To answer your question, it's even better than the first one. What this will mean for the Disney Channel, the history of musical theater, the state of cable television or the future of the world as we know it remains to be seen. But "High School Musical 2," which premiered last night and will repeat indefinitely on the Disney Channel, is zippier, bouncier, prettier, more soulful and even more musical that its predecessor, and that's saying something.

It's also a primer on how to successfully follow the template of a phenomenon — which turns out to be loosely but also unapologetically. So yes, there is a musical competition (talent show instead of tryouts), a boy-friendly sports-themed number (this time it's baseball), a crisis of conscience for Troy (Zac Efron) and an opportunity for Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) to lean moodily against lockers and sing a wistful song. But there's so much more.

Beginning on the last day of school at Albuquerque's East High, "HSM2" follows a Wildcat summer and wastes only scant minutes before sending the whole gang hoofing through the hallways in a big celebratory number ("What Time Is It?"). About to turn seniors, Troy, Gabriella and his friends are all concerned with "making bank" — saving money for college. (And this is why parents love Disney.) For richie-rich Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) and her brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel), this, of course, is not an issue; off they go to Albuquerque's tony Lava Springs country club, where Sharpay schemes to win Troy away from Gabriella by giving him a job. Troy, being the golden boy he is, however, manages to bring along Gabriella and the gang, including best friend Chad (Corbin Bleu) and Kelsi (Olesya Rulin), the most prolific young composer since Barry Manilow.

WILDCAT WILES

So while the Wildcats learn a few hard lessons of the workplace (bosses can be mean!), Sharpay attempts to seduce Troy with the possibility of the ambitious life, which could result in a basketball scholarship to the University of Albuquerque. Heady stuff, and our boy is tempted, much to the dismay of his friends (hence Gabriella's sad song). But this is Disney, not Ayn Rand, and so the needs of the individual will always bow to the collective, with the requisite ginormous dance number.

TISDALE, EFRON SHINE

The big winners in the sequel are Tisdale and Efron. Tisdale is clearly having more fun than a thin blonde should be allowed to have in public, vamping it up in her Fergie-like salute to summer — "Fabulous" — as well as her Britneyesque rendition of the song Kelsi wrote (sniff) for Gabriella and Troy, "You Are the Music in Me." Does she overact? You bet, but since Sharpay is the closest thing "High School Musical" has to a villain, that's part of the job, along with flouncing, hair-flipping, eye-narrowing and shrieking. If she were 20 years older, Sharpay could be played by Glenn Close or Michelle Pfeiffer.

Efron, for his part, is honing his acting chops. Returning from his stint in "Hairspray," where, incidentally, he worked with Pfeiffer, Efron brings more emotional heft to Troy than was evidenced in "HSM." The dilemma he faces — whether to follow his ambitions at the cost of his friends — also is more adult and resonates beyond being the conflict required to keep the plot, and songs, cataloged and moving along.

COMEBACK OF MUSICAL

With "High School Musical," the first and second, Disney has created a new subgenre of entertainment: the American Musical, Junior Edition. The themes of loyalty and self-discovery may seem a bit slight when compared with "Music Man," "West Side Story" or even "Damn Yankees," but the dance numbers are just as inspiring and the songs strike the hearts of the young television audience just as accurately as "Jet Song" or "76 Trombones" struck the hearts beating on Broadway.

"High School Musical 2" continues the quest to introduce a new generation to a vanishing commodity. The live-action musical movie has been on life support for a couple decades now, and this may just be the eleventh-hour infusion it needs.