'High School Musical: The Musical: The Series' star Dara Renee says the show brings 'nostalgia back to the original'
'High School Musical: The Musical: The Series' is halfway through Season 1 and with all the constant drama between Nini (Olivia Rodrigo), EJ (Matt Cornett), Ricky (Joshua Bassett) and Gina (Sofia Wylie), not just in their relationships but even in their personal lives, the series is on a full-swing.
Though Nini is having trouble when it comes to relationships, she always has one person right beside her throughout her ups and downs, and that is none other than Kourtney, her best friend.
Kourtney is Nini's best friend and is in charge of the costumes for the school's winter play of 'High School Musical: The Musical'. Kourtney is played by 19-year-old Dara Renee who has also starred in 'Black-ish' and played the role of Savannah in Disney's Freaky Friday.
In an exclusive interview with MEA WorldWide (MEAWW), she spoke about her thoughts on the mockumentary style of the series, and how she bonded with the rest of the cast members when they were shooting the series.
Talking about how she got the part of Kourtney, Dara revealed, "I went on an open casting call cause I know they don't know me and they're not gonna call me in. At first, people were like, you shouldn't go to that. It's going to be like 5,000 people there. And they were right."
She continued, "So I eventually got in, I was a part of the 10 and they ended up not doing anything with that particular script. They kept trying and kept remaking and kept finding that one perfect thing. Then they called me back and I went for every character except for my own"
Renee added, "And finally, they were like, Hmm, can you read Kourtney really quick? And Kourtney didn't have anyone, she was just like, just a one-line, three-line, hit wonder. And I read it and I added my own improv and they were like, yeah. You're kind of darn good."
Sharing her thoughts on the mockumentary style of the series, Dara said, "So it's filmed like 'The Office' and 'American Vandal'. Personally, I'm such a huge fan of 'The Office', 'American Vandal', 'Parks and Rec'."
"And as soon as I read that I was like, 'How are you going to do that? It's teenagers. How are they going to catch all our expressions?' But they did it and I feel a lot more people can relate to it now that they feel," Renee added.
She continued, "I think it definitely brings in an older audience. Just to kind of, someone that can always still relate to it and brings nostalgia back to the original."
Prior to shooting the series, she revealed how the entire cast bonded. After they were basically locked up in a room, Renee shared, "I know it was weird cause we would all be put together. But we kind of just learned our differences and similarities and we really got close."
"And I feel like it's so important to have those bonding moments cause that really glued us together. And I'm so grateful to Tim and everyone else. We're all teenagers, so we needed to get to know each other."
Talking about her character and what she thinks it has in common with the original cast, Renee shared, "Well, I'm going to say I think that most of the characters in the show are completely original, and I feel that all of my cast members do a really good job at differentiating, y'all know what I'm saying?"
'High School Musical: The Musical: The Series' season 1 airs every Friday on Disney Plus.