleties to that movie that kids will hopefully get when they’re showing it to their kids later, later, later on but never were meant to be taken as literal… it’s hard for me to talk about it [to the general public] but over a beer with my friends we’ve dichotomized High School Musical so many different ways.” [2]

After Elton.com has definitely taken notice of Ryan's flamboyancy and they share the same feelings that many have... In the end, whether Ryan is straight or not is left up to the viewer's interpretation.

However, Ryan could also be metrosexual.

Songs[]

Other Singer(s) Song Place
High School Musical
Sharpay What I've Been Looking For East High Auditorium
HSM Cast Stick to the Status Quo East High Cafeteria
Sharpay Bop to the Top East High Auditorium
HSM Cast We're All In This Together East High Gym
High School Musical 2
HSM 2 Cast What Time Is It? East High
Sharpay & the Sharpettes Fabulous Lava Springs Pool
Chad I Don't Dance Baseball Field
HSM 2 Cast Everyday Lava Springs Stage
HSM 2 Cast One for all Lava Springs Pool
High School Musical 3: Senior Year
Sharpay, East High students I Want It All Crosslee Primary
HSM 3 Cast A Night To Remember East High Auditorium
Troy, Gabriella & Kelsi Just Want To Be With You East High Auditorium
Several female backup singers I Want It All (Reprise) East High Auditorium
HSM 3 Cast We're All In This Together (Graduation Mix) East High Auditorium
HSM 3 Cast High School Musical East High Football Field

Songs uncredited in the movies/soundtracks[]

External Links[]

Template:Character navigation Template:Character stub

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