‘High School Musical’ fans are not okay with Zac Efron’s brief reunion appearance

When it was announced that the full original cast of High School Musical (yes, even Zac Efron!!) would participate in the Disney Family Singalong Thursday night, lifetime fans were beside themselves at the return of Troy Bolton. While other HSM stars pay tribute to their musical Disney origins on the reg, Zac has worked to build a reputation in Hollywood for more serious films. Respect, but throw us a bone every once in a while, Zac.And he did, though a small one. When it came time for the last big hoopla of the sing-a-long—a performance of "We’re All In This Together" with the OGs, plus the stars of the Disney+ show, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series—Ryan Seacrest announced something a little different than we were expecting.“This star is hunkered down in the middle of nowhere with patchy WiFi, but he did not want to miss out on tonight,” Seacrest said over video-chat from his home. Cue Zac Efron, not to sing, but to, uh, introduce the cast of Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Corbin Bleu, Lucas Gabeel and Monique Coleman who went on to sing without him.

We're all in this together - no kidding! Tune in to the #DisneyFamilySingalong tonight at 8|7c on ABC for a night of fun the Wildcat Way ❤️? pic.twitter.com/4syE0Qpeoh

— ABC (@ABCNetwork) April 16, 2020

Efron called the cast "some of his oldest friends" (that includes former flame, Vanessa!), and then added, “I hope that you enjoy, and remember, we are all in this together.”The rest of the cast then took over, direct from their homes, singing and dancing to HSM's official anthem, some of them even doing the original choreography. Hmm, is it ironic that the main star wasn't involved in a song literally called "We're All in This Together"? Yes, of course. Do we also totally understand that spotty WiFi can ruin even the nicest of things? Also, yes. At least we were all together—for a few brief moments at least.While the performance was upbeat, uplifting, and a great memory for so many former-kids missing the HSM craze of their youth, some couldn't help but vent some frustration on Twitter. And lucky for us, they mostly did it in HSM references. You don't mess with the HSM hive.[video_embed id='1941507']RELATED: Here’s what to expect from Global Citizen’s One World Together at Home[/video_embed]Director Kenny Ortega, who also made a cameo last night, explained to Deadline why Zac wasn’t singing (sorta). He said, “We couldn’t reach Zac until late but when we did, he immediately jumped in, of course.” Okay so maybe Zac was a last minute edition and, that coupled with poor connection, probably would have made for a laggy weird performance. We're bummed but we understand.We'll just have to re-watch Ashley Tisdale and Coach Bolton (AKA Bart Johnson) doing the "We're All in This Together" dance on TikTok instead.[video_embed id='1941171']BEFORE YOU GO: Britney Spears dances to ex Justin Timberlake’s song[/video_embed]