Ryan Evans
Costume Debut: April 2023
Costume Reprise: May 2023
For many years, Irvin aspired to cosplay his favorite character from his favorite movie - Ryan Evans in High School Musical.
But Ryan's aesthetic is not an easy one to recreate. The first issue is his very particular hats. This was solved by extensive googling, once Irvin found out that the hat he wears in "What I've Been Looking For" is called a baker's boy hat. The harder part was his very shiny shirt, which Irvin had to approximate with the shiniest shirt he could find.
The impetus to finally assemble the costume came when Lucas Grabeel (the original actor) accounced a "Bop to the Top" DJing tour, and Irvin realized he had to dress for the occasion. So he assembled the costume, and debuted it at Disney DJ Night the prior month.
Naturally, the outfit was a huge hit at Disney DJ Night. Even the folks in other costumes complimented him as the best costume of the night. Irvin had also brushed up on the choreography for "What I've Been Looking For" in the preceding days - after all, everybody loves a good jazz square! So when the song came on, he could properly perform the whole thing (only skipping the cartwheel, given the crowds). Though the stage was out of reach, the crowd formed a ring around him so he could perform the whole routine properly! The same thing happened for "Bop to the Top," though Irvin is a little rustier on that choreography.
Luckily, Irvin brushed up on that choreography before the Bop to the Top Tour, resulting in one of the best nights of his life!
Throughout his set, Lucas Grabeel invited fans to join him on stage to sing along and "dance along" to the songs (really, vamp to the crowd). Irvin bided his time until Lucas called for audience members for "Bop to the Top," and then enthusiastically volunteered. Given his costume, the concertgoers around him joined in the call to get Lucas's attention. Good thing the costume was shiny, because Irvin got called up to the stage, along with his friend Daniel.
When the song began, Irvin launched into the full-blown choreography of the number, and 1200 people at Irving Plaza lost their minds. Video can be seen to the right!
After a bit, Lucas just stepped to the side of the stage and took out his phone to film it for his instagram! (See his post below!)
And when the song concluded, Irvin experienced for the first time the sensation of 1200 people cheering for him at a deafening volume. Everyone from Lucas to the other DJs to the photographers and security guards had to tell him that it was the greatest thing they'd ever seen, and by far the coolest thing to happen on their tour.
After that, Irvin became the biggest celebrity of the night. Everyone at the venue had to compliment him, many asked for photos, and quite a few said that it looked like Ryan Evans had just leapt off the screen into real life. It looks like all those hours practicing Kenny Ortega's choreography paid off!
Irvin spent the rest of the night dancing with friends old and new, who'd learned to whip out cameras whenever choreo-heavy songs came on, and who all joined in for a rousing dance-along to "We're All In This Together." Afterwards, Irvin got to meet Lucas, getting a photo with him and his autograph on a High School Musical CD. Irvin told him what a huge fan he is, and got to hug him several times throughout the night!
It also must be said that Lucas was absolutely one of the nicest celebrities ever. He was warm and friendly, happy to sign stuff and take photos until his team dragged him away. Irvin's friends stuck around to meet him at the stage door, and even well into the night, Lucas paused to interact with his fans. He also told Irvin that he and his team kept talking about his performance in the dressing room!
Also during the night, Irvin got to meet two other Ryans in cosplay, along with a Sharpay (the only accessory he'd been missing!). Naturally, this resulted in a full-blown photo shoot until security hurried them out of there - though Irvin's favorite pic of the lot came from the three Ryans recreating the "three Spider-Men pointing at each other" meme.