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[0:00] Alan Seales: Welcome back to the Theatre Podcast. Intimate, personal conversations with the industry's biggest names. I'm your host, Alan Seales, and today I am talking with the wonderful and lovely Kate Reinders, who you may know as Miss Jen from High School Musical, The Musical, The Series, and they're currently finishing their second season on Disney+. She has numerous Broadway credits as well. She is just a fun delight. She doesn't know it yet, but we're best friends now. We kind of covered the gamut in this conversation. She had a dirty band called Tasty Skank and now has transitioned from that, of course, into working for Disney and High School Musical, The Musical, The Series. She has a lovely love-hate relationship with social media, as I do too, and we kind of bond over that, but she is just a wonderful delight to talk to.

Find me online on Instagram and Twitter at Theatre underscore Podcast on Facebook slash Official Theatre Podcast. Please leave a rating and a review wherever you are listening, and now, everybody, please enjoy this episode with Kate Reinders.

[1:15] Alan Seales: Today's guest is a true multi-talented performer with Broadway credits, including Beautiful, Portia in Something Rotten, Glinda in Wicked, and even June in the 2003 revival of Gypsy with Bernadette Peters. TV credits include Ugly Betty, Modern Family, and of course, Miss Jen, the drama teacher in High School Musical, The Musical, The Series, currently finishing its second season on Disney+. Kate Reinders, welcome to the Theatre Podcast.

[1:47] Kate Reinders: Hi, thank you. Thank you for having me.

[1:51] Alan Seales: You are very welcome. I want to start and ask you real quick about the name Reinders because there are many common names, many names that you see throughout my life. This is the first time I have ever run across a Reinders, and just real quick, I want to know like what the background is. What's the family lineage?

[2:07] Kate Reinders: Yeah, but also, I want to ask you, I mean, how did you really want to pronounce it when you read it?

[2:12] Alan Seales: Reindeers.

[2:13] Kate Reinders: Yes, I know, right? That's great, because then I have a whole holiday season. No, Reinders is Dutch, and I believe it means of the Rhine, and I think the story is, it was spelled at some point like R-I-J-N or something. So, yeah, so it's Dutch, and yeah, nobody really knows how to say it, and I have learned to embrace that because also, you know, who doesn't want to be a reindeer? And, of course, when I was a kid and I got a cold or allergies, which I also have, I would be Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reinders. You know, it's great just to have like a built-in nickname.

[2:58] Alan Seales: Kids are the cruelest and the most creative in their cruelty. When you were a kid, though, where did you grow up, though? What got you into theater?

[3:07] Kate Reinders: I grew up in Michigan, Western Michigan. So, if you're looking at the Mitten, it is below the Pinky. I don't, whatever, you can see it. But, yes, so on the West Side, small town, but it was like a group of small towns. So, in the bigger city town, there was a Somerset theater called Cherry County Playhouse, which had been up in Traverse City, but then came down to Muskegon, Michigan. I'm actually from Spring Lake, but Muskegon, Michigan was the next, you know, town town. And, yeah, there was a Somerset theater and they did shows every summer. And one summer, I was doing a theater day camp because my mom, who knew me so well, said, oh, there's this day camp thing and you sing and you dance and you act and you make masks and you do miming or something.

I mean, it was just, it was everything. She said, it sounds like something you'd really be into. And I said, absolutely, sign me up. And the woman in charge of that then said to my mom, they're looking for kids for their production of Gypsy, starring Rita Moreno. And I was thinking, Kate should be in it. And that was the beginning of the rest of my life.

[4:23] Alan Seales: Rita Moreno. Wow. Yeah. So, you've worked with some big names, even from the very beginning. And I mean, at that point in your life, did you know how big of a deal that was to work with Rita Moreno?

[4:35] Kate Reinders: No, of course not. Because also, let's remember everybody, I am not a young spring chicken. I'm not an old, old hen. But when I was growing up there, you know, there wasn't Broadway.com and the podcasts and like all I knew about Broadway. Actually, I don't even know if I knew anything when I did Gypsy. All I knew was when we got a VHS player, which also nobody knows what that is. My dad rented two movies. And the first two movies he rented were Fiddler on the Roof and Yentl. And so and then every, I don't know if it was Easter, but we would watch Sound of Music whenever it came on TV. And then, of course, I like recorded it on a tape so that I could watch it whenever I wanted. But so I was just always drawn to musicals before I even knew what Broadway was. I just yeah, I just loved it. I spoke the language.

[5:31] Alan Seales: I guess, did you get to watch West Side Story? And then you go back and you're like, oh, Rita Moreno. Yeah, that was that person I did that thing with. She's on TV now.

[5:38] Kate Reinders: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. But I mean, she was so just down to earth and kind and just such a spitfire that yeah, she wasn't, you know, starry at all. So yeah, but when I watched it, I was like, whoa. And then when else was I starstruck? I did a tiny part in the movie while you were sleeping. And I, of course, hadn't seen any R-rated movies. So I had never seen Speed. I didn't know who Sandra Bullock was, but I worked with her, you know, just like did a couple scenes with her and then went home and got to watch Speed, which also started my Keanu Reeves obsession, you know, put him in my locker. But that's when I really was like, oh, she's a big star. And I talked to her like a normal person and she was really nice, like a normal person. And that is a little weird, I think, when you're like this magical movie world is actually made up of real people. But Rita is an EGOT. I mean, my first star is the hugest.

[6:42] Alan Seales: That's incredible. I think one of my one of my first stars that I worked with was was Casey Nicholaw. But before he was a star, he gave me my first professional gig, but I'll put in air quotes, was Paul Cervino, you know, from Dick Tracy. I did Fiddler with Paul Cervino. He was, all I remember from that is that he was really kind of shy and drank a lot of root beer, canned root beer.

[7:08] Kate Reinders: Canned root beer. Interesting. Sweet, but not caffeine. And what were you in Fiddler on the Roof?

[7:16] Alan Seales: I was the Fiddler.

[7:17] Kate Reinders: Of course you were! That's so awesome. Did you really play?

[7:23] Alan Seales: No, I played violin when I was a kid, but not enough to like play it, play it on stage. So I got cast partially for my ability to move, sit on a roof and act like I can realistically play a fiddle.

[7:35] Kate Reinders: I mean, that is the triple threat if I've ever heard one.

[7:37] Alan Seales: Right, right.

[7:38] Kate Reinders: So that's amazing. I played violin when I was little too, but I don't think I could have done those other things.

[7:43] Alan Seales: Well, climbing a ladder and sitting on a roof is not hard for a lot of people. So I think you could have done it.

[7:49] Kate Reinders: No, I don't know.

[7:51] Alan Seales: Made your Broadway debut in 2001, right? The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

[7:56] Kate Reinders: Yes.

[7:57] Alan Seales: And it's a Broadway debut. It's a special occasion. And I was reading all about this and it's like made a Broadway debut as a swing and an understudy. And I was like, well, you were both? You were swing and an understudy. So there's a couple of questions wrapped up in here. One is, you know you get cast, excitement, number one. You know the show's going to Broadway, excitement number two. And then as a swing and an understudy, like the show opens, does the excitement kind of just remain? You're like, what am I going on? What am I going on? What am I going to make my debut?

[8:26] Kate Reinders: Okay. Well, the story and the story of that show, Tom Sawyer, is that I, when actually when I was first cast for the workshop, I was cast in the ensemble to understudy Becky Thatcher. And then they called me and they said, so listen, you know, whatever, we're cutting or we have to trim things and we're getting rid of an ensemble, girl, boy, man, woman. And so, but we would like to keep you as the understudy, but now can you be off stage as the swing and cover all the girls? So of course, what did I say? I still get to be in the show. Yes. Yes. Whatever. Yes. I'm so excited. And so then I became the offstage thing. And then when we went out of town to New Haven, I actually did, I went on for all the ensemble girls, not Becky Thatcher, but, and that was when we were out of town.

So we were changing choreography every day, changing numbers. I mean, Joshua Park, our Tom Sawyer learned a whole new opening solo song one day and then just like put it in that night. I mean, things get crazy. But so the thing is though, when you say Broadway debut, do you mean in a show on Broadway or do you mean like step foot on a Broadway stage?

[9:39] Alan Seales: Because that's another question I have for you. Did you want to know what the difference is between an understudy and a swing?

[9:43] Kate Reinders: No, no. I know what an understudy and a swing is. I just, I guess it's unusual for me to hear someone who is both because a swing is a hard enough job. And then when you add in understudying or whatnot, I guess it sort of makes sense depending on how much the person you're understudying is actually out and how many other swings you have. But that seems like a hell of a lot of work.

[10:11] Kate Reinders: But you're right. But you're right. What were they going to do if Becky and one of the girls was sick? Well, there was another, Nicky James actually was the other Becky cover. So I would have gone on for the person she would have gone on for Becky. Who knows? The point is the show closed after two weeks. So we never got to find out.

[10:31] Alan Seales: It wasn't very long. So I guess for me, for me then to answer your question about Broadway debut, I guess going on stage for a paying audience after previews. Yes. Okay. We'll leave it at that. Paying audience after previews, Broadway stage.

[10:45] Kate Reinders: I was a pig.

[10:48] Alan Seales: You were the pig?

[10:48] Kate Reinders: I was a pig and into the woods. That was my Broadway debut. I know. I know. I know you're jealous and I know everyone is. But yes. So when I did the revival of into the woods and I again was supposed to be Snow White and then we went out of town to the Amundsen and they said, okay, so listen, so, so four out of town, we're just going to cut Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, but we're going to bring them back on Broadway. And I was like, uh-huh. Again, I'm still in the show. Great. And then I was Milky White at the Amundsen. But then this is when we were figuring out how to do Milky White with the puppetry and the things and the whatever. And I sort of got like carpal tunnel, couldn't turn my head.

And the puppeteer people had said, why are you doing this? It should be like a man, a gymnast or something. You are this tiny five foot two little, but you should not, you can't physically do this. And so then, um, then when we went to Broadway, Chad became Milky White and I switched places with him and became an offstage swing because he was the offstage cover of the men. So then I became the offstage cover of the women and yes, Snow White did not come back and I was again offstage. But when I went on, I went on for one of the three little pigs who runs after the wolf in Hello, Little Girl. And I bowed as a pig. And I remember thinking my dream has come true. In all seriousness, but like I am standing on a Broadway stage and I am bowing. And I said, I didn't, who cares that I was a pig. I was also on the Tonys as a pig with the brick though. I was the smart one.

[12:33] Alan Seales: So you, you've made your Broadway debut. You got, you, you had the applause, the roar of the audience and you went on the Broadway stage. I think that counts. It doesn't matter if you were second Bush from the left.

[12:44] Kate Reinders: Thank you very much. I agree.

[12:47] Alan Seales: I think, I think that's perfect. That's perfect. And then the next thing, right, was, was Gypsy, right? So am I getting the timeline right? Okay. So then you were June and it seems like from there you got shot out of a cannon because all of a sudden people know you're not just a pig.

[13:36] Kate Reinders: Between those two shows, I went to Minneapolis to do Frog and Toad at the Children's Theatre there. And so, I was there in Minneapolis, and it was the first anniversary of 9-11. And they asked me to do the callback for Gypsy and fly to London to meet Sam Mendes. The wonderful people at the Children's Theatre said, yes, you have to go. We're going to make costumes for your understudy right now. You're going to miss a couple shows. It's fine. We're taking you to the airport. We've got this. You've got this. Let's go. They brought me to the airport. There was nobody there. There was nobody on the plane because it was 9-11. It was so weird. And I got off the plane. I auditioned for Sam. He drove me back to the Donmar Warehouse office in his car, which had a car seat in it.

And I remember thinking, Kate Winslet's baby goes in that car seat. I was very excited. And then they sent me back to Minneapolis. And he told me, I got it. But yeah, I mean, I really did get shot out of a cannon. I was a pig. And then I went to Minneapolis and was a bird and a little frog and a squirrel, I think. And then, yeah. And then I got to be June. Then I got to be Bernadette Peters' daughter. June and Gypsy, Caroline in Good Vibrations. And so all of a sudden, you're just getting these leads. And I think at that point too, are you starting to move and transition into the TV sort of area? Because at that time, I don't know of a lot of actors who were doing that crossover just yet because there wasn't a lot of TV being shot in New York.

[15:13] Alan Seales: No, no, I wasn't. I mean, I was Broadway all the way. I didn't really start auditioning seriously for TV, I would say, until I did Wicked. But really what got me into TV, I think, was when I had my comedy duo, Tasty Skank. And that was with Sarah Litzinger. And she was Belle, and I was Glinda. And we made up Tasty Skank, which was, you guys, for those of you who don't know, which I can't imagine why you wouldn't, we were like Tenacious D with titties. We sang beautiful songs about dirty things. And it was hilarious. And we went to, yeah, so when we were done with our Broadway shows, we went to the Aspen Comedy Festival, the HBO Festival. And we actually won the breakout award there. This was in 2007, January of 2007.

So then we got a development deal with Sony. But then the writer's strike happened, and it was a whole big, long story. But so that is how I sort of, that's how I got my LA manager, who then got me a different agent, who then, I think, really, I mean, I think, yeah, TV, I don't know. I just, for me, personally, I felt like I needed to be in the room with people auditioning. And so for comedy, especially, and for me, that meant LA, really. So, I mean, even though the first TV show I did, the Sherry, you know, Sherry, starring Sherry Shepard, it shot in New York, but I auditioned for it in LA. And then it was awesome, because then I got to come home to do it.

[17:05] Kate Reinders: Oh, that's great. Side note, I actually have, I was going to ask you about Tastieskank, because I found record of it online. And I, until you just said it, I didn't know how to pronounce it. I was going to ask you what Tastieskank was. No, I know, there's reindeers, and there's Tastieskank. Tastieskank. Tastieskank. Listen, Tastieskank, yes, it's a made up word. But listen, it's because when we were making up our band, and we had just, we'd written two songs with our friend Paul Gordon, you know, who's an actual Tony nominated composer, a real amazing actual musician. No, but Sarah can write a hook like nobody's business. But we had written a couple songs with him. And so we were like, we wrote two songs, we're a band.

And we were in the hot tub at the Oakwood Apartments in Toluca Lake, because Jackie Pirro was going through there with some tour at the Pantages. I don't remember what show it was. But anyway, we were, we may have been drinking something in the hot tub. And she was like, well, what's the name of your band? If you have two songs, you need a name. And we were like something sweet and sour, something like naughty and nice. So you know, something tasty and skanky. And then we were like, Tastieskank, there you go.

[18:23] Alan Seales: I actually wanted to bring this up because Tastieskank, dirty comedy. You seem like a lady who's just real, not you don't sugarcoat it, right? But now you work for Disney. And, and I feel like Disney, nothing against Disney, but obviously that's family friendly, and they don't want you as like a big name in one of their shows to like have a band about dirty things, right? When you're auditioning for Disney, when any of this stuff is coming up, do they ask you about any of this? Or are they like, listen, Kate, we really need you to distance yourself from your skanky past. You know, I wondered about that. And they really have not said anything. And what's funny is that one of our Sony people works at Disney.

And I saw her after my final test. And she said, Oh, I and then you know, and then there you were Tastieskank Kate. But I don't know if she just kept the secret, or if they decided they didn't care. Or I don't know. But I was worried. And I'm so happy because the thing is, Tastieskank is yes, it's it's me, but it's a heightened version, right? It's an act. It's a joke. It's based on truth. But right. And then the thing is, though, me, you know, like Christian Girl from Michigan, mom, so much of me is Disney. That really like Miss Jen is so me, but heightened version. So yeah, so they're both me. And I'm just glad that Disney, you know, recognize that it was a joke. I mean, we have a comedy award.

So obviously, we're funny. We're very, very funny. It's a joke and a good one. But yeah, but I don't know. I don't think you know, it's also like when you have a kid, it's at some point, Luke is going to look stuff up. And I hope he's gonna say mommy was funny. And probably and mommy was cute. Hopefully, he'll say that. Don't worry. He'll say that. And then I'll get teased by his friends. And then, you know, that's going to cause a complex and such as parents. And that's me doing my job. And I'll just start saving for the therapy now.

[20:41] Alan Seales: As one should, I think we should. Yes, we should lobby for the government free therapy for all. Okay, so something you said that I didn't know about was the Christian background. I want to dig into that a little bit. Because the Christian girl in Michigan, I grew up in sort of the, I guess you would call it the Bible Belt of North Carolina, right? And, and for me, I always was sort of like, I was never in it from a young, young age. And I got in it in that scene when I had to to date girls, I couldn't, I wasn't allowed to date girls who I didn't go to church with, that their parents wouldn't let me, right. And so my whole, my whole view of this of religion in general is, is kind of skewed and, and a little bit unique.

We're going to take a short break. Stay tuned for more of the episode. You know, I want to hear your take on things and sort of how it's shaped who you are now. Because you said, like, obviously, Miss Jen is a heightened version of you. And Tasty Skank is another different heightened version of you, et cetera, et cetera. So where, how did you become you sort of balancing what I, I don't want to put words in your mouth. How did you balance what the expectations of being a Christian person is against theater and performing, which I feel like don't always go hand in hand?

[22:05] Kate Reinders: No, I, yeah. And I think I know what you're, what you're saying. Okay. So, yes. So very young. I mean, since I was born, Christian school, K through 12, church every Sunday. But if you notice my dad, the first two tapes he brought home were Fiddler on the Roof and Yentl. So, but the, but I was, yes, very, very sheltered in this tiny, like Christian reformed Dutch community. And then it was actually theater that opened my eyes and just kept opening them to the real world. And the producer of Cherry County Playhouse, Neil Rosen, was such a big influence on my life, such a mentor to me and yes, Jewish. And, and actually a big, a big defining moment in my life is when I first, when I went to the University of Michigan for a semester, but my first semester there, he passed away.

And, and I remember saying to my dad, sorry, but I remember saying to him, because Neil had fought cancer for a long time. And so when I was in high school, I said, okay, but dad, listen, Neil's a Jew and the best person I know. And so if he dies, and you know, everybody at school thinks, oh, he's going to hell or whatever. And I said, if that is true, I cannot believe in this God. If that is true, I I'm out. I mean, it doesn't make sense to me. And my dad said, well, the God that you know, do you think he is making rules to keep people, good people close to him? Or, or do you think he's making rules to keep them out, away from him? And so then, you know, then that helped. And I said, okay. And then, but like I said, theater really opened my eyes too, because that's where I remember coming home one summer and saying, this guy has a boyfriend who came to visit him.

What's, what's that? Like, he's so cute and nice. And he has a boyfriend, but he's a boy. And my dad said, well, that's, you know, that's what this is. And I was like, oh, and it's great. And they're very nice. And yeah, so it was a little bit, I don't know what to call it, like whiplashy, but you know, to be at school and be sort of taught these people, these others are not like us and they're wrong and whatever, and then go to theater. And, and also at the, in the theater, that's where I was loved for, I was very, I was a very late bloomer. I was very, very small for my age. I was very talkative, you know, like I kept getting the report cards like, she's very bright, but she talks too much.

But all those things in theater, they were embraced and, you know, celebrated. And so really I felt better about myself in theater. I loved all these people. They seemed kinder. They seemed like the kindest people I'd ever met. And actually, I always said too, I felt like I really saw God, like saw God's hand and saw God at work and the people who, I guess, I don't want to say like who weren't Christian, but, but maybe where, where I wasn't taught to expect to see it.

[25:21] Alan Seales: Right, right. Yeah.

[25:22] Kate Reinders: Does that make sense?

[25:24] Alan Seales: Absolutely. It absolutely does. And I think it's, it's kind of the creation, right? It's, what did somebody say to me the other day? It's like, God, God didn't, God created people in his image, but that the meaning behind that is not walking upright, two arms, two legs. It's, it's the ability to create. So this deity created beings who can continue to create.

[25:48] Kate Reinders: Yes.

[25:49] Alan Seales: And to me, and I've said this so many times on this podcast, to me, my spirituality, I'm not a religious person at all. And my spirituality though, is, is sitting in a theater with a thousand of your closest strangers and, or more, and all feeling the same thing at the same time and going on a journey together without, like, I'm getting goosebumps talking about this right now. That, that, yeah, that, that's my spirituality. Like walking in and walking to a room and immediately being connected with somebody or sitting in an audience and feeling the presence of everyone or just starting to cry because 50 people around you are crying. That's, it's, that's what to me makes us unique and makes us God-like.

[26:37] Kate Reinders: Yes, I absolutely agree with you. And I think that's, that's it too, is that I was raised in this one, this very religious way, but it was away from the actual religion part that that's where I felt spiritual as well. And yeah, I mean, there's nothing like the first time you hear the orchestra play the Overture, especially of Gypsy, right. And, and, and these kids, like these kids that I work with, I remember like Dara, Renee was singing one day, cause they all just like, you know, just like Joe will play and they'll sing. But I thought, yes, there's no way you can listen to her, watch her sing. And

[27:14] Kate Reinders: So, yes, that's where I see it, too. That's where I feel it, too. It's vibrations. Everything to me is vibrations. It's rhythmic. It's the circular. I mean, we're getting off on so many tangents. I love it. I love this stuff. It's the rhythm of the moon revolving on the earth, the rhythm of the tides, the rhythm of our heartbeat, the literal rhythm of music, the rhythm of sex, the rhythm of all of this is what brings us together with life. The rhythm of the city when you're outside and you just feel the ebbs and the flows of everything. And somebody who, one of my friends who goes to school for, she calls herself an audiophile. I forget what her actual degree is in, but she said that our heartbeats try to synchronize with bass lines.

Cool. Right? Yeah. So, that's why people are really drawn to that rhythm. They like that deep bass. You know, the oomph, oomph, oomph of a club, right? Yeah, because you feel it through your body. Right, right, right. So, when she told me that, I was blown away because I was like, yeah, that's what, in my head, I'm always singing the bass line. Because I grew up singing bass and baritone, anyway.

[28:27] Alan Seales: Me, too.

[28:28] Kate Reinders: You sound like it. Yeah, you definitely sound like it. So, yeah, I thought that was interesting. So, high school musical. So, the musical, the series, it's a very meta show. I love it. It's like, let's see, it's docu-style elements, and it's got some real life. So, you're actually filming in Salt Lake City, right, where the movie was filmed, the original movie?

[28:53] Kate Reinders: Yes, that's right. In the high school where the movie was filmed.

[28:56] Alan Seales: So, is it an active high school, though, or it's the set?

[28:59] Kate Reinders: It is. Well, I mean, yes, it is an active high school. And then this year with the pandemic, it wasn't. And then that was tricky. But it's back. But now I think it's over, because it's June. Yeah, no, we were in there, but we also have a set as well.

[29:17] Alan Seales: So, there are actual classes and kids and everything going on, and they're like, yeah.

[29:21] Kate Reinders: Well, we try to do it on the weekends.

[29:23] Alan Seales: Really?

[29:24] Kate Reinders: We would try to shoot on the weekends. So, we would have a weird, I mean, not weird to me, right, to work on the weekends. But I guess we would do Wednesday through Sunday. But then the kids would still rehearse on Monday and Tuesday.

[29:34] Alan Seales: Right. Okay. So, what did you do for the rest of the week then? Like, you're hanging out in Salt Lake City.

[29:38] Kate Reinders: We would shoot. Well, we have, yeah, we have sets also in this big building. So, they have also built some school sets. So, like a hallway, my office, now the AV room, the rehearsal room. I hope I'm not ruining the magic for anybody. But no, but when you do go to the school, I mean, that is the cafeteria. That is the theater.

[30:03] Alan Seales: Have you seen the movie before you auditioned for it?

[30:08] Kate Reinders: You know, I was a little bit... Well, I guess I was right the age, but I was a little bit older. I didn't really watch the movies until they were making the movie into the first Colin, the musical, high school musical, the musical. And they were making it the stage version. And they had me play Sharpay in the workshops. And I was Glinda at the time. So, I did my research. And yes, I watched them. And I thought they were so fun.

[30:35] Alan Seales: Well, it's so much fun to me to see. I mean, this to me is sort of like a continuation of Glee because I grew up watching a lot of Glee. And for me to see sort of this younger generation, Glee for me was right. Gosh, it was like when YouTube was coming out and social media hadn't been out yet. It hasn't been invented yet, really. And now everyone can be a musical theater star on TikTok. Or they can do duets with their favorite Broadway stars and everything.

[31:09] Kate Reinders: I know. I know.

[31:10] Alan Seales: For me, though, Glee inspired so many people to get into performing, to get into musical theater. And the people in the Midwest who may never get the opportunity to come to New York, or even in New York, who may never be able to afford a Broadway ticket, which is another problem. These kids, they found that there are other people like them. And so now High School Musical, the musical, the series, to me is sort of continuing what Glee sort of started for me in that it's exposing yet another group of the next generation to what they can become.

[31:52] Kate Reinders: Do you love us as much as you loved Glee?

[31:54] Alan Seales: For me, Glee has a nostalgia that, I have to say, wore off by the end of the series.

[32:01] Kate Reinders: Okay. Okay.

[32:02] Alan Seales: But the original was, it was very unique. It was very different. And but then this High School Musical, the musical, the series.

[32:12] Kate Reinders: How many colons can you put in a title?

[32:15] Alan Seales: More. We're going to put more.

[32:16] Kate Reinders: Good. The sequel.

[32:17] Alan Seales: And then I think colon like the Miss Jen story. Colon. Starring Kate Reinders.

[32:22] Kate Reinders: Colon. Three-year-old spinoff.

[32:24] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[32:24] Kate Reinders: Yes. For me, I think it, now that I'm a parent, I approach it from a different lens because I'm trying to, I'm trying to expose my kids to things that I want, that I want them to hold on to, to something and figure out what they're going to gravitate towards. Like I gravitated towards Glee. Like I gravitated towards Music Man and West Side Story. And the other VHS tapes that I watched when I was a kid. So, you know, right now, I got two boys. Everything is Pokemon, but they love to sing. They love, they love the soundtrack to Frozen 2. Not one, for whatever reason, but Frozen 2.

[33:03] Alan Seales: Oh, a little darker.

[33:04] Kate Reinders: I know, a little darker. Yeah, I hear my six-year-old in the shower going, you know, just doing that. I'm like, oh, he's singing Frozen again. But yeah, I think it is doing that. And I think it, everything that is like this, that shows peers, kids of the same age as them, doing, you know, I guess doing this, what other people or what they feel like they want to do, what they feel like they need to be doing. And there's a people, there's a people, there's a group of people that I believe have a real natural, again, going back to spirituality, right? Have a calling towards having to perform, toward having to sing. And if they feel drawn to this, but they're in a community or a family even, that doesn't support this or doesn't even know about it.

And then on demand now, it's not just like tune in at eight o'clock on NBC. It's on demand, in your pocket, take it with you everywhere you want. You can just sit down by yourself and connect with these characters and connect with these actors who now you can access through social media anyway.

[34:15] Alan Seales: I know it is a different world.

[34:19] Kate Reinders: Do you? I, I don't know. I don't know if it would have been good for me at that age. However, the kids you're talking about who watch our show, I want to be there for them. I want to be accessible to them. I want to encourage them. I want to support them. So I, I do love Instagram and that I feel like I can be there, you know, to be the teacher that we all wish we had. I mean, I had a great teacher. I don't know if you did, but, but yeah, I agree with you that there are kids that, that I'm so happy we're reaching them.

[34:56] Alan Seales: Do you have, do you have people reaching out to you? Do you have kids reaching out to you or even parents, I guess, who were like,

[35:01] Kate Reinders: um, well, yeah, well, you know, I, um, so funny because my friend told me to join Cameo and I said, oh, but I don't, nobody wants to hear from me. Why would I, I don't want to talk. Nobody wants to talk to me. What do I have to say? And then I talked to Jason Earles who, you know, he works on our show and he is really the glue that holds us all together. And, um, and I'm a little obsessed with him. He played Miley Cyrus, his older brother on Hannah Montana, in case you didn't know. But of course I didn't know because I was too old to know, but all the kids knew. And he's just, he's just, I mean, he's the camp counselor or, and the drama teacher and the, and my, he supports me and my codependency.

But, um, he said to me, he said, well, why would you do Cameo? And I said, well, to, to give kids encouragement, to give them advice or to answer questions they have or, and he said, okay, well, if that's what, I mean, do you want to do that? And I said, yes, of course I want to talk to the kids. Like I would want to do, you know, a mass, not a masterclass, but like, yes, open up the Zoom, let the kids ask me whatever they want to know. So I did. So I signed up for it. And yes, it's like, it's parents and it's younger kids, but it's also, it's a mix of people who like Ms. Jen, who relate to Ms. Jen or who feel inspired by her. And, and yeah, and I love talking to them. There are so many people out there that want to understand.

I mean, that's why this podcast exists for, for me, in my mind, it's people want to know why the people, why and how the people they look up to got to where they are and how they maintain that and how they maintain their success and their stress and all the things that, that they feel, that make them feel alone to know that they're not, to know that it's normal to feel down, to know that it's normal to have anxiety. It's normal to, to feel bad after your 10th rejection, after your 10th audition, right? This is all normal stuff, but nobody wants to talk about it. Nobody wants to talk about any of this because now going back to social media, all you want to post are the happy times. You want to make people want to be you to feel better because you're feeling bad, because you can't relate to other people.

It's this nasty cycle. So obviously, as we're recording this, season two is still being released of High School Musical, the musical, the series on Disney Plus. And so go check that out. And now I want to wrap up with the three standard closing questions that I asked everybody to wrap up the episodes. The first one, very simply, is what motivates you?

[37:33] Kate Reinders: What does motivate me? Well, I would say it used to be that I always wanted to be part of, I wanted to be part of the best thing, the most magic, you know, get to be a part of that story being told. But now I guess what motivates me is, yeah, my son wanting to make his world a great place.

[37:59] Alan Seales: I like that. All right. So the next question then is what advice would you give to your younger self and younger people listening now starting out down a similar path?

[38:07] Kate Reinders: I would say that the more you can know who you are and the more you can be confident in who you are, the better. And hold on to that because it's coming at you every which way, who people think you should be, who you think you should be, especially now comparing yourself to other people. But it's the stuff that's unique about you that makes you special, makes you a wonderful friend, makes you a wonderful performer, makes you a great person. And so just really try to figure that out and hold on to it. So easy to start slipping.

[38:46] Alan Seales: All right. So hardest question here. Last one is if you could only see one show for the rest of your life, you can see it as many times as you want. What would you see?

[38:52] Kate Reinders: Is it the same cast?

[38:57] Alan Seales: Up to you.

[38:58] Kate Reinders: Is it all different things? So let's see. So the same cast, the same show, just over and over again. You're stuck on a desert island with a VHS player, one tape and power. What would you watch?

[39:08] Kate Reinders: I mean, I guess I've already done that in my childhood. Yeah, VHS.

[39:13] Alan Seales: Yeah. And a tape player.

[39:16] Kate Reinders: Mary Poppins. Always over and over and over.

[39:20] Alan Seales: Oh, I love that.

[39:22] Kate Reinders: I watch that a lot. That and Bed, Nights, and Broomsticks. Those are my two old classics.

[39:26] Alan Seales: Yeah, that was good, too.

[39:27] Kate Reinders: But I mean, I think I saw Mary Poppins, though. It was one of the first things I saw. And I did. I was just, you know, her singing, her voice, the magic. And I was like, when is that nanny coming to my house? Just looking out the window. I want happiness, too. I want to jump into the chalk drawing. I want to fly a kite. Someone take me outside.

[39:53] Alan Seales: Yeah, I get that.

[39:54] Kate Reinders: All right. And Dick Van Dyke.

[39:56] Alan Seales: Oh, of course, Dick Van Dyke.

[39:58] Kate Reinders: So where can we find you online on social media?

[40:01] Kate Reinders: At Kate Reinders is my Instagram. And yeah, and you can be my friend on Facebook, I think. But I also don't really do that.

[40:10] Alan Seales: OK, so Instagram it is.

[40:11] Kate Reinders: I guess so. You can get more of me at the theater podcast dot com. I'm on Instagram. I know my Twitter password. I'm at theater underscore podcast. Please leave a rating, a review. Share the podcast. Share this word. Watch High School Musical, the series. Wait, did I say that right? Watch High School Musical, the musical, the series. There we go. On Disney Plus. Thank you to Jukebox the Ghost for the intro after music. And Kate, thank you so much. I've had so much fun talking to you today.

[40:39] Kate Reinders: I know, me too.

[40:45] Kate Reinders: Take a deep breath. Make the world a little colorful.