Speaker 1: And that's what you really missed with Jenna and Kevin
Speaker 1: an iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 2: Welcome to you, and that's what you really missed podcasts. Today,
Speaker 2: we've got another high school musical and the podcast friend
Speaker 2: bar Johnson's her coach Bolton, coach Bolton, the basketball dad
Speaker 2: of our generation.
Speaker 1: Yes, of course, the sweet parent. You know what we
Speaker 1: love in a musical is a great parent.
Speaker 2: That's right, that's right, you know.
Speaker 1: And he is sweet and great and also comes up.
Speaker 1: He's like, find out he's from Hollywood.
Speaker 2: Royalty, basically grew up on sets.
Speaker 1: Yes, and hearing him talk about high school musical is
Speaker 1: illuminating and it makes so much sense as to why
Speaker 1: it became the beast that it became.
Speaker 2: And he's got a new podcast, so let's get into it.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for like coming on here and
Speaker 1: doing this with us. Thanks for having me our podcast brother.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I like that. I like that.
Speaker 1: Now we're part of a family.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll see at the Christmas party.
Speaker 1: I guess that's right. Probably is there a Christmas party?
Speaker 2: We need to have one there there are some Kevin,
Speaker 2: we just really are bad at I'm really bad at
Speaker 2: attending things.
Speaker 3: How long have you guys been doing together.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, since before twenty.
Speaker 3: Years three years? Wow? Yeah, okay, no longer.
Speaker 1: You know when we started with Our Heart three years
Speaker 1: My Heart three years.
Speaker 2: Probably longer than that. I think twenty eighteen we started
Speaker 2: doing the other one. So yeah, yeah, okay, and he
Speaker 2: excused to hang out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, but you just started your podcast, right,
Speaker 1: just started.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I've just been a guest on so many and
Speaker 3: I was like, you know, I kind of like this stuff,
Speaker 3: like this is pretty fun, I want to do it.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So I'm glad it worked out. And it's like kind
Speaker 3: of perfect timing. You know, it's a twenty nniversary on
Speaker 3: on January, amazing, lots to talk about so things. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's been you know, it's like it's not like you
Speaker 3: do anything, you know, just cash those two dollars checks
Speaker 3: all day.
Speaker 1: Yes, How has it been so far? Have you enjoyed
Speaker 1: doing it?
Speaker 3: Oh? It's that great. Yeah, I'm a super I'm so
Speaker 3: brand new. I don't know yeah yet, but it's been great. Yeah,
Speaker 3: Like everybody's been awesome, and like it's providing opportunities to
Speaker 3: meet people like you guys, So it's uh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I like people likewise you're a.
Speaker 2: Very iconic Disney dad to us.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and.
Speaker 2: We just watched High School Musical and of course along
Speaker 2: you know, our Holy Journey. In every press event, media event,
Speaker 2: it's always you know, did do you feel like high
Speaker 2: School Musical paved the way for you? How are you
Speaker 2: different than high School Musical? Are you? Guys?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 2: It was just it was crazy to be compared so
Speaker 2: deeply to you guys, And it was such an honor
Speaker 2: because high school really did pave the way for Glee
Speaker 2: in a lot of ways, and so it was such
Speaker 2: a huge phenomenon. And I'm curious, like when you were
Speaker 2: in the trenches, we know that you guys, that was
Speaker 2: such a fast The first one was such a you know,
Speaker 2: fast filming and kind of like makes your head spin
Speaker 2: a little bit, like did you know or could you
Speaker 2: tell uh when you were filming this that this was
Speaker 2: going to be something so much bigger than it?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 3: Well it was. It's kind of interesting because I remember
Speaker 3: when Glee was being cast and it was already like
Speaker 3: so much buzz, Like everybody was like, there's a big show.
Speaker 3: There's going to be a big, important musical show. And
Speaker 3: it was of course, but yeah, this.
Speaker 1: Was we knew that.
Speaker 3: Did you not feel that we were?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: Really yeah really no?
Speaker 3: Well when did you guys know, like when.
Speaker 1: It aired in the pilot air But even after the
Speaker 1: pilot aired and it did really well, were like, well
Speaker 1: we'll see. Yeah, yeah, you know, things got canceled so
Speaker 1: quickly back then that you just never.
Speaker 3: Knewally, did you guys do a pilot and then wait
Speaker 3: for the pickup?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, gold.
Speaker 3: Yes man where they would go to upfronts and the whole.
Speaker 1: Thing here, Like it was pretty quick.
Speaker 2: I mean I think we got picked We finished filming
Speaker 2: in October thirty first, and we got picked up like
Speaker 2: mid December, so it was pretty quick. We didn't have
Speaker 2: to wait too long, which was nice. But we aired
Speaker 2: the pilot and we were supposed to be a mid
Speaker 2: season uh drop in, and they wanted to wait until
Speaker 2: the fall to launch us and do a proper launch,
Speaker 2: and so they aired the pilot and then it was
Speaker 2: months and months and months before we actually aired the whole.
Speaker 1: Yeah oh interesting, wow, But it was right after High
Speaker 1: School Musical, Like I think, you know, we filmed the
Speaker 1: pilot a year after Hih School Musical came out, and
Speaker 1: so first one after the first one, and like we
Speaker 1: all auditioned for I auditioned for a high school musical
Speaker 1: and we're watching it because it was like we all
Speaker 1: grew up doing you know, I did music and TV
Speaker 1: genit did musical theater, and it was like, there's not
Speaker 1: many opportunities to be able to join those things together.
Speaker 1: So high school musical was sort of it for like
Speaker 1: people in our age range. And I remember when that
Speaker 1: came out and it blew up. It was just sort
Speaker 1: of shocking. And I know when people ask us all
Speaker 1: the time, like, oh, do you know Glee was going
Speaker 1: to be successful? Like no, but we we enjoyed the experience.
Speaker 1: The experience to us was special.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And we talked to Lucas last week and he was,
Speaker 1: you know, he was saying, how you know, you guys
Speaker 1: they were rehearsing and you're shooting in Utah and you
Speaker 1: all became a family and you bonded and you had
Speaker 1: that special experience. But like then it's sort of you
Speaker 1: don't you don't know, you have no idea.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, no, that's I'm to answer your question. Like
Speaker 3: nobody knew. Everybody was just excited to have a job.
Speaker 3: I mean, it was a small budget, four week shoot.
Speaker 3: It was like a little to see movie. Now. I
Speaker 3: knew Kenny Ortega from a long time ago. I met
Speaker 3: him on the set of Newsies, which was a big
Speaker 3: Disney movie, one.
Speaker 2: Of the best, one of our favorites.
Speaker 3: Yeah. You of course, you guys would have really appreciate that.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, yes, yeah, I know.
Speaker 3: I was just get my It was funny because my
Speaker 3: mom was actually the hairstylist on Newsy's. So I was
Speaker 3: like hanging out. But then I got to be you know,
Speaker 3: got to know Christa Bale and Dave Moscow and Ellie
Speaker 3: Keats and like, the guys became my friends and they
Speaker 3: were my age. Was the whole reason. It is the
Speaker 3: reason I became an actor, because I was like, wait, well,
Speaker 3: you guys, you're it's amazing, Like you're doing this for
Speaker 3: a living, like I'm I'm dropping out of college. Which yeah,
Speaker 3: to my parents, you know, alright, he's.
Speaker 1: Done, all right, it's okay.
Speaker 3: It's take a long time before they thought it was okay.
Speaker 3: But yeah, but uh, so I knew Kenny had done
Speaker 3: something really amazing and uh and then he did, of
Speaker 3: course hocus Pocus after that, so I know, he's he's
Speaker 3: got this big, huge vision and he's choreographed Michael Jackson's
Speaker 3: Tourist for fourteen years, choreographed so many amazing dirty dancing
Speaker 3: and Xander due by all these big, amazing, iconic movies.
Speaker 3: So I knew it was like something really special. That's
Speaker 3: why when when he called me and said, Disney's casting
Speaker 3: this this uh this movie. It's a Disney Channel movie.
Speaker 3: But they're giving me my selects, Like here's the people
Speaker 3: that have worked in the Disney Channel world. We want
Speaker 3: you to pick from this group of people. Went through
Speaker 3: all of them, and he's like, this is not this
Speaker 3: is not my coach. Like, I got to find my coach.
Speaker 3: And so he called me and he said you were
Speaker 3: the coach. You're my coach. So I was like, okay,
Speaker 3: and he's.
Speaker 1: Like, look at the DEALA just calling you.
Speaker 3: I know it's amazing, but you know it was I
Speaker 3: had to go audition for the thing. And he said, uh,
Speaker 3: you know, it's a little movie. It's it's it's a
Speaker 3: Disney it's just a Disney Channel movie. Not a lot
Speaker 3: of people are going to see it. There's no money involved,
Speaker 3: there's no name. We're just calling it high school musical
Speaker 3: until we come up with a name, but we're going
Speaker 3: to go to you U Tom or have a blast,
Speaker 3: come be my coach. And I was like okay, So
Speaker 3: I went into audition for it. I didn't get it,
Speaker 3: and then like a few days later, he goes, well,
Speaker 3: happy you didn't get the part, and he's like, well,
Speaker 3: I don't know, I don't know, and he's like what
Speaker 3: did you wear? And I'm like it's like a T shirt.
Speaker 3: And I'd never played his dad before and played a coach,
Speaker 3: like I was always like.
Speaker 1: Playing for you, and when you auditioned for this.
Speaker 3: That's a good question, I bet I was like, uh,
Speaker 3: thirty thirty, early thirties. I was early thirty. So like, well,
Speaker 3: he goes, you can't go in like dressed, like you know,
Speaker 3: you got to Payn's dad, And I'm like, who's that Gfron?
Speaker 3: Like at that point, like nobody knew who the this
Speaker 3: soon to be superstar was. You know, you've done one
Speaker 3: little show before summer Land, a.
Speaker 1: Little Summerland I love, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah. But uh so he got me a screen
Speaker 3: test after that and he had me put Gray in
Speaker 3: like I don't really have great still and my fake
Speaker 3: heavens it's common. It's kind of I know, it's kind of.
Speaker 3: I think it's kin of. But you put me gray
Speaker 3: in my hair, like put on like a snow back
Speaker 3: and he goes go in there and actor age. I'm like, okay,
Speaker 3: but like I had to be like sixteen years old
Speaker 3: to have a son that age of the time. So
Speaker 3: it was like, you know, I tried so hard to
Speaker 3: get that move and then it got the part, and
Speaker 3: then I said, I'm not too young to play this role,
Speaker 3: you know. After Yeah, but I don't think there was
Speaker 3: any really any indication that it was going to be
Speaker 3: as big as it, Like, there no idea. There was
Speaker 3: this moment though, when we were shooting you know, the
Speaker 3: song stick to the Status quote was like in the
Speaker 3: cat it's so good. And I remember sitting there like
Speaker 3: watching that and I was sitting a video village and
Speaker 3: I was watching Kenny's monitors and I was like, this
Speaker 3: is this doesn't feel I mean, I'm still didn't think
Speaker 3: it was a big, big deal, but I was like,
Speaker 3: this doesn't feel small. Right. Y was pretty special and
Speaker 3: he had just uh, he just directed the opening closing
Speaker 3: ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. And like, you know that was.
Speaker 1: Like his vis world.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's like this big and he's like, I'm going
Speaker 3: to make it a little dizzy channel. But so, you know,
Speaker 3: I think that the success can be uh you know,
Speaker 3: sort of followed back right right to Kenny Otakea's door.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: But then but still then what was interesting about it is, uh,
Speaker 3: there was no special press. They didn't like promote it
Speaker 3: any different than any other shows. Really no indication. We
Speaker 3: had a little premiere on the you know, the little
Speaker 3: movie theater on the Disney lot. It's a tiny, little,
Speaker 3: yeah theater, little that was our premiere. I remember it
Speaker 3: was raining, like we're all clothes are wet, and you know,
Speaker 3: it's like, yeah, whatever, I drove by motorcycle of the
Speaker 3: raid excided. I don't know why, but uh, I think choices. Well,
Speaker 3: I'm like my shirts all wet in the premiere photos
Speaker 3: and it was like a big deal. And then out
Speaker 3: of nowhere, the movie premiered and the next day the
Speaker 3: reports came in. It was the most watched cable show
Speaker 3: ever of all time, eighteen million people. Just staggering numbers,
Speaker 3: crazy numbers. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Wow, we were both we were both one of those people. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, really, yeah, yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 3: It's amazing to me that it resonated so much just
Speaker 3: in the promo material that it would have such a
Speaker 3: not only did it have like the growth that it did,
Speaker 3: but what was it like while the movie is promoted
Speaker 3: that got you guys like, oh this is we're stoked
Speaker 3: to watch this? Like I don't, I don't still, you know.
Speaker 1: I think like the perfect combination of like the sort
Speaker 1: of cliche high school aesthetic of it all and then
Speaker 1: having a musical that that never happens like at that
Speaker 1: at that time, you know, like Chicago had come out
Speaker 1: several years before Mulan Rouge, like those things are in
Speaker 1: the zeitgeist, but there was that's for like older people, right,
Speaker 1: like there was nothing for teens, and like Disney Channel
Speaker 1: had a new movie every single month on Disney Channel,
Speaker 1: and it was they were always so different, but there
Speaker 1: was also a formula to it. And so I feel
Speaker 1: like they broke their formula a bit with it. And then,
Speaker 1: like you said, the Kenny Ortega of it all, where
Speaker 1: it feels and looks different when you have someone of
Speaker 1: that expertise level, yeah doing it and somehow it's like
Speaker 1: one of those magical things where like you can't ever
Speaker 1: plan for a hit, but everything aligned, like that's what
Speaker 1: the people wanted, and you had the right people in it.
Speaker 1: You had the right people doing it behind the scenes, right,
Speaker 1: And I mean it struck a chord clearly, not just
Speaker 1: with us, but millions and millions of people. And you know,
Speaker 1: we were talking about when we were doing a TV
Speaker 1: show and you're locked away on the stages and you're
Speaker 1: able to film it and if it's like you know,
Speaker 1: we were food film an episode and it'd be on
Speaker 1: air in three weeks, but you were never in public.
Speaker 1: When you do a movie, it's a very different experience.
Speaker 1: And so and I imagine for you, like with our show,
Speaker 1: where there were like quote unquote the adults and then us,
Speaker 1: even though sometimes we were only a few years apart,
Speaker 1: those are different experiences within the show. And so I'm
Speaker 1: wondering how for you, like when that show, when that
Speaker 1: movie came out and blew up, all of you became
Speaker 1: immediately recognizable to everyone, because it's like, if you're famous
Speaker 1: with kids, you're then famous with the parents, you're famous
Speaker 1: with an entire household. And so what did that feel like?
Speaker 1: Because like you shot this thing. You don't hear anything
Speaker 1: for months, it's not out comes out and literally for you,
Speaker 1: overnight it became this gigantic wild thing. Yeah, what was
Speaker 1: that like you going in public after that?
Speaker 3: Well, it was actually for me. I think my experience
Speaker 3: is probably totally different than everyone else because when that shoot,
Speaker 3: when that show blew up, everybody was after Zach, Vanessa
Speaker 3: and Ashley Corp Like they're all like the you know,
Speaker 3: they were hunting them down, like this is the new crop.
Speaker 3: Like these guys resonate, they're the superstars. We want them
Speaker 3: like old guys stepped to the back. And the whole
Speaker 3: time it was a little bit of like there's a little
Speaker 3: uh dose of humility there the whole time. You know,
Speaker 3: at that point in my career, I'd done you know,
Speaker 3: I don't know, fifty movies or something like that before
Speaker 3: I did this one. And this is the first one
Speaker 3: where it's like, Okay, now everybody's gonna play basketball. You
Speaker 3: go stand over there, and I was like, what, like, yeah,
Speaker 3: I used to play basketball in the movies that I
Speaker 3: the stand of the side, So that was a little different.
Speaker 3: And I think when like when the movie blew up,
Speaker 3: like nobody really cared about me, Like, like I think,
Speaker 3: to be honest, I think it like kind of hurt
Speaker 3: my career a little bit for like ten years because
Speaker 3: it's like you're not going to go get on like
Speaker 3: a cool HBO show, like you guys know how it is, Like,
Speaker 3: especially back then, it's like that's not the guy they're
Speaker 3: looking for, or who played the dad in the Disney Channel.
Speaker 3: It was like this, that's not that's not cool. There's
Speaker 3: nothing cool about that. So uh, just the success that
Speaker 3: a Disney channel is different than when it becomes like
Speaker 3: an iconic global phenomenon that that becomes a little different.
Speaker 3: So for me from my experience, like the first I
Speaker 3: don't know, several years, I couldn't go to like an
Speaker 3: elementary school. The parents didn't know who I was, Like
Speaker 3: no one had a clue, Like nobody could hire me
Speaker 3: knew who I was. But like I got a video
Speaker 3: of being like sworn by like hundreds of kids in
Speaker 3: elementary school. I did take my kids elementary. It was crazy.
Speaker 3: But then I go to junior high. Nobody knew who
Speaker 3: I was. And then a couple of years later my
Speaker 3: kids are all like in this eight like the same
Speaker 3: age of like the target demographic. So you're high, and
Speaker 3: then it's like this is crazy to your high and
Speaker 3: then a few years later, now it's crazy in high school.
Speaker 3: And now it's like now it's like for some reason,
Speaker 3: it's almost like elementary school, junior high, heavy in college
Speaker 3: and in high school. So it's like the demographics got older,
Speaker 3: and then I get now I've got I got a
Speaker 3: couple of jobs, like on TV, Like I did a
Speaker 3: show I did All American and the showrunner I was
Speaker 3: working on show as a guest. I was cool, it
Speaker 3: was great, great job. And then the show when I
Speaker 3: came from Wondering, it's like I'm a big wildcat. I
Speaker 3: was like, oh, let's go have jobs. I love it,
Speaker 3: and she was students could be. But yeah, that war
Speaker 3: is pretty nice. So now now that it's like global,
Speaker 3: it's different and like I feel like I get recognized
Speaker 3: more now, Like just the last month, I mean I
Speaker 3: was stopped in the airport maybe twenty five times for photos. Wow,
Speaker 3: more way more now than it was twenty years ago. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Right, set streaming and it's like new crop of kids,
Speaker 2: like we have kids who are too young to watch
Speaker 2: Glee when it was on, but now are those teenagers
Speaker 2: now that are re you know, they're rediscovering this new show.
Speaker 2: And you went and did High School Musical the TV
Speaker 2: show in the last season, right, yeah, yeah wow for.
Speaker 3: The final season. Yeah that was fun.
Speaker 2: Wild? Is that to like come back and it still
Speaker 2: lives on like that?
Speaker 3: That was wild? That was wild. I mean it's been
Speaker 3: so funs but it's like the greatest gift ever. You know,
Speaker 3: I've done I've been working for like like three decades
Speaker 3: now in Hollywood, and it's like I've done one movie
Speaker 3: that has like touches people's souls where they come up
Speaker 3: to you and they say things like and you guys
Speaker 3: probably get this too, because like I don't know something
Speaker 3: from musicals they like they yes, they go deep with people.
Speaker 3: And then you, guys, you had a pretty young audience too, right,
Speaker 3: like a lot of people. So then they come up
Speaker 3: to you and say things like you don't understand, like
Speaker 3: how many people like the sentence starts like that, right,
Speaker 3: you don't understand. I needed this, Like this helped me.
Speaker 3: This is they all got a story and it's like
Speaker 3: this is the greatest gift ever. I love it. I
Speaker 3: love it best.
Speaker 1: So happy you feel that way because you're you keep
Speaker 1: saying you're like, you know, I've done a bunch of movies.
Speaker 1: I've been doing this for three decades. But it's like,
Speaker 1: how lucky are we to be in something just like
Speaker 1: one thing that affects people like that. It's such a
Speaker 1: tough no.
Speaker 3: I totally like a lot of people, like, I mean,
Speaker 3: sure you guys interview people are like they don't want
Speaker 3: to talk about that thing. They've moved on. I want
Speaker 3: to focus on, you know, like I'm doing something. You know,
Speaker 3: I've been. I'm on Landman, I'm recurrent on Landman right now,
Speaker 3: I'm not. But you know, like it's not special like
Speaker 3: this one, you know, and people tell me like I
Speaker 3: do tiktoks and throwbacks and the comments are always so
Speaker 3: nice on social media. I swear I've got the nicest followers,
Speaker 3: the nicest comments, and then every once a while someone
Speaker 3: will be nasty and they're like, move on, bro, come on, dude,
Speaker 3: move on. Why why it makes people happy? I love it,
Speaker 3: like I think it so I fully embrace it and
Speaker 3: I'm not I'm not trying to shy away from it. Ever. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's a gift. I think it's such a gift to
Speaker 3: be a part of something like that.
Speaker 2: So I heard that on your podcast. You said there
Speaker 2: was supposed to be a musical number Coach Balton and
Speaker 2: Missus Darvis. What happened?
Speaker 3: Oh, I'm so mad about you just gets so upset
Speaker 3: about this. I like, I think about just dreaming about
Speaker 3: like going to battle with miss Darvus and Kenny Ortega's
Speaker 3: directing like this amazing, funny, comical relief number of anything
Speaker 3: you could do, I could do better, you know any
Speaker 3: get your gun type of song. And it was so
Speaker 3: bummed he did that, and and Disney just said, you know,
Speaker 3: you know how they do. It's always like, oh, let's
Speaker 3: cut the script down, let's get it down, get the
Speaker 3: minutes down. What's the first thing to go the old people,
Speaker 3: get rid of the old door. What's the old people dancing?
Speaker 3: I'm like, yeah, they do, Yes, they do. Look at
Speaker 3: my TikTok. They like to see they like to see
Speaker 3: old people dance.
Speaker 2: So it was it was just.
Speaker 1: A little I love about like thirty years old, you're
Speaker 1: the old people.
Speaker 3: Right right? That is exactly. It's just mean. It's a
Speaker 3: mean and cruel Did.
Speaker 1: You grow up do?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 1: Are you musical? Did you grow up doing I did.
Speaker 3: I did. Uh. I did musical theater growing up. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I started at this. Uh well, I did all the
Speaker 3: shows in high school, Like I did all the shows
Speaker 3: here and and in high school I did I played
Speaker 3: action Who got the Officer krup Key song in West
Speaker 3: Side Story? And that was like and I wasn't like
Speaker 3: I really wasn't pursuing it all. I just liked it. It
Speaker 3: was fun. I was in choir and I was, you know,
Speaker 3: doing the shows and just I was in a school
Speaker 3: where you kind of do every You can do the
Speaker 3: sports and you could do the like I was a
Speaker 3: semi professional skier at the mobile skier at the time.
Speaker 3: Like I was trying to like do to play soccer.
Speaker 1: And you went a real Troy Bolton kind of.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I was kind of where it was like really
Speaker 3: easy to do everything like just which is kind of
Speaker 3: a bumber because like you can't really do that now.
Speaker 3: You gotta like pick your lane, you know, stick there
Speaker 3: and just like obsessed with as one. But like back
Speaker 3: then you could do it all. So I did West
Speaker 3: Side Story and uh and there's this guy, Alan Bluth,
Speaker 3: he was the local physical therapist, and he said he
Speaker 3: took me backstage. She said, hey, man, you could do this,
Speaker 3: You could do this for a living. And I was like, Okay, whatever, fuddy.
Speaker 3: Even though I grew up with it, like I grew
Speaker 3: up on the set like my mom did hair for
Speaker 3: Mork and Mini and Brady Bunch, Charlie's Angels like all this. Yeah,
Speaker 3: she's done like hair forever and all. So I was
Speaker 3: always there and saw it, but I didn't really see
Speaker 3: a lot of people in my age until Newsy's, and
Speaker 3: I didn't really see it seemed too even though I
Speaker 3: was present. I was like, you know, I was in
Speaker 3: the hair makeup trailer. I was a kid in the
Speaker 3: corner where right, And now it's like, uh, I do
Speaker 3: Newsies And it's like, oh, it's a little bit more.
Speaker 2: You know, you're laying I'm like those are those guys are? Yeah?
Speaker 3: Yeah, a cool house of the Hollywood Hills and like
Speaker 3: you don't live with your parents, like this is pretty.
Speaker 1: You're like maybe that's amazing.
Speaker 3: And then and then I went back to After Newsies,
Speaker 3: I went back to college and I was doing show
Speaker 3: after ship. I just kind of got the bug. That's
Speaker 3: where I really got the bug, and I was trying
Speaker 3: to do school and I was trying to do theater
Speaker 3: all the same time. Well I was. I was going
Speaker 3: show to show show, so as soon as one was clothes,
Speaker 3: I was rehearsals or another. So and I loved it
Speaker 3: so much fun. And then one night I rolled my
Speaker 3: car because I wasn't getting any sleep, and I was like,
Speaker 3: that's my little reminder of this little scar right there.
Speaker 3: O can you see it? Catch my little looks for
Speaker 3: a small camera when it looks small small in real life.
Speaker 3: Lets be honest, but that's a little that's my little
Speaker 3: reminder of like, you know, like you gotta pick. Sometimes
Speaker 3: you gotta pick, and you gotta sleep. I fell asleep
Speaker 3: hold my car, my brother's Straco, sorry Adam, And uh yeah,
Speaker 3: it was as a bummer, and I was at that
Speaker 3: point I was like I better pick one. And then
Speaker 3: I just did it. I just happened to get somebody
Speaker 3: asked me to get an agent, and and I did
Speaker 3: a little guest spot on a show called Crossroads. I
Speaker 3: still didn't like, I didn't want to be an like
Speaker 3: I wasn't pursuing it being an actor. Like it was
Speaker 3: like I just got having to get this audition.
Speaker 1: It just happened to be really good at it.
Speaker 3: I don't know. I don't think so. Actually I don't
Speaker 3: belink it was all that good. Like I felt like
Speaker 3: I was an acting class for like the next ten years,
Speaker 3: trying to like become a decent actor. But I got
Speaker 3: I don't know, I fit the costume or something. I
Speaker 3: don't know what it was, but I got the part.
Speaker 3: And then and then anyway, it's like I got sucked in.
Speaker 1: See all it takes one car role and then.
Speaker 3: Sometimes you see a little little gentler wake up call, and.
Speaker 1: Then luckily for us, you you know, ended up being
Speaker 1: like I feel like those roles where you play like
Speaker 1: this dad that everybody loves right, where like you're sort
Speaker 1: of like the aspirational dad, where like if people come
Speaker 1: up to you, like me seeing you, I automatically have
Speaker 1: all this like goodwill towards you, because like your presence
Speaker 1: on screen and in those movies is always just like
Speaker 1: so warm. You're like, oh, I wish my parent was
Speaker 1: this accepting sort of thing. And I feel like that's
Speaker 1: also such a gift to be able to, like, you know,
Speaker 1: play a role that is liked and valued by so
Speaker 1: many people like that, and a you know, and a
Speaker 1: cast of like all these young people who all of
Speaker 1: a sudden were like Oliver tabloids and things like that,
Speaker 1: Like you get to be the steady force behind all
Speaker 1: of it.
Speaker 3: No, seriously, like that's one of the best compliments you
Speaker 3: could you could possibly give me. You know, usually in
Speaker 3: these movies you either play like the hard nose coach
Speaker 3: or the loving support of dad or you know, usually
Speaker 3: not both. So that's like, that's like by far my
Speaker 3: favorite part of like the acting side of this is
Speaker 3: first of all all my scenes or was Zach. Zach
Speaker 3: was like took the job very serious, and he always
Speaker 3: wanted to do something really meaningful with those scenes. You know,
Speaker 3: he didn't phone anything in. He's like he really wanted
Speaker 3: to do great work here. He's always had like aspirations
Speaker 3: of being a really great actor, and he took his
Speaker 3: series and so did Kenny. So I got to like,
Speaker 3: you know, kind of walk that line between like being
Speaker 3: the coach is like listen, son, you got it, you know,
Speaker 3: get your love at home. But it's like, you know,
Speaker 3: I am the home too, So yeah, you know, so
Speaker 3: I tried to like have humanity with every kind of
Speaker 3: you know scene I approached with him.
Speaker 2: And it's like, no, it showed you guys, definitely it was.
Speaker 2: It was dynamic, and it's like, yes, it's Disney, of course,
Speaker 2: but like everybody we were talking about the movie after
Speaker 2: we watched it, and so everybody is so committed. And
Speaker 2: I don't know if that was Kenny being like, let's
Speaker 2: just like dig in or you know, just these actors
Speaker 2: and all of you guys just being like, we're just
Speaker 2: going to do it, But there was something in the
Speaker 2: water that was like, you guys just bought in so
Speaker 2: deeply that there was no other option but for the
Speaker 2: audience to buy in as well.
Speaker 3: You know. Yeah, yeah, I think it all started with
Speaker 3: Kenny for sure, Like he he was like this, you know,
Speaker 3: he was so big, it's done so many great things,
Speaker 3: but he took I mean, this was just as serious
Speaker 3: as he took. It felt like to me as he
Speaker 3: was on New Seas, which was you know, I don't
Speaker 3: know what was one hundred million dollars big Disney music,
Speaker 3: Like that's a lot of money back then. That's like
Speaker 3: a yeah, a huge movie. But he kind of approached
Speaker 3: it the same way, like there's no off switch on there.
Speaker 3: We go to sushi at night and he's like, Okay,
Speaker 3: listen on this scene. Hear think about this dialogue? What
Speaker 3: do you think about this? You know, he's just bump bump,
Speaker 3: just always. He rewrote the music, he wrote the lyrics,
Speaker 3: the dialogue. Like he was so invested always, and you
Speaker 3: feel extensive and on set it's like, we're we're gonna
Speaker 3: make something amazing here. So I think it's a yeah,
Speaker 3: he was the captain of the ship man. He really
Speaker 3: is responsible for all that.
Speaker 1: I feel like that sort of answers you know, the
Speaker 1: thing we were talking about when we first started talking about,
Speaker 1: what was that thing that made it just work? You know?
Speaker 1: It was a Disney Channel movie that they advertised the
Speaker 1: same as everybody else. And I think maybe it is
Speaker 1: having someone like Kenny at the helm who is that
Speaker 1: invested of every facet of it, especially when you don't
Speaker 1: have the budget right where like he can sort of
Speaker 1: fill in all those blanks because he has the experience
Speaker 1: of working on the bigger budget things. And I think
Speaker 1: that also makes sense as to why your scenes with
Speaker 1: Zach and all of you in that movie it felt
Speaker 1: it did feel different as someone who grew up watching
Speaker 1: you know, the movie of the month on Disney Channels.
Speaker 1: Something about that movie inherently did feel different and elevated
Speaker 1: and really good way when you had all those levels,
Speaker 1: you had like the crazy campness of a musical and
Speaker 1: of theater kids in high school who can be a
Speaker 1: little unbearable, no offense, Jenna, and then then to have
Speaker 1: like the really moving scenes between you guys and everybody
Speaker 1: taking it really seriously. That's so that is like I
Speaker 1: feel like when people get hired for like something that
Speaker 1: might be a Disney Channel movie, it'd be easy to
Speaker 1: sort of like roll your eyes at it maybe or
Speaker 1: be like, Okay, well, this isn't going to be my
Speaker 1: career defining thing that I hope to get when I
Speaker 1: moved to La to do this sort of thing, right,
Speaker 1: But when you have someone like Kenny who is a
Speaker 1: really serious filmmaker, and all of you who take it
Speaker 1: really seriously, it's just yeah, that comes across in every
Speaker 1: single scene.
Speaker 2: Definitely. Let's talk about your podcast for a second. So
Speaker 2: you said you're really enjoying doing it. What is the
Speaker 2: hope of this podcast for you to have hopes and
Speaker 2: dreams for your podcast?
Speaker 3: Well, yes, I really have been I don't know, spoiled rotten,
Speaker 3: with the fans over the last twenty years, and I've
Speaker 3: been thinking for the last year, what can I do,
Speaker 3: What can I do to celebrate and say thank you?
Speaker 3: Like just what's a big thank you to the fans?
Speaker 3: What can I do for them? And I've got a
Speaker 3: couple of things cooking. They're kind of still like a
Speaker 3: little secrets coming out, but I want to do some
Speaker 3: really fun things to celebrate with them. And I thought,
Speaker 3: man if I could, I know, everybody's been interviewed to death,
Speaker 3: but you know, not by me, not by a guy
Speaker 3: that was there. So like since I was like the
Speaker 3: adult on the set, like I could go and I
Speaker 3: know really special things about all of them that people
Speaker 3: don't really know, you know, like miss Darbus was in
Speaker 3: Cabaret on Broadway with Kenny, Like people don't realize she's
Speaker 3: not you know, she's not Darbus. She's like a big
Speaker 3: Broadway start. Like there's really super interesting things about these
Speaker 3: people I want to talk about and say, you know,
Speaker 3: they were great in high school musical because they were
Speaker 3: already great and they like what was so good to
Speaker 3: you know, to the to the film. So yeah, that's
Speaker 3: kind of I mean, really that's only my only goal
Speaker 3: is like just to entertain everybody and say thank you
Speaker 3: and give back. And if there's any way I can
Speaker 3: do it, I'm in. I'm in. If this podcast could
Speaker 3: do it, then it's awesome. So I don't almost, you know,
Speaker 3: we'll see. As long as it's great a lot of the
Speaker 3: wildcats are out there and they want it, then then
Speaker 3: I'll yeah, dish it up.
Speaker 1: No, I think I think you're going to achieve that more.
Speaker 1: I think that was our intention with you know exactly
Speaker 1: our podcast, and it's really been me yeah, and it's
Speaker 1: been like so the best part has been interviewing the
Speaker 1: people that we know so well and worked with for
Speaker 1: so long.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there is that that lack of barrier that is
Speaker 1: so great that you can't talk about things that you
Speaker 1: won't get anywhere else, and it is like such a
Speaker 1: joy and a gift. And I'm so excited for you
Speaker 1: to be able to like do that for all of
Speaker 1: us who can listen to it and hear those conversations,
Speaker 1: because I think they'll be really meaningful, not just for us,
Speaker 1: but like for you and whoever you know you end
Speaker 1: up having on the show.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's awesome. That's so cool. Yeah, we are.
Speaker 3: We are kindred spirits. We are lucky, the lucky few.
Speaker 3: You know, I talked to uh sometimes talking to film people.
Speaker 3: I'm sure you guys have too, have plenty of you know,
Speaker 3: it's like our whole careers. You go to a TV
Speaker 3: show or a movie and it's like it's kind of
Speaker 3: all the same. Like you show up whatever the scene is,
Speaker 3: you're shooting the master. Then you go into your you know,
Speaker 3: your coverage, your singles or whatever, then your inserts and okay,
Speaker 3: we got now we move on. Okay, next master covered singles,
Speaker 3: move on. And then it's like then you do a musical,
Speaker 3: and it's like you do this this Okay, everybody stop,
Speaker 3: it's the musical number time, and you just like I
Speaker 3: get my bag of popcorn out, and I'm like, oh heck, yeah.
Speaker 1: Man, enjoy the show exactly.
Speaker 3: I love the b I love that. It's like it's
Speaker 3: so unique and so interesting that way. I guess maybe
Speaker 3: equivalent to like, you know, like working on a Tom
Speaker 3: Cruise movie where you're like shooting the seezes and then
Speaker 3: it's like huge production to watch the show the big stunts.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think that's probably that's probably a good comparison.
Speaker 1: You know, we're all basically Tom Cruise, We're basically Tom.
Speaker 3: We're living. Yeah, did you guys have that kind of
Speaker 3: experience where it's like you're just kind of shoot your
Speaker 3: you know, you're shooting shoes, shoot and then it's like, oh,
Speaker 3: it's musical time. It's like a musical number, and like,
Speaker 3: did you take a day to shoot a music? Like? Guse,
Speaker 3: how many day I'm just gonna say, you don't have
Speaker 3: because how many days it is production for you guys?
Speaker 2: Ten? We never made it, so it was supposed to
Speaker 2: be eight.
Speaker 1: It was scheduled for eight, but it was never eight.
Speaker 3: Okay, I say ten tens a lot, that's a that's
Speaker 3: a good budget. But eight days and then you got
Speaker 3: musical numbers.
Speaker 2: My gosh, eight hours. I think eight hours for a
Speaker 2: musical number.
Speaker 1: But well, you just described Also, I think resonates because
Speaker 1: like the quote unquote adults on our show or like
Speaker 1: the crew members, that's how they would talk about the
Speaker 1: musical numbers. You know, you have like your scenes, like oh,
Speaker 1: they're going to do a musical number. For us, it
Speaker 1: ended up being the same thing as doing dialogue scenes
Speaker 1: because we shot them pretty methodically where we had our
Speaker 1: master the wide and then we would move in, you know,
Speaker 1: and then end up on steady cam and close ups,
Speaker 1: just how you would normally do a scene. So for
Speaker 1: us it wasn't necessarily that, but I think for the
Speaker 1: other people on the show it was. It was exactly
Speaker 1: what you described.
Speaker 3: I got a question for you, guys. So obviously you
Speaker 3: work really hard on your musical numbers, right like days
Speaker 3: before whatever you get the music you learn that, you
Speaker 3: guys are on a schedule. But so you're learning it
Speaker 3: obviously before the day you shoot and you get it
Speaker 3: down and you lock it in. So wait, a minute's on.
Speaker 1: The day on the day, yeah.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, I can't imagine.
Speaker 2: Wow, hours hours before yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh mystume on the stage learning.
Speaker 3: Okay, So so when you when you did you guys
Speaker 3: always have a rap party at the end of your season, like.
Speaker 2: A proper rap party sometimes.
Speaker 3: Okay, these questions are really not going in the direction
Speaker 3: I lot of.
Speaker 2: Knock your questions.
Speaker 3: No, I love it, I love it. But during the
Speaker 3: rap party, did you guys out did they ever put
Speaker 3: the songs on and you recreated the dances? Never? No, interesting? Interesting? Never?
Speaker 2: No, we were so music out at that point, like
Speaker 2: our guys are the grind Yoh no, truly. Our crew
Speaker 2: like the next day would be singing the song that
Speaker 2: we shot the day before, and it wasn't like, oh
Speaker 2: like our crew is amazing and they're so wonderful and
Speaker 2: happy and really like uplifted us. But the day after
Speaker 2: they'd be singing this song and you'd see like the
Speaker 2: frustration on their face that they couldn't get it out
Speaker 2: of their head. We're like just so deep in it
Speaker 2: that you're like, I cannot stop hearing this song in
Speaker 2: my head. No please.
Speaker 1: I mean I think we were doing We're averaging like
Speaker 1: a little over one hundred songs per season, so we
Speaker 1: were a little my g.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah yeah.
Speaker 1: By the rap party, were like, let's have a silent party.
Speaker 3: Oh well okay, I'm let me tell you a story
Speaker 3: that you maybe a little jealous of because just being
Speaker 3: musical theater people that you are. So we had like
Speaker 3: we'd have a few weeks of rehearsal before we shot
Speaker 3: the movie, and during those weeks, well, first of you
Speaker 3: your music, like long before we started rehearsals, So you
Speaker 3: get the music, you record the music or the temp
Speaker 3: tracks or whatever. You know what it is, and so
Speaker 3: you learn the songs. You learn, then you come to rehearsal,
Speaker 3: you learn the dance. Everybody's together like a group, like
Speaker 3: a fun group, going, oh, we're going to summer camp.
Speaker 3: We're going to you know, out of the state, and
Speaker 3: we're gonna go stay in this hotel. We're gonna learn
Speaker 3: this song. We're workally hard and we're with Kenny Is
Speaker 3: doing his magic. You do all that, and then you
Speaker 3: get on the on the day you shoot that song.
Speaker 3: You know, like I'm just thinking of some of the
Speaker 3: stuff from high school music one. Like you learn that song,
Speaker 3: you shoot it, you shoot all day, like a whole
Speaker 3: day blocked out of just magical dance number. And then
Speaker 3: like the last shot of the day, the last time
Speaker 3: they play that playback, it's almost like everybody's like emotional,
Speaker 3: like you're crying, like this, we're never gonna do this
Speaker 3: song again. We're never And I understand that's a different
Speaker 3: dynamic for you guys with so many with such a workload,
Speaker 3: but on set, like everybody is like near tears when
Speaker 3: that song was over because you've been with it for
Speaker 3: a couple of months now, like ah, and then at
Speaker 3: the end of the day, it's like emotional and everybody's
Speaker 3: you know, hugget it out.
Speaker 1: So that makes sense.
Speaker 3: Then you walk away and you're like that moment, like
Speaker 3: that is on forever. That's like it's so sad. And
Speaker 3: then you go to the rap party and then someone
Speaker 3: has the idea of like out of the blue, they
Speaker 3: put the song on, like the DJ puts a song on.
Speaker 3: Everybody's let's go, let's go. Go, All right, let's go,
Speaker 3: and they start doing the day and then everybody comes out.
Speaker 3: They do the dance and you're standing in the circle
Speaker 3: like with the cast and like recreating that song like
Speaker 3: one last time, and now you know for sure this
Speaker 3: is really the last time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. That's beautiful.
Speaker 2: You loved it so much that to want to create
Speaker 2: it again. That's a beautiful thing, right, Like I get
Speaker 2: that towards that, you know, series finale. For us, it's
Speaker 2: it's different when you're on TV show and you know
Speaker 2: there's another season coming, another episode coming, or working out
Speaker 2: have that right, versus a movie that's so compact in time.
Speaker 2: We ask everybody on the podcast when we were doing
Speaker 2: Glee Recap, what is the feeling that Lee leaves you with.
Speaker 2: But we want to turn that on its head a
Speaker 2: little bit and ask you what is the feeling that
Speaker 2: high school musical leaves you with?
Speaker 3: Oh? Like now, like like what does it feel like? Now?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean anything and just the experience for you?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was uh man, I was. I felt that
Speaker 3: all the way through because you know, when you know,
Speaker 3: you guys had this big, long workload, but ours was
Speaker 3: like you have a month, like you have one one
Speaker 3: month and you're of work, of shooting or or the
Speaker 3: last one was six weeks. You know, like six weeks
Speaker 3: and you're going home and it just feels like so
Speaker 3: nostalgic and you know, like, well you do. It was
Speaker 3: only supposed to be one movie. It was never supposed
Speaker 3: to be two or three. So we thought the first
Speaker 3: one was like, oh this is really special. Oh well yeah,
Speaker 3: oh this is so cool. Would be friends forever, and
Speaker 3: then to be able to do it a second one
Speaker 3: was like this is amazing. But when we did segment,
Speaker 3: they're alread talking about number three, so it's like it
Speaker 3: became like this, like oh, this is so fun. It's
Speaker 3: like it's more like doing a series in the sense
Speaker 3: we get to see each other again and continue these
Speaker 3: storylines in not just a one off like a movie.
Speaker 3: So but boy, since then, I just feel I still
Speaker 3: feel a sense of like nossalgy. I feel blessed, I
Speaker 3: feel like so lucky, just a sense of gratitude of
Speaker 3: like I got to be a part of something that
Speaker 3: means so much to people and now I have a gift.
Speaker 3: I've been given this gift where I can make a
Speaker 3: video for someone that takes me a minute. You know,
Speaker 3: it's like someone going through a hard time or something.
Speaker 3: And the response I get is ridiculous. Oh my guys,
Speaker 3: that's guy. I get we all coach. I was like,
Speaker 3: it was took no effort, Like, it's just it's it's
Speaker 3: pretty amazing to be I mean, all of us have
Speaker 3: been a part of something that means a lot to people,
Speaker 3: and it's it's really gives me a lot of a
Speaker 3: lot of gratitude.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's beautiful. You sum that up. I think you
Speaker 1: speak for so many of us who have been in
Speaker 1: similar experiences, like amount of like joy that radiates through
Speaker 1: you and you're talking about this is how we feel.
Speaker 1: It's we feel it from you. It's so nice to
Speaker 1: be able to talk to you about all of this.
Speaker 3: That's cool man. Yeah, we're all kindred spirits.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, thank you so much for taking the time
Speaker 2: to come on the podcast, and we hope that everybody
Speaker 2: goes and listens to your podcast.
Speaker 1: Tell everyone where to find it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, uh, it's it magical, rewind iHeart radio. Wherever you
Speaker 3: get your podcast? I think it's on everything, right, am
Speaker 3: I saying it? Right? You guys?
Speaker 2: Okay, you did, you did it right?
Speaker 3: And then follow my social media's Bart Underscore Johnson and
Speaker 3: I promote the heck out of it everywhere there so
Speaker 3: they'll be all the links and stuff.
Speaker 2: Well, I hope you have such a good time with
Speaker 2: the podcast and enjoy it as much as we've enjoyed
Speaker 2: doing ours as well, and doing it for your fans.
Speaker 1: We're gonna have to like check back in in a
Speaker 1: year and how you're doing, and.
Speaker 3: We'll talk at the Christmas party. I hope in five
Speaker 3: years like at your your level here, guys.
Speaker 1: Oh please, you're already better than us. Nice to meet
Speaker 1: you and thanks for having me.
Speaker 3: Guys are awesome and I literally can't wait to us
Speaker 3: see you a person.
Speaker 1: Yes, likewise, Christmas part of it.
Speaker 2: Okay, bye, well, Bart, We thanks so much for joining
Speaker 2: us and taking the time to chat with us. And
Speaker 2: I hope that he has like such a wonderful experience
Speaker 2: connecting with the fans like we've had obviously on our podcast,
Speaker 2: because it sounds like, you know, it's some such a
Speaker 2: similar experience. Having the ability to now connect in this
Speaker 2: way has been like it's just it's really different and
Speaker 2: amazing and exciting.
Speaker 1: So and I think it's naturally really good at this
Speaker 1: and like curious and is going to give great interviews.
Speaker 1: So I'm excited for him. I'm excited for us to
Speaker 1: get to listen to it. Thank you Bart so much
Speaker 1: for coming on and talking about these high school musical
Speaker 1: crew people are.
Speaker 2: The great the greatest. His podcast is called get your
Speaker 2: Head in the Game, and it's within the magical rewind feed,
Speaker 2: so you can search either one, I'm sure, and you
Speaker 2: can find him and find the podcast. And that's what
Speaker 2: you're really missed.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and follow us on Instagram at and
Speaker 1: that's what you really miss pod. Make sure to write
Speaker 1: us a review and leave us five stars. See you
Speaker 1: next time.