High School Musical: The Musical: The Series season 2 premiered on Disney+ in May 2021. This season, the drama club students at East High performed Beauty and the Beast for their school musical.
YEM had the opportunity to sit down with various cast members to talk about what to expect from season 2. You can watch the full interviews here.
Two of the castmates interviewed included stars Dara Reneé who plays Kourtney and Frankie A. Rodriguez who plays Carlos. In the Beauty and the Beast musical, Kourtney landed the role of caring and motherly Mrs. Potts while Carlos got the part of smooth-talking candelabra Lumiere. Along with being the choreographer for the East High drama club as well an amazing singer, Carlos is also one of Disney’s first openly gay characters.
“Everyone has been so excited and supportive,” Frankie said in an interview with YEM. “I hope they [fans] see Carlos living his life in the most honest way possible and that it inspires them to do the same. It makes me so happy to be continuing this story.”
You can read the rest of the interview with Frankie here.
In season 2, Dara wowed both her castmates and fans with her confidence onstage and powerful voice. Dara said that season 2 also brought on the feeling of anticipation and actually being a drama student getting cast in a school musical.
“It was like we were in high school waiting for the cast list to be posted,” Dara said in an interview with YEM.
Besides her role as Kourtney, Dara is a co-host of the show Disney’s Magic Bake-Off, which is the first ever baking show to be featured on the Disney Channel. In an interview with YEM, Dara talked about how her role in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series helped her find her voice as a co-host in Disney’s Magic Bake-Off.
“Mrs. Potts was a huge inspiration and Kourtney working at the pizza shop was a huge inspiration, so I was glad I knew a little bit of what I was talking about,” Dara said.
You can watch the full interview here.
Dara Reneé and Frankie Rodriguez have teamed up to perform “Into the Unknown”. They are performing this song for “Disney Princess Remixed – An Ultimate Princess Celebration”. This is a new take on classic Disney princess songs in honor of World Princess Week. It is streaming on Disney+ and is airing on the Disney Channel. The special started airing on the Disney Channel on Friday, Aug. 27. Check out their remix of the Frozen song here.
