This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Kate Reinders: I'm Kate Reinders.

[0:01] Kate Reinders: And this is The Fabulous Invalid.

[0:16] Jamie DuMont: Welcome to the Fabulous Invalid, a Broadway centric podcast where we take an in-depth look at the theater through interviews with actors, writers, directors, designers, and everyone in between.

[0:25] Jamie DuMont: I'm Jamie DuMont, recovering Broadway marketer, personal chef, and event planner.

[0:30] Rob Russo: I'm Rob Russo, writer and theater critic with Stage Left at NYC.

[0:33] Jennifer Simard: And I'm Jennifer Simard, currently appearing on Broadway in Mean Girls.

[0:37] Jamie DuMont: Yay.

[0:38] Rob Russo: Hi.

[0:38] Jennifer Simard: Hello.

[0:39] Jamie DuMont: Another day, another dollar.

[0:41] Rob Russo: Yeah.

[0:42] Jennifer Simard: One dollar.

[0:44] Jamie DuMont: That's all.

[0:44] Rob Russo: That's one.

[0:46] Jamie DuMont: A single dollar.

[0:47] Rob Russo: A dollar.

[0:48] Jamie DuMont: Well, today we have a fun show.

[0:49] Rob Russo: We have Kate Reinders joining us.

[0:52] Jennifer Simard: Looking forward to joining the colors.

[0:53] Jamie DuMont: The Lovely, the Charming. You know, I have to say, I'm first of all, I've been pronouncing her name incorrectly all these years. I've been saying Reinders.

[1:00] Rob Russo: Same.

[1:00] Jamie DuMont: Um, which I no longer will do. And I have seen many, many, many productions of Gypsy because it's one of those shows that gets revived every four or five years in pretty much every country in America.

[1:14] Jamie DuMont: I mean in the world. Um she was without a doubt the single best June I've ever seen.

[1:20] Rob Russo: Did you see that production?

[1:21] Jennifer Simard: Did we?

[1:22] Rob Russo: No, actually, no, I did not.

[1:23] Jamie DuMont: No, sorry, I'm confusing my gypsies.

[1:25] Rob Russo: Right, because she was in the Bernadette.

[1:26] Jamie DuMont: It was the Bernadette.

[1:27] Rob Russo: Yeah, she was the Bernadette.

[1:28] Jamie DuMont: So it was Bernadette Peters and Tammy Blanchard was Louise and she was June.

[1:36] Rob Russo: And she was fantastic.

[1:39] Jennifer Simard: She's great.

[1:40] Rob Russo: Really special.

[1:41] Jamie DuMont: Agreed. A real standout.

[1:43] Jamie DuMont: So this is fun. Um but before Kate joins us, what's going on?

[1:48] Rob Russo: Well, um, you know, we haven't really, the three of us sat together in a bit. Um, but I thought a fun, interesting, controversial, perhaps, topic that I'd especially love Jennifer's insight on is this ongoing conversation about theater etiquette.

[2:03] Rob Russo: Um, Jeremy O'Harris, the playwright of Slave Play, um, was quite vocal on Twitter and started a whole conversation about um the way in which Broadway's sort of culture, audience culture, um, can be or can seem uh sort of uh oppressive or exclusionary to certain theater goers.

[2:25] Rob Russo: Um the backstory behind that is that he got some flack when he said that he was texting with Rihanna when she came to see Slave Play.

[2:34] Rob Russo: And she's sort of like the spiritual inspiration of the play. That was his words, not mine. Um so people were like, well, wait a second, you were you were texting during a show.

[2:42] Rob Russo: Um and it raised this interesting conversation that was happening, at least in the Twitter sphere, uh, and certainly a conversation that I think you know, I know we've had for sure before, just about audience etiquette in general, um, and you know, sort of what the rules are and who makes the rules, because um that in and of itself is an interesting dimension of all of this.

[3:03] Jennifer Simard: I have to say um that there's probably not a single performance I go to, and I'm at the theater four to five nights a week.

[3:11] Jennifer Simard: You're performing eight times a week, so you can probably shed light on this as well, where a phone doesn't ring, right?

[3:17] Jennifer Simard: And it's like that is obviously different from someone texting in a seat. Um, but there are so many interesting dimensions to this in terms of phones going off, people texting, people checking, whatever, being on social media during a show, um, and talking, right?

[3:36] Jennifer Simard: And then there's the whole candy wrapper controversy, which never go away.

[3:41] Rob Russo: That'll never go away.

[3:42] Jennifer Simard: As long as there will be open.

[3:44] Rob Russo: And the ice in the cups.

[3:44] Jennifer Simard: Yeah, you know.

[3:45] Rob Russo: Well, that's so those are all different, you know, pain points, I guess, of sort of the audience experience that I think are each unique and each different, and um each have their are worthy of their own kind of conversation.

[3:58] Rob Russo: The ice in the cup is a solvable problem.

[4:00] Jennifer Simard: Don't have ice in cups.

[4:01] Rob Russo: Don't have ice in cups.

[4:03] Rob Russo: And some theaters, and some theaters slash some producers don't as a rule allow ice in the cups in their shows.

[4:10] Jennifer Simard: So that's it, that's a solvable easy fix.

[4:13] Rob Russo: Yeah, right.

[4:13] Jennifer Simard: The candy wrapper thing, as long as there are old people and I'm headed in that direction faster than anyone in this room, there will be um candy wrappers.

[4:13] Jennifer Simard: Candy wrappers.

[4:24] Rob Russo: Um although Amanda Duarte in that piece she did for Time Out New York year or so ago was like her rules of the road.

[4:32] Rob Russo: She said that all uh food brought into a theater should be wrapped in raw silk.

[4:36] Jennifer Simard: Yeah, to avoid any sort of sound, which I would support.

[4:42] Jennifer Simard: I would I would support that.

[4:43] Rob Russo: I would like to see Amanda bring some food and raw silk.

[4:46] Jennifer Simard: Yeah, but I have to ask her to do that.

[4:48] Rob Russo: But do you find that, Jennifer? When you're on stage, do you see and hear things from the city?

[4:51] Jennifer Simard: Oh, of course.

[4:52] Jennifer Simard: We see everything.

[4:53] Jennifer Simard: You hear everything.

[4:54] Jennifer Simard: Um look, these are soft rules.

[4:56] Jennifer Simard: I think it's basic manners and common sense, right?

[5:00] Jennifer Simard: There I'm not gonna say these are hard and fast rules.

[5:02] Jennifer Simard: There's we're not the we're not the cell phone police or the candy police, but um common sense does come into play, right?

[5:09] Jennifer Simard: And um, one thing I'd like to say about etiquette, and especially in the balcony, I'm very annoyed with people who, as an audience goer, sit on the edge of their seat and lean forward.

[5:18] Jennifer Simard: And what you're doing when you do that is you're preventing the person from behind behind you from being able to see the stage.

[5:25] Jennifer Simard: You really must sit back in your seat, and it it it's ruining it for the person behind you.

[5:30] Jennifer Simard: I can't say I just it's so it's so um it's so um selfish, it's so selfish.

[5:30] Jennifer Simard: It's so it's so unaware.

[5:38] Jennifer Simard: It's like the we as we approach winter.

[5:41] Jennifer Simard: Um, this is the thing that drives me nuts, is when people throw their coat over the back of their seat, and then I've got somebody's you know, half their coat in my lap.

[5:50] Rob Russo: Right.

[5:51] Jennifer Simard: And it and I and I like to think that most times people just aren't aware, right?

[5:56] Jennifer Simard: They don't they throw their coat over and they're not aware of it.

[5:59] Jennifer Simard: But I will I will point it out to people.

[6:01] Jennifer Simard: I will say, you know, do you mind your coat?

[6:05] Jennifer Simard: And nine times out of ten, they get really pissed.

[6:08] Jennifer Simard: Like, what why should I have to have your coat in my lap?

[6:12] Jennifer Simard: Because you don't want to put it on your like yeah, no one's I've got my lap, I've got my coat on my lap, you know.

[6:16] Jennifer Simard: I don't need yours too.

[6:18] Rob Russo: No one's a villain in their own story, and it's so funny how people just um are rude and they don't and they don't exercise good manners.

[6:25] Jennifer Simard: People are garbage, yeah, which is the truth.

[6:28] Rob Russo: I have a question though, Jennifer.

[6:29] Rob Russo: When you're on stage, all the the cell phone lights in the audience is that distracting to you as an actor, or do you it is?

[6:36] Jennifer Simard: Oh, yes.

[6:36] Jennifer Simard: I mean, it's uh look, our eyes we have spotlights in our eyes, and then all of a sudden you see this glowing screen.

[6:43] Jennifer Simard: You can see when you're being filmed.

[6:44] Jennifer Simard: We report people every night.

[6:46] Rob Russo: This whole conversation started.

[6:49] Rob Russo: I mean, I think this is going to be something we talk about again and again because the theater thing is the yeah, it's a huge part of the theater going experience.

[6:57] Rob Russo: But this you Rob, you brought this conversation up because of a specific incident that happened at Slave Play, which was which you referenced earlier, which was Jeremy O'Harris was texting with Rihanna during a performance of his play.

[7:11] Rob Russo: The big argument was that Jeremy O'Harris was saying this is a new age in theater, right?

[7:16] Rob Russo: And this is a new way of experiencing a show.

[7:21] Rob Russo: And if I'm going to text with a friend of mine, I'm going to.

[7:25] Jennifer Simard: Right.

[7:25] Rob Russo: I'm paraphrasing, but that was basically that was his argument.

[7:28] Jennifer Simard: Yeah.

[7:28] Rob Russo: And that, yeah, and then there's I think it's it's a part of a larger argument, which is that if we want live theater and commercial theater to continue being something that people want to spend their money on, then maybe we need to rethink uh how welcoming and how the the atmosphere is for people who you know perhaps uh are newer to the theater or don't have a background in the theater or like you know, we have an announcement at the top of the show asking you to turn your cell phone off.

[7:57] Rob Russo: So that's pretty clear.

[7:59] Rob Russo: And it's two and a half hours.

[8:01] Rob Russo: The beauty of it is it's two and a half hours where it's only these human beings in this shared space, it's archaic, it's the way it's always been done, and that's the beauty of it.

[8:11] Jennifer Simard: It's not supposed to be filled with well, other than the modern technology that you see on the stage, it's supposed to be a precious moment in time shared only by the human beings in the in that room.

[8:21] Rob Russo: Yeah, and that's part of the art form.

[8:24] Rob Russo: That's part of the art form.

[8:25] Rob Russo: You know, and about that argument of, you know, okay, we're older, or you know, there's new technology coming up.

[8:31] Rob Russo: I'm all for not being a Luddite.

[8:32] Jennifer Simard: Absolutely.

[8:33] Rob Russo: You have to change with the times and and um and uh, you know, young people have the best ideas most of the time.

[8:39] Rob Russo: It's like it's like like I want that energy in my life.

[8:42] Jennifer Simard: At the same time, you know, when smoking was a new thing, everyone thought that was the greatest idea.

[8:46] Jennifer Simard: And it turns out it wasn't.

[8:48] Rob Russo: You know, like it's not just because we have the if what's that line from Jurassic Park?

[8:51] Rob Russo: Is it yeah, but you never, you were so busy trying to figure out if you could, you never stopped to figure out if you should, or something like that.

[8:57] Rob Russo: You know, it's like just because we can doesn't mean we shouldn't.

[9:00] Jennifer Simard: There's a time and a place, and I'm I have to say, I I am I am very much mournful of um a lack of man there of manners.

[9:08] Jennifer Simard: I'm mournful of you know the fact that there aren't as many people, I think, exercising just common sense and manners.

[9:15] Rob Russo: It's just it's just pretty basic.

[9:17] Jennifer Simard: I mean, what is wrong with people?

[9:19] Rob Russo: And that's what you said earlier.

[9:20] Rob Russo: And then at the root of all this, I think is the idea that you touched on, which is people being in their own world and just not thinking about the fact that other people are in a public space with other people.

[9:30] Jennifer Simard: How does my behavior affect other people?

[9:32] Rob Russo: Correct, correct.

[9:33] Rob Russo: And that's exactly it.

[9:34] Rob Russo: If, you know, if if you take out your phone to check the time or whatever, or you have an emergency and you get up and you leave, like, okay, fine.

[9:42] Rob Russo: But if you're sitting there scrolling through Twitter while watching Mean Girls, I mean, that's it's distracting and it's rude, is where I fall.

[9:50] Jennifer Simard: Yeah.

[9:51] Rob Russo: We're we are in violent as well.

[9:54] Jennifer Simard: Yeah.

[9:54] Rob Russo: Well, this isn't gonna get any better anytime soon.

[9:57] Rob Russo: And it it and hopefully it doesn't get any worse.

[9:59] Rob Russo: And I think um we will certainly talk about this again in the future, but for now, I think we should talk to Kate Reinders.

[10:06] Jamie DuMont: Let's do it.

[10:14] Jamie DuMont: Today we are delighted to be joined by Kate Reinders, who has starred on Broadway as Glinda in Wicked and in Beautiful, Something Rotten, and the 2003 revival of Gypsy with my friend Bernadette Peters.

[10:25] Jamie DuMont: Kate can currently be seen on the hit Disney television show, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.

[10:30] Jamie DuMont: Kate, welcome to the fabulous invalid.

[10:33] Kate Reinders: Hi!

[10:34] Kate Reinders: Thank you.

[10:34] Kate Reinders: Hi!

[10:35] Kate Reinders: Thanks for coming down.

[10:36] Kate Reinders: I'm so happy that you're here.

[10:37] Kate Reinders: I'm so happy to be here.

[10:39] Jamie DuMont: Oh my gosh. So you're in the middle of a sort of a press junket for your big project you have coming up.

[10:44] Jamie DuMont: Actually, I think by the time this airs, it will have premiered and will be out in the world for everyone to love.

[10:52] Jamie DuMont: And that is you're playing Miss Jen in the new high school musical, The Series.

[10:59] Kate Reinders: It's actually high school musical, the musical, the series.

[11:01] Jamie DuMont: Oh.

[11:02] Jamie DuMont: Sorry to correct you, but you know.

[11:04] Kate Reinders: It's important.

[11:05] Kate Reinders: And there are also colons in there, silent colons.

[11:08] Jamie DuMont: How many colons?

[11:09] Kate Reinders: My colon is silent, but please explain.

[11:12] Jamie DuMont: This is amazing.

[11:14] Kate Reinders: Colin.

[11:14] Kate Reinders: The musical.

[11:15] Jamie DuMont: Colin.

[11:16] Jamie DuMont: The series.

[11:17] Kate Reinders: Wow.

[11:18] Jamie DuMont: Okay.

[11:18] Jamie DuMont: But it's not about a hospital.

[11:19] Kate Reinders: It's very meta.

[11:20] Jamie DuMont: It is very meta.

[11:21] Kate Reinders: It's probably the most meta thing on TV.

[11:24] Jamie DuMont: It's extremely meta, but that's because Tim Federle is smart.

[11:28] Kate Reinders: Yeah, he is.

[11:30] Jamie DuMont: And handsome, but you're smart.

[11:32] Kate Reinders: You're so talented.

[11:33] Jamie DuMont: And I have to tell you this, and I was waiting to tell you this while we were recording, because I know we have a lot of young women out there who aspire to do what we do for a living.

[11:41] Jamie DuMont: And I certainly don't mean to embarrass you, but I want to tell you that I auditioned for Miss Jen.

[11:45] Jamie DuMont: I did a self tape for this, and I did obviously didn't get it.

[11:48] Jamie DuMont: And when I found out you got it, I was so excited that it was someone I knew and respected.

[11:53] Jamie DuMont: And I just want I want people to know those kinds of things because there's plenty of work to go around, and you really have to root for women supporting women.

[12:01] Jamie DuMont: You have to be there for one another and lift each other up.

[12:04] Jamie DuMont: And we really bravo you, brava you.

[12:06] Kate Reinders: Thank you.

[12:06] Jamie DuMont: And we and my friends and I say too, at this point, we've all been around for so long and we know each other, and you show up at an audition and we call it the usual suspects.

[12:15] Jamie DuMont: But normally it everyone is you've seen their work, you know they're amazing.

[12:22] Jamie DuMont: And I actually always just feel so lucky to be in the room with those people, and you are one of those people, top of that list of awesomeness.

[12:30] Jamie DuMont: Thanks, girl.

[12:31] Kate Reinders: Yeah.

[12:31] Jamie DuMont: We did um people don't know us.

[12:32] Kate Reinders: We did a reading of Me and Girls together, Kate and I, in June of 2016.

[12:36] Jamie DuMont: They hadn't even finished Act Two.

[12:38] Kate Reinders: They had not.

[12:39] Jamie DuMont: And uh You were Karen.

[12:40] Kate Reinders: I and surprise I was too old.

[12:45] Jamie DuMont: But I am playing the old teacher now.

[12:49] Kate Reinders: And surprise I'm not too old.

[12:51] Jamie DuMont: Wait, that was the name of the character, Adult Woman.

[12:53] Kate Reinders: No, no, it was but it's a good one.

[12:54] Jamie DuMont: She was they kind of call that the track now because it's shorter.

[12:58] Kate Reinders: AW.

[12:59] Jamie DuMont: But see, you were busy.

[13:01] Kate Reinders: You were busy doing Hello Dolly, right?

[13:03] Jamie DuMont: So you had to pause.

[13:04] Kate Reinders: Yeah, I didn't know how fast it was gonna fast track, but I don't want to take anything away from Carrie because they might have to be a good one.

[13:11] Jamie DuMont: They might have gone with her anyway.

[13:13] Kate Reinders: She's always awesome.

[13:14] Jamie DuMont: Yeah.

[13:15] Kate Reinders: Uh so I think everyone has an idea of what high school musical is, and not everyone knows high school musical the musical.

[13:21] Jamie DuMont: Uh, but can you share with us the concept behind high school musical, the musical, the series?

[13:27] Kate Reinders: Yes. Um, okay, so uh, well, and also just to to go back one colon, high school musical, the musical is actually because uh about a decade or more ago, uh, when I was Glinda, so yes, more than a decade ago, um, they were turning the movies into the stage version, which is high school musical, Colin the Musical.

[13:49] Kate Reinders: So um, in our show, we are putting on the stage version at the high school where they shot high school musical the movie.

[14:01] Kate Reinders: In real life. I mean, the actual high school.

[14:03] Kate Reinders: Not like we're pretending it's our, I mean, it's actually the high school in Salt Lake City where they shot all the movies.

[14:08] Kate Reinders: And and that is that is part of the series.

[14:11] Jamie DuMont: And whether that's part of the story is that.

[14:14] Kate Reinders: Yes, I did I not explain it. Well, I'm sorry.

[14:17] Kate Reinders: I probably didn't. I confused myself.

[14:19] Kate Reinders: But yes, so we are the actual high school in Salt Lake City where they shot the movie.

[14:23] Kate Reinders: I am the new drama teacher there, the star of the show.

[14:27] Kate Reinders: And I'm not at all, I'm kidding.

[14:30] Kate Reinders: And um, and the kids, the drama club, we are putting on high school musical as our fall musical.

[14:37] Jamie DuMont: Got it.

[14:38] Kate Reinders: Got it?

[14:38] Jamie DuMont: Got it.

[14:39] Kate Reinders: So it has been left open, and now that we have a season two to do other musicals as well.

[14:44] Kate Reinders: But we will always be in the high school where they shot the movie.

[14:47] Jamie DuMont: I see.

[14:47] Kate Reinders: So we have that amazing cafeteria.

[14:49] Kate Reinders: It's real.

[14:50] Kate Reinders: We have the theater, we have Sharpe's Pink Locker.

[14:54] Kate Reinders: You know, we have all the things.

[14:56] Jamie DuMont: So I have to confess, I had never seen high school musical, the movie, until about two days ago.

[15:03] Kate Reinders: I missed it.

[15:06] Jamie DuMont: Because I researched series. I dig deep.

[15:09] Kate Reinders: And um and it just And you loved it.

[15:11] Jamie DuMont: Are you gonna time right now?

[15:14] Kate Reinders: I will say this, they were all very young.

[15:16] Kate Reinders: I was so surprised at how young all those actors looked.

[15:20] Kate Reinders: Because I didn't realize that it was 2006.

[15:24] Kate Reinders: That was, you know, a couple of years ago.

[15:26] Jamie DuMont: That's what I'm saying.

[15:27] Kate Reinders: You know, now Zach Eckleron has gone on to be they've all they've all gone on to be big stars.

[15:32] Kate Reinders: And it was so interesting to me to see how they were just babies when they shot this before it became this big juggernaut.

[15:39] Jamie DuMont: That was the thing, and and yes, it's adorable in a few.

[15:45] Kate Reinders: Yeah.

[15:46] Kate Reinders: But it was when they were being in, yeah, being introduced.

[15:48] Kate Reinders: He's still he didn't even have his Hollywood teeth yet.

[15:50] Jamie DuMont: He still had his original teeth.

[15:52] Kate Reinders: You always use that line your Hollywood teeth.

[15:54] Jamie DuMont: Well, it's true.

[15:55] Kate Reinders: Yeah.

[15:56] Kate Reinders: It it it's so funny how young everyone and I didn't realize Alison Reed was in it.

[16:01] Jamie DuMont: She plays the teacher she plays Dunbar or I Darvis.

[16:01] Kate Reinders: Darvis Darvis.

[16:06] Jamie DuMont: I do really know it.

[16:07] Kate Reinders: Yeah no well um I I looked I looked her up too what was she Marilyn Monroe or something on Broadway?

[16:14] Kate Reinders: What was she in?

[16:15] Jamie DuMont: She was in Maryland yes an American fable and she's in a just to bring this full circle or sort of to us talking about our best friends in the world who are actresses on Broadway.

[16:25] Kate Reinders: Sarah Litzinger was in Maryland an American fable when she was she'll kill me because I don't know I don't know if she was 11 or if she was she was also an Oliver with how I mean she was in so many things as far as I know.

[16:38] Jamie DuMont: Yeah.

[16:39] Kate Reinders: I don't know which came first.

[16:41] Kate Reinders: She was also Sally Bowles in that 87 revival of cabaret and she's Cassie in the film of the horse line of course yeah oh Mrs.

[16:47] Jamie DuMont: Darvis.

[16:48] Kate Reinders: Yes not you we're not there.

[16:51] Jamie DuMont: She was seven years old she was Sally Boltz it's all it's all connected somehow like it's really it's really interesting how what a small world it really is.

[17:03] Kate Reinders: What's funny Broadway that's what's funny Broadway is high school I always say and now I'm doing high school yeah bringing Broadway to I'm I'm still the nerd in high school in the Broadway community you're in high school every night I'm in high school every night that's how I'm the nerd it's okay you're not the nerd I think no I think you're like the badass boss in your high school you're an adult woman yeah you were an adult woman guys you're right you know what I'm glad we're interviewing me today yeah um me sorry, but yes, uh, what do you what else do you want to know about the was that clear about what we're doing with the stuff?

[17:38] Jamie DuMont: Yes, yeah, it's really cool.

[17:39] Kate Reinders: And I didn't, I so it it almost sounds it's not like a reality television show, but it sounds like it's it it's it dips in that world a little bit.

[17:48] Kate Reinders: Yes, so that's also the thing.

[17:50] Kate Reinders: So it is um, I uh Tim, I apologize if I'm saying it wrong, but I think it's always like it's like if um if arrested development and parks and recreation and glee had a baby sort of type thing is what people say.

[18:06] Kate Reinders: So we do have the the very like we um like mockumentary, but like you're peeking in, you're watching our real lives, and then yes, we do talk to the camera, so the audience is sort of you know another character or like our our best friend that we're telling the truth to.

[18:21] Jamie DuMont: Well, I love the the the setup for it and doing high school musical as the first season, right? And then you can go from there and do anything, right?

[18:29] Kate Reinders: I mean the catalog is is endless.

[18:31] Kate Reinders: Yeah, well, I know.

[18:31] Kate Reinders: I mean, if we even just stay Disney, we can do anything, anything, anything ever.

[18:35] Kate Reinders: But and I kind of feel like they will let Tim do whatever his brain can come up with, which who knows what it's like.

[18:41] Jamie DuMont: It's a good brain.

[18:42] Kate Reinders: It's a great brain.

[18:43] Jamie DuMont: That's a fun little thing to think about, though.

[18:45] Kate Reinders: What Katie knows, but he won't tell us.

[18:48] Jamie DuMont: Well, no, no, no. I know, I and and I respect that.

[18:51] Kate Reinders: I actually should also say I know Tim Federley quite well. I've known I've known him a lot.

[18:56] Kate Reinders: I tried to see if he'd come and surprise you today, but it's working really hard.

[18:59] Jamie DuMont: He's working really hard, yes.

[19:01] Kate Reinders: Now, the fun thing I think is what would you choose as the musical to do next season?

[19:07] Kate Reinders: As the drama teacher.

[19:08] Jamie DuMont: Yeah, as the drama teacher.

[19:09] Kate Reinders: No, yeah, I've I've been asked this and I thought about it, and this is the thing.

[19:13] Kate Reinders: All our kids are so talented that we could do anything.

[19:18] Kate Reinders: Um, but I was saying we should do Gypsy and I should play Mama Rose.

[19:23] Jamie DuMont: There it is.

[19:24] Kate Reinders: I'm sure.

[19:24] Kate Reinders: I mean just you know, just throwing some student down the stairs.

[19:29] Jamie DuMont: So I can get on stage.

[19:30] Kate Reinders: No, I'm just kidding.

[19:31] Kate Reinders: I don't know what he's gonna pick.

[19:33] Kate Reinders: You know, they're always the goodies like into the woods.

[19:36] Kate Reinders: Everybody has good shining moments and opportunities.

[19:40] Kate Reinders: And I also like You're a Good Man Charlie Brown for the fun parts.

[19:46] Jamie DuMont: But I don't know.

[19:47] Kate Reinders: And honestly, like I don't know what these kids would want to do.

[19:49] Kate Reinders: They're way cooler than me.

[19:51] Kate Reinders: They'd probably be like, dear Evan Hansen.

[19:55] Jamie DuMont: What are the shows that kids do in high school?

[19:57] Kate Reinders: Like when I was younger, no, I know we did a lot of people.

[20:01] Jamie DuMont: Yes, we did sound of music.

[20:03] Kate Reinders: Yeah, but what are the shows kids are doing now?

[20:05] Jamie DuMont: Does anyone know?

[20:07] Kate Reinders: They teach they teach down at um down Lynchburg, Virginia, at Jefferson Forest High School.

[20:12] Jamie DuMont: In fact, Faith Prince babysat my friend when he was a kid.

[20:15] Kate Reinders: Anyway, they just did disaster.

[20:17] Jamie DuMont: Oh, really?

[20:18] Kate Reinders: Yeah, I think they're doing it.

[20:20] Jamie DuMont: They do that.

[20:21] Kate Reinders: They do the current last four-year catalog.

[20:24] Jamie DuMont: Don't they do Adam's Family a lot?

[20:26] Kate Reinders: The Adams Family has been the number one high school musical for the past couple years.

[20:30] Kate Reinders: Um before that, Beauty and the Beast is actually really, really popular.

[20:33] Kate Reinders: A lot of high school students.

[20:34] Kate Reinders: Because you want shows with big casts, lots of women.

[20:36] Jamie DuMont: I mean, honestly, I want to do them all.

[20:38] Kate Reinders: What can I say?

[20:38] Kate Reinders: Lots of characters so everyone can have a lot of.

[20:40] Jamie DuMont: Well, hopefully your show will run for a very long time and you can get through all of the popular exactly playing a drama teacher.

[20:47] Jamie DuMont: I'm curious to know if there are any drama teachers in your own life that you've sort of channeled as inspiration for this part.

[20:53] Kate Reinders: Um, you know, I have had many wonderful teachers who have helped me along the way.

[20:58] Kate Reinders: Um, but when I went to high school, I went to this little Christian school, and we didn't have a drama program.

[21:05] Kate Reinders: So our choir director directed the musical, and I was in like the small choir with him, but he also was the music teacher when I was in elementary school.

[21:15] Kate Reinders: So I knew him my whole childhood.

[21:18] Kate Reinders: Um love him so much.

[21:20] Kate Reinders: And yeah, sure enough, like he's the only person in the world who would cast me as Reno Sweeney when I was a sophomore.

[21:26] Kate Reinders: And I was probably like 90 pounds, no boobs, definitely could not walk in heels.

[21:32] Jamie DuMont: And that is what makes a tasty skank.

[21:34] Kate Reinders: That's what I always say.

[21:35] Kate Reinders: That is what makes a tasty skank.

[21:38] Jamie DuMont: Christian school, no boobs forever.

[21:41] Kate Reinders: Well, I was gonna save this for us for a little bit later. But since you've gone there, what is happening with Tasty Skank?

[21:50] Kate Reinders: Where are they now?

[21:51] Kate Reinders: Okay, well, Sarah Litzinger of Maryland of the an American Fable. Fame.

[21:56] Kate Reinders: And Oliver.

[22:00] Kate Reinders: And Broadway's longest-running Belle in Beauty and the Beast.

[22:02] Kate Reinders: If we're just gonna go ahead, uh, she and I are best friends, and we made up this band of um us making out songs that made us laugh when in way in 2006.

[22:15] Kate Reinders: And um actually I was Glinda, she was Belle at the time.

[22:18] Kate Reinders: And so um we wanted to, I guess, not be Broadway princesses, so instead we decided to be tasty skank, and we wrote a bunch of songs that sound really pretty that are really dirty.

[22:30] Kate Reinders: And um, we went to the Aspen Comedy Festival, we won the breakout award.

[22:35] Kate Reinders: That means you're really good, not that something's going wrong.

[22:39] Kate Reinders: And um, and then we had a development deal with Sony, but then it was the writer's strike, and actually, we pitched our show around, and people told us you're you're too female.

[22:49] Kate Reinders: Our demographic is more male.

[22:51] Kate Reinders: Like it wasn't time for women to be funny yet, and it wasn't time for women to be like dirty and wrong and funny, which now is like no big deal at all.

[23:01] Jamie DuMont: I mean, it's even pastime.

[23:02] Kate Reinders: I mean, Amy Schumer has been doing it for you know, fleabag.

[23:05] Jamie DuMont: I mean, yes.

[23:06] Kate Reinders: So Andrea Savage, do you know Andrea Savage?

[23:08] Jamie DuMont: Yes.

[23:09] Kate Reinders: But so yeah, so Sarah and I were ahead of our time.

[23:12] Kate Reinders: Yes, you were.

[23:13] Kate Reinders: But we so yeah, so we did that then, but now we sort of do like a show once a year when we can.

[23:20] Kate Reinders: And in a way, it it might be funnier because it used to be about how we were like wrong and slutty and a little bit sad, but now it's we're very sad and old and um and wish we could be sluttier.

[23:36] Kate Reinders: And um, and we have we open our show now like with a rap that's called Smoke and Mirrors, and it's it's been a few years, so let us be frank.

[23:45] Kate Reinders: We're a little less tasty, a little more skank, and and then we're like, smoke, me rose.

[23:51] Kate Reinders: Turn the lights down, turn the lights down now.

[23:54] Jamie DuMont: Um, but so I think we think it's almost funnier, but um, yeah, we just we really do it for fun now.

[24:00] Jamie DuMont: And what does Tasty Skank have against mustard?

[24:03] Kate Reinders: We don't like it.

[24:04] Kate Reinders: Okay, that's just that's it.

[24:05] Kate Reinders: I mean, it's maybe um Sarah feels more passionately about it.

[24:08] Kate Reinders: Um, but you know, we would prefer like a special sauce, like a thousand island or like a ketchup mayonnaise mix.

[24:17] Jamie DuMont: This is like a nice surrounding.

[24:18] Kate Reinders: This is from well, this is from our original song, our very first song called In N Out, which is about In N Out Burger, right?

[24:25] Jamie DuMont: Which you clearly get animal style, I would I would imagine.

[24:28] Kate Reinders: Um, she does.

[24:30] Kate Reinders: I get regular, but then I like to get the extra special sauce to dip my fries in.

[24:35] Kate Reinders: Uh like a sriracha mayo situation.

[24:37] Jamie DuMont: No, it's I think it's just the house of the five.

[24:39] Kate Reinders: It's like a water, it's like a water gun.

[24:42] Jamie DuMont: Yeah, that's yeah, it's it's a thousand island, basically.

[24:44] Kate Reinders: I think it's a lot of like all the beats.

[24:45] Jamie DuMont: Yeah.

[24:46] Kate Reinders: Yeah.

[24:46] Kate Reinders: No, the bits are in it.

[24:47] Jamie DuMont: Oh, they are?

[24:48] Kate Reinders: Yeah, the relishy bits.

[24:49] Jamie DuMont: Oh, Seattle.

[24:50] Kate Reinders: I love the bits.

[24:50] Jamie DuMont: Well, speaking of relishy bits, we all relished you in Gypsy in 2003. How is that, you guys?

[24:57] Kate Reinders: Yeah, it's really shared.

[24:59] Jamie DuMont: Thank you.

[25:02] Kate Reinders: It was yesterday. Um, but you brought up the brilliant idea of you playing Mama Rose, which was great.

[25:08] Rob Russo: Yeah, right.

[25:08] Kate Reinders: Yeah. But um now, um, so you worked with Bernadette Peters, and I've had the pleasure of working with her. And I think last year we both ticked her for that Broadway. We had to like, who is your Broadway idol, and we both chose her.

[25:19] Jamie DuMont: Yeah, why did you say her?

[25:21] Kate Reinders: Oh, well, I mean the whole list, right?

[25:24] Jamie DuMont: Yeah, yeah.

[25:24] Kate Reinders: They were like, Can you make the video less than five hours?

[25:27] Rob Russo: Exactly. No, it was the first Broadway musical I saw with my mother, was Into the Woods. And I think too, as a child, you look up to people who with whom you're in the same world, and I thought, oh, I want to be like her because I could see that, you know, a little bit in myself, you know, and so I was I listened to everything, I watched everything. And then of course when I got to work with her, um, she's the most generous person I've ever worked with. I when I left the show, I uh she got me a bracelet from Tiffany's. I'm like, oh my, are we getting married? I love you.

[25:59] Jamie DuMont: Yeah, yes, yes, I will I will marry you.

[26:03] Kate Reinders: You know, no, I know. I mean that's what's your favorite, what's your favorite Bernadette story?

[26:07] Rob Russo: No, I'm with you there too. Is that uh of course, yes, I'm a fan.

[26:10] Kate Reinders: Well, how could you not be? Um she was I was more like she was Lily St. Regis, you know, yeah, from the hotel that I like the hotel.

[26:18] Rob Russo: Of course.

[26:18] Kate Reinders: Uh-huh. If you feel me, you feel me. Um, but she, yeah, when we did Gypsy, she was just the mother to everyone. She was so wonderful. She would come up to my little dressing room and sit down on my little tiny love seat shazy thing, and you know, in her robe or whatever, and she would just say, How are you doing? Are you still dating so and so? How's that going? And tell me everything. And of course, here I am going. She doesn't, what it she shouldn't care what I'm what I'm doing at all. She doesn't have time for this. She should be resting between shows. But she's exhibiting leadership.

[26:54] Rob Russo: But yes, leadership and care, and she genuinely cares and wants to know. And she's just a wonderful person. And nobody works harder and um, you know, shares the stage and wants you to be the star.

[27:06] Kate Reinders: Yeah. Even though you're like, no, no, it's you. No, turns in. No, no, it's not. You're so wrong.

[27:11] Rob Russo: Yeah.

[27:12] Kate Reinders: And also, yeah, and she's just, yeah, she's as beautiful inside as she is out. And you guys have seen the poreless wrinkle-free face. It's not smoking mirrors. She's really she's that beautiful. And her body won't quit.

[27:25] Rob Russo: I know.

[27:26] Kate Reinders: At 23, I was like, I will never be that hot. Like, I mean, I was still sort of waiting for my baby fat to go, but I still knew at my peak it would never Peters. I made that up right now.

[27:39] Rob Russo: That was good.

[27:40] Kate Reinders: I made it up. That should go in tasty skank.

[27:42] Rob Russo: All right, and we'll put it in.

[27:46] Kate Reinders: I can sing higher.

[27:47] Rob Russo: Uh can sing and oh higher than you sing.

[27:50] Kate Reinders: No, you can't.

[27:50] Rob Russo: Yes, I can.

[27:51] Kate Reinders: No, you can.

[27:52] Rob Russo: Yes, I can.

[27:53] Kate Reinders: No, you can.

[27:53] Rob Russo: Yes, I can.

[27:54] Kate Reinders: No, you can sing that high.

[28:03] Rob Russo: I'm a girl.

[28:04] Jennifer Simard: Do you have a Bernadette Peters story?

[28:07] Kate Reinders: Well, besides the proposal with the Tiffany bracelet.

[28:10] Jennifer Simard: I know.

[28:11] Kate Reinders: I she that and a candle. Well, no, I mean, just all of that. Like, I was also a fan of the movie The Jerk with me too.

[28:19] Jennifer Simard: No, and I would link, I would I would think, how is she not laughing when he does that whole thing? When she's sleeping and he says and it felt like two weeks, but it was a day, but then it I'm not sure.

[28:28] Kate Reinders: I know. Sunday in the Park with George. I feel like she's had so many lives. I forgot about her Hollywood career.

[28:35] Jennifer Simard: And she's a woman.

[28:38] Kate Reinders: No, yeah. Of course. No, I'm not burying her at all. I mean, I you know, she's got several more shows left in her. Let's be clear about that.

[28:44] Kate Reinders: My story, I guess, is one that's embarrassing to me.

[28:48] Jennifer Simard: Perfect.

[28:49] Kate Reinders: I greatly. I I had my, you know, my vinyl Into the Woods, you know. And I had James Lapine sign it. And he that was incredible. Because like to my friend Jennifer, because we become friends, I'm like, that's crazy, first of all. So I brought it to Hello Dolly, just feeling like, and I never do this. I'm not a person to ask celebrities for autographs or to invade privacy or all this. But I'm like, okay, you are working with her. And I have to say, I had a hard time keeping my cool. I was just because she is like sort of my number one, right? So I I go in there and I ask for the I ask, you know, for the autograph on my album, and she's happy to autograph it, and she's signing it. I had to leave the room because I was uncontrollably sobbing.

Like I'm in her, I'm in the hallway. Just hyperventilating, like I'm in what that Broadway bound. What's the what's the aunt that what's the aunt in the Neil Simon play that can't breathe? Is that you know what I'm doing, but anyway, but that's what I sounded like. I was like Bernadette, thank you, Zoomu! I was just just, I was so. And she's happy to do it, but I was insane.

[29:56] Jennifer Simard: Amazing.

[29:57] Kate Reinders: For the record, Jennifer, you don't get to text me tonight and ask me to cut that story. No. That's going in. Well, it's just, you know, it was everything. It was the show my mother brought me to, who's, you know, since passed. And so like I'm crying talking about it. Oh, she just, you know, it's just lovely when your idols, they say some people say, don't meet your idols because if they're not nice, you'll be let down. And I just can't say enough about her. That's just the opposite of that.

[30:24] Rob Russo: And you guys, she is weeping right now. It's beautiful.

[30:28] Kate Reinders: Yeah.

[30:29] Rob Russo: But no, you're right. She's even better than you think she might be.

[30:33] Kate Reinders: Yeah.

[30:33] Rob Russo: And that's not always the case.

[30:35] Kate Reinders: That's you know, you just said, you know, never meet your idols, which I I have learned the hard way on more than one occasion. And uh I met Tony Randall. Remember that?

[30:43] Jennifer Simard: Oh yeah.

[30:45] Kate Reinders: Well, I've got a Mary Tyler Moore story that'll curl your toes. Yeah, it's not great. But um, but but when it happens like for both of you, and you and you got to work with her, which is you know, which is pretty special.

[30:57] Rob Russo: So that's and we're getting married.

[31:01] Kate Reinders: So there's that.

[31:03] Rob Russo: Could be so nice if mama got married to stay.

[31:10] Kate Reinders: But mama gets married, and I read a read.

[31:17] Rob Russo: And never gets carried away.

[31:21] Kate Reinders: Oh mama.

[31:24] Rob Russo: Oh mama.

[31:28] Kate Reinders: Oh mama.

[31:33] Rob Russo: Get married today.

[31:39] Jamie DuMont: Well, you were in the 2002 revival of Into the Woods.

[31:42] Kate Reinders: Yes, I was.

[31:43] Jamie DuMont: Where you had an interesting track understudying Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Milky White. Is that true?

[31:49] Kate Reinders: Oh yes. Well, actually, um, probably not interestingly. Um, in the beginning, when we went to the Amundsen, I when I was cast, I was cast as Snow White, and then I would stand by for the women for the girl, the girls and the women, whatever. Um, and and then when we got to the Amundsen, no, when we were in rehearsals, they were like, oh, so listen, we're gonna Snow White and Sleeping Beauty or we're just gonna not have them at the Amundsen, and we're gonna bring them back on Broadway. Never trust them when they say that. And but they were like, but one of you, like, we want one of you to be Milky White. So we were like, great. So we both like we sort of all like walked like a cow, and then I guess they decided I was the the funny, well, I was the shortest cow, so great.

So then I was actually Milky White at first. So they tried to build the costume on me, and we went to I went to this like cool puppet making place in Brooklyn, and I they put this unitard on me and then covered me in Vaseline, and I know it sounds sexy, but it's not. And then I had to bend over, also sound sexy, but it's not, and just like sort of stand there. And even then they were like, you know, they should really get like a male gymnast to do this, what they're asking you to do. And I was like, no, no, I'm gonna be on Broadway. Like, I don't care if I'm the cat, I'm gonna be on Broadway. And so then we went to LA and we were doing it, and they were futzing with it, and it was not great.

And and that too, that costume, like it um Chad Kimball. So Chad was the standby for the guys. And so then at one point, because it was LA, I had to go on for Little Red a lot because of the child labor laws. Yay for me. And because I was like, I'm not a child, I'm old. So I finally said to James Lapine, like I actually like I can't turn my head and I can't like make fists with my hands. So I don't, I like I'm worried about being Milky White and going on, and then and then they were like, how do we fix this? And Chad Kimball came to my rescue, and of as you know, he was the best Milky White ever and the cutest. And he also helped them like figure out like shock absorption for the crutchy front leg things and other like he he's so smart.

Um because he's walking on all fours, yes, because you're hunched over walking on all fours, and then they had the head that was like attached, at first it was attached to like your neck, but then they were like, No, you need to attach it to your back to not have the pressure go down. Anyway, um, so yes, so then I ended up understudying Milky White, but I would like to say that my Broadway debut on stage was not as a cow nor a person, it was as one of the three little pigs, because you know we also had three little pigs in that version. And I was on the Tonys as the pig with the brick, and I was living my dream. And I remember seeing it was the year of the graduate being on Broadway, and I remember seeing um Alicia Silverstone and Jason, what's his name?

Biggs. Thank you, Jason Biggs. I'm like American Pie guy, yeah. And I saw them backstage and I was like waving, and then I realized, oh, like I'm a pink velour sphere, and like I have a hat and a nose, and like they cannot see me. And I'm just like this little round pink pig, just waving, waving and loving my life.

[35:10] Rob Russo: Well, speaking of great casting, yes, thank you, right?

[35:14] Kate Reinders: Yeah.

[35:14] Rob Russo: No, I think it I think it I see I see how that happened.

[35:17] Kate Reinders: Peaked.

[35:18] Rob Russo: Uh peaked early.

[35:20] Kate Reinders: Yep.

[35:20] Rob Russo: Is there a part that you want to play that you would not normally be thought of besides a pink pig?

[35:28] Kate Reinders: Or a cow. But is there seriously? Is there a part that like you want to play on Broadway or in the theater or anything?

[35:37] Kate Reinders: I feel like I can't, I don't even let myself dream. Am I crazy? Like do you do this? I just feel like I don't even, because then I'll just get sad. Like I just feel like anything anybody will ever let me do is frosting. I just want to play anything, anytime, please.

[35:53] Rob Russo: Girlfriend and mine, we had t-shirts made. Keep your expectations low. You might be surprised.

[35:58] Kate Reinders: That's great. Yeah, because we always say well, and because yes, we share this, we share this. I don't know, you know, how you feel in your own careers out there in your lives, but in this career, you you truly get knocked down more than you get. I mean, you you you just audition for 90 things and you know, maybe get 10.

[36:16] Kate Reinders: I know I dream of a Golden Girls musical.

[36:19] Rob Russo: Oh god.

[36:20] Kate Reinders: Of course I do.

[36:21] Rob Russo: Well, which one would you play?

[36:23] Kate Reinders: It depends on it's the group you're in.

[36:25] Rob Russo: Yes, because do you want to be?

[36:27] Kate Reinders: Oh my gosh. I mean, I wouldn't. It depends on it depends on the thing. It's always Sophia, but then I don't know, because I don't wait. I don't want to be Sophia.

[36:33] Rob Russo: I I can see you as Sophia.

[36:35] Kate Reinders: I feel like I'm I can think you would really nail that.

[36:38] Rob Russo: I think I'd probably like to be Rose.

[36:40] Kate Reinders: Yeah, then you be Rose. Um, but I could be, depending on the group, I could be Dorothy. You know, Dorothy is really, but I think I'm a I think underappreciated. Nobody ever picks Blanche, do they?

[36:53] Rob Russo: Um Blanche is great.

[36:55] Kate Reinders: Blanche is great. I just don't think I'm in the pocket for Blanche.

[36:59] Rob Russo: Yeah.

[37:00] Kate Reinders: Who should be who should our Blanche be?

[37:03] Rob Russo: Who should our Blanche be? I think all the singer.

[37:05] Kate Reinders: Bernadette Peters.

[37:07] Rob Russo: But who's the Dorothy?

[37:08] Kate Reinders: I think it all starts with the Dorothy because I feel like that's the anchor of the that's the anchor of that piece.

[37:15] Rob Russo: Yeah.

[37:15] Kate Reinders: Yeah.

[37:17] Rob Russo: Thank you for being a friend.

[37:22] Kate Reinders: Travel down a road and back again.

[37:31] Kate Reinders: Well, you mentioned earlier on that you went to a small school growing up.

[37:36] Jamie DuMont: Oh yes.

[37:37] Kate Reinders: Small Christian school, I believe.

[37:38] Jamie DuMont: Yep.

[37:38] Kate Reinders: Um, were you raised in a small town?

[37:40] Jamie DuMont: Yeah, yeah, pretty small.

[37:42] Kate Reinders: Western Michigan. Um, you know, like the thing of like the series of tiny towns next to each other. So it's not like farmland, but it's small. I mean, our school was a class D, I think. You know, we didn't have a football team, we did have soccer. My brother was a total soccer star. And um, and yeah, and we didn't have a theater, we had a stage in our gym, and so they would set up folding chairs, and um, yeah, it was a little it it I was just I'm super all American middle class Michigan girl.

[38:17] Jamie DuMont: So, what do you think you would have done if you hadn't gone into performing as a profession?

[38:22] Kate Reinders: You know, when I was thinking about going into performing, and I don't know if people told you this too, but they said if you can do anything else, you should do something else. Just trust us, don't. And I know we all think I'm the one exception, you guys. Like I'm totally gonna make it. Um, but yeah, so I actually sort of didn't let myself think about what else I could do. And then, you know, when I turned 30, I sort of was like, why didn't I listen to them? And why didn't I make a backup plan and all that stuff? But you know, Janine Chessori, though, she says, if you have a backup plan, you're probably gonna use it. And yeah, we wouldn't have to do that. She definitely knows what she's talking about more than I can. Do you know what I mean?

[39:05] Jamie DuMont: Yeah, no, I'm not sure. Because you probably in a ski in a rough patch would have gone, you know what? I'm gonna go be have a different life.

[39:12] Kate Reinders: And honestly, I feel like, yes, and they're always like you were saying, there's always gonna be another rough patch up ahead. We know that, but it makes us appreciate this stuff even that much more. And also, I have to say, once I had a kid, it did put everything else everything in perspective in a way that probably is why I got this job. Yeah, because it isn't everything anymore.

[39:36] Jamie DuMont: That's right. How long were you filming in Salt Lake?

[39:39] Kate Reinders: We were there for I think six and a half, seven months or something. Yeah, so um, yeah, you guys, it's it's like it's real. It's like in the real high school in the real town.

[39:48] Jamie DuMont: And did you bring the whole fam out?

[39:50] Kate Reinders: I brought Luke, yeah.

[39:52] Jamie DuMont: Yeah, wow.

[39:53] Kate Reinders: And I got a I got an awesome nanny there who really saved the day many days. And my parents came, they've saved the day many days as well. Oh, yeah, and it was like half of Luke's life now. He's like, What do you mean? I'm from Salt Lake City, right?

[40:11] Jamie DuMont: He's converting to Mormonism.

[40:13] Kate Reinders: Yeah, exactly.

[40:14] Jamie DuMont: Uh, how do we find the show? So, where does one watch it?

[40:16] Kate Reinders: Oh, okay. Get Disney Plus, and then go on Disney Plus and I don't know, search.

[40:24] Jamie DuMont: And right, that's that's a so it's streaming on Disney Plus.

[40:27] Kate Reinders: It is streaming on Disney Plus, yes.

[40:29] Jamie DuMont: And and it it will be new episodes every Friday at eight, I believe.

[40:33] Kate Reinders: And how many episodes did you shoot?

[40:34] Jamie DuMont: We did 10.

[40:35] Kate Reinders: Wow.

[40:35] Jamie DuMont: And are they half hour or one hour?

[40:37] Kate Reinders: Half hour. Or like 34 minutes or something. Because you know, like with the streaming thing.

[40:40] Jamie DuMont: Yeah, yeah. I love that about streaming.

[40:43] Kate Reinders: That's fantastic.

[40:44] Jamie DuMont: Yeah. Um, what do you as a as a working mom, what do you do to relax?

[40:50] Kate Reinders: Wine.

[40:50] Jamie DuMont: Wine, yeah.

[40:51] Kate Reinders: And Netflix.

[40:51] Jamie DuMont: And Netflix and Chill by Myself on the couch.

[40:54] Kate Reinders: There's too much content.

[40:55] Jamie DuMont: There's too much.

[40:56] Kate Reinders: I mean, that is the truth. So everyone, yes, there may be too much content. But get Disney Plus and watch my show.

[41:02] Jamie DuMont: Yes, correct. And when do you start filming season two? Do you know?

[41:05] Kate Reinders: We do not know yet. Uh, they said early 2020.

[41:09] Jamie DuMont: That's fantastic, though. To get picked up before you even are out the gate, really.

[41:14] Kate Reinders: I know. I know. I I'm still like, I can't believe it. I'm still thinking like it's actually never gonna happen. You know, can't be real, still can't be real.

[41:23] Jamie DuMont: What was that show or experience that made you want to go into the profession that you are in?

[41:29] Kate Reinders: Um, I I think I'm probably one of the many, many actors who saw a tour of Lay Miz when I was 12, and um, and my parents told me the story of what it was about and what was gonna happen, and I was like, oh, okay, Cosette. That's who I'm that I'm it's all about cosette. And they were like, we think you're gonna like Epanine, and I was like, what? No, I don't even know what you're talking about. No, cosette. Like, okay, okay. And then I saw it, and I was like, You're right, it's Epanine, Epanine! I want to do that, and I never got to, but I do think that if I were a kid now, or had been a kid, you know, more recently, it would have been that about Wicked and Glinda. So I do feel like I did live my childhood dream in a way.

[42:15] Jamie DuMont: Well, two things. Cosette is a drip. So let's just say that. And I think you're the first person to say Le Miz.

[42:22] Kate Reinders: Actually, we get a lot of like fiddler, we get a lot, like we get a lot of, but we never, you're our first Le Miz.

[42:29] Jamie DuMont: Well, I mean, my I was just I was just late to the game, and that my parents um they got me those those like um why can't oh I am blanking out what it's called? The subscription.

[42:42] Kate Reinders: Yeah, the subscription seats to the like the tour, the season pass things to the tour that came to Grand Rapids, Michigan. And that year, the first show was Buddy Holly Story, which I loved. And I made my parents buy me all the Buddy Holly albums, and I know all the songs now. But it wasn't like, oh, I want to play Buddy, you know.

[43:00] Jamie DuMont: Right.

[43:00] Kate Reinders: I want to die the day of the game. I wanted to be Fontaine because I saw the same tour come through, I think.

[43:04] Jamie DuMont: Yeah, but that's probably which that was the part I liked.

[43:08] Kate Reinders: Oh, yeah, Fontaine's awesome too. But I think I was, yeah, I was like, well, I don't want to be the mom who died.

[43:13] Jamie DuMont: I know.

[43:14] Kate Reinders: I think I'd have to be the best track. The unrequited girlfriend who died. I guess everybody died. But literally everyone dies except for Cosette.

[43:24] Jamie DuMont: The one the one person who wants to die.

[43:27] Kate Reinders: Oh, yeah. You don't want her to die because everyone has given their life for her.

[43:31] Jamie DuMont: Oh, see, she drives me crazy.

[43:32] Kate Reinders: I actually really love it. It's not her fault. She was just a kid.

[43:37] Jamie DuMont: I don't know.

[43:38] Kate Reinders: But you don't like kids either.

[43:39] Jamie DuMont: No, I think. Although I'm sure yours is special and beautiful, I don't know. I hate them all.

[43:47] Kate Reinders: I was at the New York Pops like a week ago, and they did a suite from Lay Miz. And it's funny because, like, you know, we all grew up with Lay Miz, and like it's in our veins, and we know it so well. So much so that like I don't really listen to laymanized that often because of that. Because we know every word. So yeah. And I was sitting at Carnegie Hall and I like almost started crying. This music is so good. Like, I freaking love this show.

[44:08] Jamie DuMont: I totally were you ever in it? I'm sure you were.

[44:10] Kate Reinders: No, no.

[44:11] Jamie DuMont: What?

[44:11] Kate Reinders: No, I certainly was not.

[44:13] Jamie DuMont: Missed opportunity world.

[44:15] Kate Reinders: It's not too late, actually.

[44:16] Jamie DuMont: Are you kidding? Do you still want to be Fontaine or do you want to be Madame T?

[44:19] Kate Reinders: That's why. That's not who I want to be.

[44:20] Jamie DuMont: Yeah.

[44:20] Kate Reinders: I want to be Madame C. Madam Tinardian. Tinartia.

[44:26] Jamie DuMont: Yeah, you'd be a great.

[44:27] Kate Reinders: I auditioned for the last one for that, but of course, our friend Kayala got it. But I love her too. We love her, so that's good. But no, I I think I've aged out of Miss Fonti, but that's all right.

[44:36] Jamie DuMont: We really should say thank you for coming down. It's been a delight having you with us.

[44:40] Kate Reinders: It's been great to be here. I'll hang out with you every day if you want.

[44:44] Jamie DuMont: Come on down. You're the dreamiest.

[44:46] Kate Reinders: Love you.

[44:46] Jamie DuMont: Love you.

[45:14] Rob Russo: Rob here with you may be wondering. During our conversation with Kate Reinders about high school musical, the musical, the series, we talked briefly about that seminal experience, the high school musical. Typically a major annual event at any high school. The high school musical is an opportunity for theater loving students to perform in a full production and share their talent with their peers and their community, while also building lifelong skills like teamwork and listening. As we talked about with Kate, picking the right show to do is paramount. There are other classics like Guys and Dolls, Bye Bye Birdie, and Annie, not to mention the big Rogers and Hammerstein shows that are staples, like Oklahoma and The King and I. My high school was known for picking some more unusual shows for teenagers to perform, like Assassins, Pippin, Men of La Mancha, and Evita.

While I was there, I got to perform in 1776, The Baker's Wife, the last five years, talk about an odd show for a high school to do, and Into the Woods. The latter, of course, being one of the most popular shows for high schools and community theaters alike. But of course, what shows high schools choose to perform has changed over time, just as tastes and styles have evolved on Broadway. You may be wondering, as we were, what musicals are the top produced musicals at high schools these days. Luckily, the Educational Theatre Association conducts a survey every year that answers this exact question. Their 81st survey, completed by more than 3,000 high schools on their productions from the 2018-2019 school year, revealed the top 10 musicals that high schools are doing right now.

Actually, it was 11, because that tenth slot was a tie between Shrek and The Wizard of Oz. Coming in at ninth place was, at no surprise, Into the Woods. Eighth is Seussical, the Dr. Seuss musical by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty and Eric Idle. Seventh is Little Shop of Horrors, which is also having a resurgent moment in commercial theater as well right now. In sixth place is Newsies, making its debut on the list. Fifth place goes to another Disney show, Mary Poppins. Fourth is the longtime favorite, Beauty and the Beast, and third is The Little Mermaid, so that's four Disney shows in a row. I was kind of shocked though to learn that the second most produced high school musical last year was Mamma Mia.

Perhaps the popularity of the films had something to do with it. Also the fact that the show is a newly licensed property, so it's something new for high schools to do. And the number one most produced high school musical was, as I suggested during our interview, The Addams Family, with a score by Andrew Lippa and a book by Marshall Brickman and former podcast guest, Rick Ellis. That show, while not too successful on Broadway, has been in the top 10 for high schools for the past decade. The survey also found that schools reported an average of 10 performances per production, which I'm jealous of because I only ever got to do three of each show I was in, coming in at a whopping 26,534 performances in total last year, with an average total audience of over 1,800 people per performance.

Based on that data, the Educational Theater Association estimates that U.S. high schools serve a total potential audience of 48.1 million theater attendees. By comparison, last season, Broadway welcomed just under 15 million customers. A good reminder of not only the importance of a high school musical to the students doing it, but also the value it provides to a community. The first stage musical I ever saw was at my local high school, where I was introduced to shows like West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, and Hello Dolly, the last one which changed my life. Be sure to check out High School Musical, The Musical, The Series on Disney Plus, and stay tuned to see what show Miss Jen, aka Kate Reinders, picks for season two at East High School.

[48:50] Jennifer Simard: Jennifer here, that's our show. Thanks for listening. You can hear us anytime on iTunes, and if you like what you hear, rate and review us. The Fabulous Invalid is a production of OM etcetera and the Fabulous Invalid LLC, and a proud member of the Broadway Podcast Network. Our theme music is by Lucky Chops. Today's episode was edited and engineered by Aaron Kaufman and Charles Van Kirk. You can find us online at the FabulousInvalid.com and on social media at Fabulous Invalid and on iTunes, Spotify, and wherever you find your podcasts. If you like what you hear, again, please rate and review us on iTunes and be sure to tune in next Wednesday.