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Don’t look now, High School Musical fans, but this past weekend saw a star convergence that we haven’t experienced in a very long time. With Zac Efron premiering his controversial new Ted Bundy movie at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday and Vanessa Hudgens playing Maureen on Rent Live on Sunday, this weekend’s star performances fulfilled the decade-plus promise of Troy and Gabriella at last. We’re all in this together for real, and by “we” I mean “all of Hollywood” and by “this” I mean “Zac and Vanessa’s big moment.”

It’s been just over 13 years since High School Musical premiered on the Disney channel and essentially created an entire generation of fans for the likes of Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Corbin Bleu, and the legend Ashley Tisdale. Then the thing that happens to all youth entertainment phenomena happened: one member of the original cast, in this case Efron, skyrocketed to superstardom, leaving the others far behind. Of the rest of them, it’s Hudgens’ career that’s been the most fascinating to follow, mostly because it’s been all over the place. She turned her clean-teen image upside down in Spring Breakers, she’s been on Broadway, she’s a regular on the So You Think You Can Dance judging panel. Most recently she’s been a Netflix rom-com Christmas queen in The Princess Switch. On Sunday night, while Rent Live endured any number of difficulties (including, most prominently NOT BEING LIVE due to a cast member injury), Hudgens took full control of the show. From the moment her character, Maureen, makes her big dramatic entrance and begins her “performance art” number, Hudgens showed the world why she’s a consummate professional who still has the ability to wow us.

Zac Efron has seen his star steadily rise over the course of the last decade or so, as he made the transition from teen dreamboat with a rabid following to a decently daring young actor. His spread of projects from the arthouse (The Paperboy) to the mainstream (Neighbors) has been smart and enjoyable to watch. As we speak, at the Sundance Film Festival, Efron is promoting his new movie, perhaps his most controversial yet. Even the title — Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile — feels nasty, and not merely for its disregard for the Oxford comma. The film is a dramatization of the serial murders committed by one Ted Bundy, the notorious American killer — now dead — who kidnapped, raped, and murdered at least 30 women in the 1970s. The film, if the trailer is anything to go by, is a gonzo recreation of how Bundy used his handsome and charming facade to skate by for so long, and Efron’s famous good looks do quite the job.

The reviews out of Sundance for Extremely Wicked… have been decidedly mixed, with a good number of them accusing the film of romanticizing or glorifying a killer like Bundy. One look at the above trailer and you can see what they’re talking about, with its rebel guitars and the twinkle in its lead actor’s eye. But along with even the negative reviews, everyone seems to agree that Efron kills it in the role. Vulture called the performance “unsettling[ly] slimy” and says the film may not be worth much more than delivering Efron’s excellent star turn. And the AV Club, in another negative review for the film, says the film “harnesses [Efron’s star power] in a devious, diabolical way.”

Currently, Zac Efron, Ted Bundy, and Netflix are making a real cultural moment out of these serial murders, which is certainly far from the feel-good story of the year. With The Ted Bundy Tapes documentary currently streaming on Netflix, Bundy has once again ascended to the top of America’s cultural awareness. And while Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile doesn’t currently have a release date, Efron’s strong buzz can’t be denied.

As fun as it’s been to watch Troy succeed, though, there was something even better about watching Gabriella — if only for one night — shine even brighter. Vanessa Hudgens hasn’t had too many moments like she had on Sunday night. With the Rent Live production in many ways flagging around her, she shook the whole enterprise to life. It’s the kind of story that actually would have made a great High School Musical plot — complete with the leading man ankle injury.

So take that bow, High School Musical fans. Your years of service finally got rewarded this weekend. Unless you were a true Sharpay-and-Ryan stan. In which case … next year?