Everybody welcome Dara Reneé! From her breakout role on High School Musical: The Musical: The Series to Descendants: The Rise of Red, Dara opens up about growing up on set, navigating mental health, and the journey to owning her power. It’s a hilarious, emotional, inspiring ride through Broadway dreams, Disney magic, and the deep inner work it takes to truly love yourself.
Episode Breakdown:
00:00 – Intro and catch up!
04:00- Dara’s here!
05:00 – Being homeschooled, raised by a single mom, and growing up backstage. Dara shares her early years of performing (and Beyoncé karaoke)
8:30 - Early Broadway auditions
10:15 – Auditioning for HSMTMTS with no agent, no reel, and no clue she was about to book her breakout role
19:30 - One year later: Freaky Friday reboot and still no HSMTMTS
20:45 - Working on “Black-ish”
25:00 – Origins of HSMTMTS and auditioning for every role except Courtney
27:45 - Callbacks with Olivia Rodrigo, Joshua Bassett, and Sofia Wylie and booking the show!
31:30 - Dara’s relationship with Olivia Rodrigo
32:30 - Kylie Cantrall and wanting to be the best big sister in the business
34:00 - OG High School musical lore
36:30 - Overcoming anxiety both in real life and on-screen
39:00 - Dara’s actual mom playing her mom on TV
40:30 - How HSMTMTS evolved over the 4 seasons
43:30 - Working on Descendants: The Rise of Red
45:00 - The infamous Josh Colley fire alarm story
48:30 - Favorite moments from Descendants
52:00 - Dara’s acting process
53:00 - Upcoming Descendants/Zombies tour!
58:00 - Game time: blind ranking disney channel theme songs!
Follow Dara Reneé:
Watch Descendants: The Rise of Red and stream her music everywhere.
Follow @dararenee on social for all the sparkle.
Follow the Hosts:
@AnthonyGargiula
@ JonathanTilkin
@CounterMelodiesPod
Listen and Watch:
https://pods.to/countermelodies
Credits:
Executive Producer / Showrunner / Editor: Louis Gargiula
Consulting Producer: Renée Colvert
