Jojo
Rabbit
HIGH SCHOOL
MUSICAL:
THE MUSICAL:
THE SERIES
7
6
MOVIES
TV
The Story
of the Show
About the
Musical
Based on
the Movie
Believe it: One of the most moving and heartbreak-
ing films you’ll see this fall is a buddy comedy
co-starring Hitler. From the inimitable brain of Thor:
Ragnarok director Taika Waititi, the WWII-set Jojo
Rabbit is about a lonely 10-year-old German boy
(the preternaturally talented Roman Griffin Davis)
who wants to be a Nazi and conjures up a juvenile
wisecracking führer (Waititi) as his imaginary
friend. Treading on the same hallowed comic
ground of Charlie Chaplin and Mel Brooks, Jojo is
a broad satire of hate and Nazism but, ultimately, a
celebration of tolerance and humanity—so it’s no
wonder the film won the TIFF audience award and is
already drumming up the right buzz to send the cast
to next year’s Oscars (ideally, not in costume).
The Must List
Consider the status quo
officially unstuck to.
Executive producer Tim
Federle, who fittingly
made his career writing
middle-grade novels for
theater kids, wanted
to keep the High School
Musical franchise going
for Disney’s nascent
streaming service (and
Disney certainly wasn’t
opposed to a second life
for their karaoke cash
cow). But Federle didn’t
want to carbon-copy
Troy and Gabriella for
a new generation, so
instead he found inspira-
tion in Christopher Guest
comedies and developed
a half-hour sitcom (out
Nov. 12 on Disney+) that
follows a cast of wildly
talented teens who
occasionally talk to
the camera about how
they’re staging HSM at
their high school (the
very one where the 2006
movie was filmed, both
in real life and in the
show’s overwhelmingly
meta universe). “The
Office approach allows
us to include winks
at the original but do it
with new songs,” Federle
explains. “It’s not a
remake, it’s not even
a reboot—it’s a remix
of the original.” And, one
could argue, the start of
something new. (Sorry.)
12 NOVEMBER 2019 EW ● COM
HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL: THE MUSICAL: THE SERIES
: CHRISTOPHER SAUNDERS/AMAZON;
JOJO RABBIT
: KIMBERLEY FRENCH/© 2019 TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX
