How Whitney Houston inspired the High School Musical franchise's first gay romance

Los Angeles Times

Friday's episode of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series introduced the franchise's first-ever gay romance, featuring Frankie A. Rodriguez's Carlos and and an a cappella version of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.” “I saw in Frankie what I see more and more in a younger generation, which is a freedom of expression, of really being who they truly are in a way that I certainly didn’t feel when I was in high school and I was in the closet,” says creator Tim Federle. “When he sang that song so joyfully and freely ... I was like, ‘I think there’s a story here.’"