November 19, 2025 • 51 mins
Robert Curtis Brown joins Bart Johnson to talk about playing the role of Mr. Evans in High School Musical 2 & 3!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey Wildcats, this is Bart Johnson and you're listening to
gig your Head in the Game.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hi. Everyone, welcome back to gig Yourhead in the Game.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Today's guest is someone high school musical fans will recognize
as mister Evans, who plays the proud dad of Sharpay
and Ryan Evans. But beyond Lava Springs, he's had a
fascinating career both off and on the screen. I'm thrilled
to dive into his experiences filming high school musical. Here's
some behind the scenes stories and catch up on what
(00:34):
he's been up.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Two cents. Please welcome my friend, my brother Robert Curtis Brown.
No way, come on, oh way, Yeah, I knew you're
you know what.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
I knew you were going to get a nice button
I'm shirt. Look at all sharks like, look at it
like an Evans.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
I like I would know I was going through my
claws and looking for the Vands Evans shirt. I don't
think I was not really like.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I've been wearing like a butt up shirt for those
you know, I'm gonna go coach on this one because
I know, I know, you know, Advance is gonna go
all to look a sharp.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
You've got, you got, you've got to represent it, right.
I looked for the club I was. I don't think
they make that shirt anymore. That was a while ago.
Is that did you wear something you wore something like that?
I guess you always striped? Yeah, real crazy big stripes
and big big stuff, big big looks. Are you handsome boy?
I'm good man, I'm so good, So good to see you. Likewise,
(01:30):
it's been too long, man, it has been too long.
It's so great to have you. Robert Curtis Brown, my friend.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
It was so nice to have you, Like when you
rolled up on on the movie. I got a friend,
I got this one. I love another adult another dad. Well, welcome,
welcome to the podcast, Robert. So great to have you, man,
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Glad to be here, happy to see your face.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yeah, but people don't know is that we are really
our friends in real life? Hell yeah, met on the movie,
but like instantly, like right, right, do you remember what
that was?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
By the way, let's go back.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I want to hear first of all, Robert, it's an
honor to have you here, one of the one of
the Evans family. Here where Sharpey gets all her stuff.
From I think credit for any.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Of that stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
But man, it was so so awesome to have you
in the movies. I was so excited to have You've
done a million things before the movie, You've done a
million things after the movie. It's so fun to see
you popping up on TV and movies all the time.
For me, all the time, it's always like, hey, I
love it.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, well, I know we're going to talk about We'll
talk about all that.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
But of course this podcast is dedicated to all the
fans out there for twenty years of being the most
incredible fans, my family, my East High family as I
call them.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Well, I just want to do something special, So I
want to bring in, like all the family members that
were part of this franchise that contribute to the Wildcat universe.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
And we couldn't do it without you.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
So thank you for being a part of a big
thank you for twenty years to our peeps.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Thanks man.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, but let's let's bring it back to the beginning.
You've got you were deep into your career before you
got this phone call. I know you've done a minie
that you have over one hundred and twenty credits. I've
been looking him up and going. Man, some of my
favorite shows.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
By the way, very fortunate, very fun.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Can you tell me like, let's just for the people.
This is all questions for for peeps, like how did it?
How did this start?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
For you? This? Yeah, this started. This was really a
wild little intersection of of of of a lot of things.
I I got the call to read for Mark Taylor's part.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Oh yeah, okay, but Judy Taylor, of course is the
head of talent for Disney Channel.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
She was awesome.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
She was really instrumental getting all the right pieces and
people involved, and her husband is.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Just perfect for this character. You read the part for
Fulton Fulton, yes, right, for that first Yeah, so that
was the part I was actually in for. And I
remember going to to read and we read the part,
and then Kenny or Tega, our director, asked if I sang.
(04:21):
And I hadn't really prepared much, but I said sure, yeah,
I do. I sing, and he goes, you know, give
me something, So I sang on the spot, on the spot,
sang something from pal Joey. I think it's from Pal Joey.
A little bit of me and a whole lot of
(04:41):
you had a dash of starlight and a dozen roses too,
then let it rise for one hundred years or two.
And that's the recipe right too. And it's a little
bouncy and it's it's a sweet little song. So I
sang the song and he goes read these other pages.
(05:02):
So I went out into the lobby and I sat there,
and you know, you're given five minutes to look over
the material. Came back in and it went really well,
and we had just a blast in the room, and
Kenny couldn't have been sweeter. And those both sides were
for mister Evans. Evans now mister Evans in I School
(05:26):
Musical two was really wonderful character with a wonderful entrance
and a big, nice storyline. So I was happy with
the opportunity. But who knows. The night I auditioned, we
happened to have tickets for the high school musical concert,
(05:48):
the music concert, music concert. Ah. So we went to
the concert and afterwards we lined up because my daughter
who was nine at the time, perfect age, perfect dad,
she wanted to meet all the characters. And they had
(06:10):
this big table and lines of you know, walk along
and sign the programs and all that stuff. And I'm
walking down this line with my nine year old thinking
I might be playing their father. Yea, they have no
idea and they have no idea, and I'm certainly not
gonna say anything. But it was like I'm sitting there
(06:32):
with you know, with with my kids and with Ashley
and with Lucas, thinking should I say something to them,
I might be your dad. That's just a weird line.
That's a weird line. It's gonna like, you know, I
don't know what that's gonna get. It's gonna get you
thurity to haul you off. Let's not do that. Let's
(06:54):
just play this, you know, straight, and.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
They might not even know you were there was a
dad involved in number two. Have no idea, you have
the script public before they did. At this point, they
could very well be just kept going.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
And then like two days later I learned that, uh,
that I had gotten the part, and and beside myself
it was so much fun. And then and then of
course we had this you know, amazing experience in Utah
in Saint George shooting the movie and this beautiful, beautiful
golf resort, and it was just glorious. It was glad.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah, by the way that I was at the concert,
it was so fun because you see, like all these
it's la it's a different experience, right, So all these
like big celebrities and filmmakers. I met Kevin Smith there,
like one of my hero filmmakers, right because their daughters.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
This is what you do.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Many exactly, that's a great it's a great time to
meet everybody.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Oh my gosh, it was such a such a phenom
at that point. You know, it was like such a
such a crazy event, and it was packed and it
was high energy, and the show was really fantastic. And
the thing I realized in doing the listening to going
to the concert, listening to them is that these kids
like they're the real deal. I mean, they really had
(08:11):
the goods. They had the talent and the chops and
the dancing and they're singing and all of it. So
I thought, wow, there's nothing, you know, there's nothing pretending.
These guys are really good. Yeah, that's a talented group.
Judy Taylor, I mean, and ever all the.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Casting people, Kenny finds these super talented kids that just
are are so you know, I don't know if you
feel so. Sometimes I'll go to a Broadway show and
it's like they're either really good actors or they're really
good singers. They're usually not both, you know, so when
you find both and then they're so charming. Like we're
just talking about Zach and Vanessa. They were so charming
(08:47):
when they were together. It's just like electricsiss, Like those
two were so sweet.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Yeah, yeah, thank you and yeah. I mean so all
of them were just so lovely and so talented, and
I thought, wow, did jump been to this pool? Is
pretty uh pretty special now?
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Yeah, so that's let's talk about that. So you were
you it was just that one meeting with Kenny I
was in.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yes, that it may have been. There may have been
like a pre thing with Judy Taylor. I'm thinking there
may have been something, uh something earlier.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
You done any Disney Channel stuff like did you know
I didn't know really Judy before No, I had.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Done let me think I'd done uh several you know,
something a show called Kicking It, okay, called the Thunderman's
but I think that's on the Nickel after Okay, yeah,
it was after one anyway. Yeah, right, right, So, so
there were a few kids shows that I sort of
had had had been in on.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yeah, I tested for Thundermans by the way to be
the dub dad. Yeah, it was me at There's Three
was like back and above, like it was an all
day event. Oh I have been a fun show.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Yeah, it was fun. It was the back. Yeah, some
some talent on that show as well. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
And then till two days later you get the phone
call and you're like, you're Sharpay's dad, Oh my god.
And by then she's iconic, like everybody loves shar Pei.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Iconic, iconic, and and so I told my daughter this
was happening. She was finishing school at a place called
Ocean Charter down in Culver City, sort of you know,
a Waldorf Fie kind of school, but there were plans
to move them to our local homeschool, the public school,
(10:37):
and so over the summer while the movie was set
to come out and was switching schools landed at Grant
Elementary School. And her dad, who's dropping her off every morning,
Sharpay's dad. It was nuts every morning dropping her off
(11:01):
at elementary school. So it created quite a stir and
m came home one day, I'll never forget it. And
she came home she goes, I have too many friends,
so a nice problem to have.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah, yeah, I had kids in elementary school then as well,
and you know you.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Can't walk them in, No, can't do that anymore. Yeah,
it was pretty It was pretty crazy thinking a rock
started these like seven year old kids. Yeah, and I
knew that, you know. I mean I've been doing a
lot of stuff and done some nice projects and stuff,
but that being a part of that phenomenon was so
completely different from anything else I had sort of touched on. Yeah,
(11:44):
I mean some big movies, well known movies and working
with big people, but that kind of that kind of
like cultural yeah, milestone. I mean it was such a
huge hit. And to be involved in the second one.
I mean, my character, as you wis, was not in
the first one, but the first one really set the
(12:05):
table and they got then. I'm sure when Disney realized
they had this, you know, this massive hit on their hands,
it was like, let's make a few more. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Yeah, I think it's a it's a great compliment to
Ashley and to Lucas too, like let's go fill out
there because you can't do that with all the characters,
but like the more interesting characters, like let's take a
look at their universe a little bit that happens a
lot on a series like what was their family?
Speaker 2 (12:30):
You guys are so great. Jessica Tuck, who played my wife,
who was, Oh, yeah, and she's you know, she lives
two blocks from me and we you know, she's a neighbor.
Was she then like, yeah, that's great, that's great. In fact,
the house that she lives in was a house we
(12:52):
we almost bought when we when we when we moved
to to this part of Santa Monica. So anyway, a
really small world. And then we wound up his husband
and wife in that great movie. Amazing, amazing. Yeah, you
guys are so perfect together. I was.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I thought, always think it's funny like talking to some
of the cast and and getting to know like like
I'm like, I coach a lot, like I've been coaching
the last fourteen years on my three Kids volunteer coat.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I don't do stuff that pays money. I only do
stuff that there is a rule I have.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
It's got to cost money and no rewards please.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Uh no money?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Right, Yeah, that's yeah. My wife loves that plan. But
you know, because so like when I play coach, it
feels like, oh this is easy. I could do this
in my sleep. Man, Like a coach. Is this authentic?
And I always got a kick out of you, like
of where, like like where you went to school?
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Rehybie were you where'd you go to school? To college? Yeah?
I went to Yale to.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Yale, kid, that's what I remember. I was thinking if
I I remember that correctly? And then your kids carry
on this tradition and they went where right?
Speaker 2 (13:50):
But I went to Yale after Yale? Yeah, id about
eight years ago. I love.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
That is exactly what I want to see from from
Vance Evans.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
You got to carry on my legacy, baby, But.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
You know you pull that, you know, like missus Darbus,
she's she was on Broadway with Kenny and you know,
to bring all her Broadway drama. It's like, there's God,
there's stuff to mine out of our real lives, you know,
totally totally you're doing that.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Yeah, yeah, and that that whole I mean, you know,
I grew up in a you know, very middle class family,
but then you land in a place that's where there
are a.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Lot of pretty pretty well off kids. You know, you
getta you get a taste of a very different world.
So yeah, it was eye opening. Yeah, yeah, oh that's great.
Well you you did a great job of bringing that
kind of waspiness to right now.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
So when we when we work together, I'm trying to
remember what when we were Do you remember when we
were in the basketball we had that was number two,
those number two when we had our scene together, right.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yeah, right when we were watching the basketball practice and
the boot were all there.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, I've been watching the boys play,
right And and do you know this is like become
a trivia now because I'll for a while, I think
it's more known now. But everybody wondered like if I
had a first name, like does coach have a first name?
And the only time my name is mentioned is from
you in that scene. Oh yeah, it's the only time
(15:19):
in all three movies other than that, I'm coach man.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
That's it. I'm trying to remember what I called you.
You call me Jack Jack? Hey Jack, you go to
see the Jack or something that Jack Bolton. That's a
good name, is a great name.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
I'm so glad you said it, though, because if you
did it then it would be up for debate forever.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah yeah, oh, thank you, thank you for that. Well
you got it. There's another funny naming story in that movie.
The naming story is there's a big dinner scene we
have at the club with Troy and Sharpey and another couple,
and the other couple in the script, I can't remember
what their names were, but I went to Ken and
(16:01):
I asked him if he wouldn't mind if I changed
their names. Uh. He said, what do you want to use?
I said, I want to use Peter and Claire, which
are kind of waspy names right a little bit on
the side. They happen to be my kids middle names. Uh. Oh.
I stuck them in the movie a little a little
nods of my kids, and Kenny was digging it. So
(16:21):
I love it. I love that. Yeah, a little another
little Easter egg in High School musical too. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Well, we're always talking to Peter Barsacini on here. Those
are our screenwriter, and his daughter's name is Gabriella, and
Alicias his niece.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
I think. So there's like, you know, there's some fun
little references. Yeah, the fun references there.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
But that is that is a Kenny though, because Kenny
so but he's like, let me hear the name first.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
I'm not going to compromise on Okay, it's gotta gotta
have the right music, right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Okay, So then, well so we did do you remember
I think we shot that in Did we shoot that
in Salt Lake?
Speaker 2 (16:55):
When we did the.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Basketball I think it was back at Salt Lake for
for that, because because the movie was mostly shot down
to Saint George, right, which I think you did the
dinner scene. You probably did the dinner scene down to
Saint George in Toronto.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
The outdoor, you know, the final the big final number
was we did the number that?
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Yeah, the big uh what was it called? The big competition?
All the fans are gonna kill us. We don't come
up with it. Do you remember what it is? Star
dazzled Star Dazzle Award, Dazzle Award thing, go baby.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
I guess it was just the Showcase. Maybe they didn't
have a name for this club, the sort of club showcase,
right yeah. Yeah, mister had won for the last fifteen years. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly,
never lost, right, Yeah. We did those and we did
all the obviously all the golfing scene, and the best
was the you know, the helicopter landing on the first team.
(17:43):
That's I forgot about that. My favorite entrance of all time.
I mean, you had a helicopter, man, you do it
all right.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
It's like walking away from flames blowing up, you know,
it's at that level.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
That was the second choice, right exactly. Helicopter Another That
was another hilarious small world story because at the time
the movie came out, my daughter had begun learning the
french horn, and so we found this wonderful teacher who
a couple people had recommended. He was coming to the
house and they were playing for weeks and weeks, and
(18:18):
she was getting pretty good. And one day he comes
in and he goes, do you know that scene in
High School Musical two where the helicopter lands and there's
that big french horn solo, which is your entrance song?
He said, I was the guy who played that on
the track Get Out of Here. I had no idea
(18:41):
this guy is in my living room who had played
the french horn part for the I'm not kidding. It
was like, you've got to be I mean, la is
filled with wonderful musicians, but the fact that the living
room crow to play the same inst it was kind
of a trip. Ah. That's amazing. Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Smoke amazing that that that place where you landed and Trada.
Was that that country club down there? Man, that place
is awesome.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Huh beautiful. David David Hall. I'm mentioning his name because
he's such a wonderful guy. He was the manager of
the club and a couple of times we had spoken
and met while we were shooting the scenes and stuff,
and he goes, you know, if you ever want to
come out and you want to play ever on a
day off, you know, please, you know, let me okay,
(19:30):
And I got I got that club. I think I
broke the club record. Ah wow for lost ball. Oh yeah,
I mean thousands. I think you had to play together.
Fair ways were about that wide. My recommend they're about
six inches wide. It was brutal, there was, but a
(19:55):
spectacularly beautiful course. All David Hall was so was so
kind to us, uh to uh to set us up
to play some golf. All that's nice.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
We should you and I should go do ah do
a round out there for the for the twentieth Oh heck.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Yeah, he would love And I'm still in touch with
him actually, Oh cool, yeah with them? Yeah yeah, we
can recreate the Zach's dance a dance splash the water yes,
all the good stuff.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Okay, so let me ask you a couple of things
about that movie. Do you have a favorite scene? Like
what what did you enjoy the most?
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Wow, it's always fun.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Like locationally, I don't know, but how you feel about location,
it's a lot of the fun gets sucked away when
you have kids. You just want to be home with
your kids. But other than that, like location, vacation is
pretty nice.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Go shoot somewhere fun, pretty fantastic. And that part of
Utah is so beautiful. It actually coincided part of the
shooting schedule, coinciding with my daughter's spring break, so I
was able to bring them to Utah, so they were
all They were all there for like that little week,
nine days, ten days, something like that. So it was
(21:11):
really nice. It was really nice to be able to
do a little work. And then we did some touring
around southern Utah and stuff. It was really beautiful. Yeah,
national parks out there, science Yeah, Well, there's a state
park just outside of Saint George called Snow Canyon, you
know it. Yeah, it's really close to Intrada, Yeah exactly. Yeah.
(21:31):
It was really it was really otherworldly and it's like
these petrified sand dunes absolutely gorgeous. So we did a
lot there.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Uh were they on the set?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Did they come coming out? They did? I have a
I have a wonderful picture of M with Ashley, and
m doesn't know quite what to do with herself, you know,
with like megastars sitting next to her, and Ashley couldn't
have been more sweet to her. Yeah, So she met everybody,
and we walked around and met uh, met Zach and
(22:03):
met uh Vanessa and everybody. So they were they were wonderful.
That's good. Yeah, the kids are sweet, man. They were
always great. Laugh.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Their fame rose so quickly through those three movies. I
was always so amazed that they're they're so cool still,
they're so down to earth.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
They never got it Snotty or Brady, you know, no
exactly just I mean I think that's partly because, like
as I said earlier, they were the real deal. I mean,
these were not people who were like putting on the parts.
They were they were they were that talented. Yeah, that
dancing and Lucas and Ashley is like, I mean, she
was like Lucy o Ball. She was so funny, her
(22:40):
sense of flaming and her her her sort of quick wittedness.
She was just so much fun to work with. Yeah. Yeah,
people love her, people love to hate her. Yeah. And
then then there's these theories. Have you heard the.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Theory of the the the lore of uh that she's
really the hero and Gabriella is the villain.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Oh, there's a whole thing.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
It's pretty smart too, because it's like, well, Gabrielle's like
pulling her away and Sharpay is always trying to uh
get him to you know, to excel and be great
and double down and get resources and you know, like be.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
His best self, and I Gabriel's like pulling him away,
man from his things. He's been working out. Wait a
second year, there's a home. There's a whole bunch of
HSM universe. Yeah, yeah, HSM After dark Man, there's some stories.
(23:31):
You has asked me about my favorite scene. Favorite. Yeah,
it's so funny because because I think back on it
and there were it was just the whole experience of
being there and watching other scenes being shot. I mean,
I mean the fun one was the helicopter entrance, which
was just, you know, so completely over the top, and
(23:54):
it was it was amazing that they were able to
even pull it off, you know, bistically. But but that
was that was pretty That was pretty spectacular. And then
just balancing and there I am with you know, with
Corbin and with with uh, you know, all these Zach
and Vanessa and everybody. It was just it was a
great It was a great way to bring the character
(24:16):
into the story. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Yeah, it's such a fun character of those kind of
roles where you play those kind of roles.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Do you do you love?
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Like I don't feel like I get auditions for like
a flayer or a doctor.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
I'm like, oh, dude, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Like I'm I'm gonna try really hard to get his job,
and then on the inside, I'm gonna say, please, don't.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Get the job.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
I don't want to have to learn medical jargon to
be like all like just somebody just feel like a
dude or let you know, let me be happy, like
mister hey, hey, you know life of the Party guy.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
It's funny. I just thought I just thought the character
when I when I started thinking about the character, I
thought of Richard Branson. Yeah, yeah, yeah, a guy who
uses his wealth to just open the world. It's like, yes,
not just to himself, but to his f family, to
his kids. It's like making things happen, bringing people together.
(25:05):
It's like this ultimate sort of uh you know, giver
and and someone who acts out of this incredible gratitude
for for all the all the possibility, you know, sort
of I sort of rather than thinking of him as
a guy who's just rich. Yes, I knew it was
about it was about you know, sending sending the ripples
(25:28):
out and making things happen for other people and and
having wonderful experiences. So that was sort of the energy
I felt was behind the character. Was just this abundance,
this incredible abundance, you know. Yes, yeah, you know.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
I've been talking with a lot of people about their
characters who have not approached this like some actors might suspect, like, oh,
it's a dizzy's little Disney channel. I'm gonna I'm gonna
be this one dimensional, one thing, and it's just not
interesting that way you see in a big movie.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
I mean, you see a big movie. I just watched.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
I just watched a movie every night by myself in
the theaters for six nights. Cinel, Did you see anything
great the movie I wanted to see the least no
interest in this because I stopt the poster, like like
was this.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Cheney's handa movie? Roofman, Oh yeah, it's great. The movie
is great.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Chris Kirsty Dunston was great, like terrific movie and all
these other like big movies, one dimensional characters, not interesting.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Just it baffles my mind.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
But anyway, I just appreciate when someone brings more than like, oh, okay,
oh Sharp Pays Dad, Let's see it would probably he'd
probably be this kind of guy, let me be this
one dimensional character, so not interesting, but you bring this
Richard Brandson into it, and all a sudden, now he's
charming and interesting and wants to do good and you
could see it like, okay, Sharp Pay might get caught
up on the wrong side of that maybe right right
right right, texture that way and yeah, a little.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Too much or you know the pink goat the the
golf cart, yeah yeah, over the top pink golf cart.
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
But underneath she's got more than that going on. She's like,
that's the moment she's in her life. Underneath it's and
then you see she brings moments of this uh you know,
there's the levity, but then there's also the sincerity of
like these moments where she gets real and it's like,
you know what, those are the colors that I think
contribute to make this thing so special and not a
one dimensional it's like such a special thing.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, those kind of choices. Yeah, it
just it just you know, not not casting, not casting.
It's you know the old actor axiom. You know, don't
don't judge your own character and say good guy or
or a bad guy, or he's this guy, he's he
is who he is, and so so don't don't cast
(27:42):
him as a you know, a villain who's just spoiling
his daughter. He's a guy who's had up so many
opportunities and and is using that to bring other people
in and make other things happen, to connect people to you.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Know, that kind of that kind of idea, And now
its up all these fun things for you and your wife,
for Jessica like to get like like just be so
much more interesting.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Totally. I love it so that when they get to
by the time they get to high school, musical three,
we make our entrance that we've just been to India,
and so we dressful and all that, all those crazy
colors and you know.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Yeah, now we want to know, Like I would watch
a show with you guys, like where they go next?
Speaker 2 (28:22):
I want to see how they do. The world is
wide open, It's wide open, so many possibilities. So yeah,
that was that was a that was a fun way
to sort of approach the you know, the the the
idea of being so wealthy that you know, you don't
want it to be a burden on the guy, you
don't want to be it. But it was. It was fun.
It was really fun.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Yeah, I think I know the answer to this already,
but these are some of the questions that people want
to know from you. Yeah, who did you spoil? I
know this, but who did you spend the most time with?
Who did you have like any characters that on the
(29:02):
show that you got to have a little more time
more like hit it off with or have good memories with.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Yeah, I mean, you know, mostly I think about mostly
with with Jessic, with my family, with the people in
my family you know, uh uh Ashley and Lucas and Jessica,
uh and you know a lot of our stuff was
together and and so yeah, the four, the four of us,
And it was also it was also you know, within
(29:30):
that within that story, we were lucky because we got
to play a whole family. We got to play you know,
parents and two kids and and and come up with
the rhythm of our own and how we operated with
one another and played around. So even in that first
scene with the helicopter, some of the some of that
dialogue and stuff was improvised. It was not. It was
(29:51):
just we were just getting to know each other, you know,
So it was it was really fun. You and Jessica
were just making stuff up. Yeah. Well there' stuff with
like Ryan and I you know you and Ryan. Yeah yeah, yeah,
like you know, you know, you've been working out, you know,
you know, you know, soy yoga, you know, and so
all that stuff. All that stuff was just our own.
You just brought that on the fly. Yeah yeah, yeah, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Is so much more interesting. Did you guys make up
other stuff? Like Jessica seems like she seems awesome. I
just loved her. But she's and a super talented works
a ton, but she's probably great to work with too
as far as like improvising and just kind of make
it like she embodied that case she went deep days,
I'm in, I'm.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
All in totally. And and again the same we sort
of connected in the in that idea of our characters
being you know, we're just like life is this banquet
and we get to we get to dig in, you
know what I mean. Like that was that was sort
of the way we thought about our characters.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Yeah, I heard this, Uh this reality city star. He
was somebody that everybody hated on this reality show. It
was like some MTV reality show, and he just just
was a menace, just I mean, like in real life
on the show, just like a tall, complete terror. And
he's like he's like, look, man, look this is a
like someone gave me a Ferrari in life. Like I've
(31:20):
got this little famous gonna last about five minutes. I'm
gonna tear it up. I'm not gonna like tet you
like a baby and give it back to you like
you know, brand new, Like no, I'm gonna like CAUs
as much chaos as possible.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
That So I was like, it was such such an
interesting take, and I was like, oh man, there's a
there's some life lessons in there. You know, We've been
giving great opportunities. And if you don't like grab him
and make something out of him, enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
You know. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely and I mean, my gosh,
here we are all these years later, still talking about
this iconic movie. I mean movie that that. I mean,
people people still, you know, when they recognize me or
I mentioned it, or someone mentions you know, you know
who that is, and people really like freak out. It's
really they really like it was a big deal for
(32:09):
for you know, for all of us to be to
be involved in it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Yeah, it's interesting and and and well we gotta talk
about some of this other stuff you've done. But I
remember when I was watching Handsmaid's Tale, which is such
a heavy show, and then you popped up. I was like,
oh yeah, Curtis Prouh my gosh, and you're like heavy
on that show.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
I'm like, oh, my gosh, gotcha heavy? Oh, oh my gosh. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
But even though it's like this critically acclaimed, like amazing,
incredible TV series, do people freak out as much.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
About that as they do with this one? Though? Yeah.
It's very funny because there were I mean, that show
it was a lot, you know, it was. The show
was it was timed so perfectly in terms of when
it was launched, the subjects they were talking about and
what they were dealing with and and it was some
pretty scary stuff and it it came up. I mean
(32:58):
obviously the show was in development for a long time
and just sort of hit when it did. Yeah, but yeah,
that's a show that that people followed pretty intensely. Yeah. Pretty,
Uh they were, they were pretty hooked on it. Yeah. Yeah,
and to play the guy who essentially the guy who
(33:19):
essentially started billiad it's uh, you know, you feel like
your ground zero. But anyway, it was. Yeah, it was
a great gig. Great, Yeah, spooky to work on, very
spooky to work on. Yeah, it's so dark that show,
my gosh, so dark. And the mood on the on
the set, you know, it's I mean Margaret Atwood, who
(33:40):
wrote the novel, was there. Oh, he was consulting on
the show and could advise. You know, she when when
she wrote the book, everything in the book had happened
in history. There was an historical basis for everything that
took place at some point or another, and she pulled
these ideas together and so you know, the fact that
it was all all based in reality was pretty we
(34:02):
gave gave it an extra level of of terror. I
think for a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Yeah, yeah, you know, it just tends to always go
back love like the authenticity, more authenticity in mind out
of a situation like boy, it just it just hits.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
It's different truly.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
But what do Disney Channel people or or people that
grew up watching those great dcom shows? Uh, what do
they recognize you from?
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Or what do they do? What do they respond to? Well,
I mean, I mean most of it now is high
school musical, but but yeah, uh, you know, there's there's
a there are a number of shows that have sort
of come and gone, like you know, Supernatural or all
the Star Trek shows. I did all those and and
and and they're these shows that sort of have these
(34:49):
really hardcore followings, right right, So so those kind of shows,
but the the shows for kids, I mean, you know,
I mean my first my first movie was Trading Places,
which became a huge, huge, huge hit. I mean right
out of school, and I was, you know, there I
was working with these you know, Hollywood legends, I mean
(35:12):
legends like Ralph Bellaby and Donamichi. A few months after
I graduated, and I'm like, oh man, this acting thing
is so easy. You just we're talking about land in
this huge movie with Eddie Murphy and Droyd and James
Lee Curtis and you know, just cruise, you know, not
quite the way it works out, but it's still one
(35:32):
of my favorite movies. I love that movie. It still
holds up. It really. Yeah. I was one of your
first jobs after school. Uh. It was my second job
after wow, I did. I graduated in May and went
to do a regional theater production of A Midsummer Night's Stream.
(35:52):
Some amazing people Judy Jody Long who wound up being
the LA screen actors killed President Sag after a President It,
Keith David who has had an astonishing career, j Smith Cameron,
who of course his own succession. I mean, some really
great people in this production. And then I finished the
(36:13):
show and went back home, and it's like, now what
do I do? How do I get a career started?
And then I got this call to gwinn and read
for Bonnie Timmerman and trading Places and and booked the gig.
So it was h Yeah, it was off and running.
That must have been amazing to be on that big show.
It was. It was well, It's funny because I was
(36:33):
shooting the movie during the day and I was actually
understudying a Broadway show at night. Wow, So I had
two jobs at once and again it's like, I mean
light work. It's it's nothing. It's just like to just
go from gig to gig to gig. Yeah. Years later
it's all the same, so it's uh yeah, it was
(36:56):
just it was just a really lucky break to get
to get that first one, you know, in such in
again another movie that that so many people know and
love and have seen, you know, multiple times.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Yeah, oh my gosh, my first job in how when
I moved here, I'd like packed up my car and
quit college and did the drive and I got this
France for Coppola film Familia is my first movie. I
was like, but the the pain and suffering came quickly after.
Right then I started waiting tables and then to take off,
(37:28):
and then uh, I get to quit that job, and
then a year later I'm waiting tables again.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Oh that's that's four times. Oh my gosh, I know
that's the roller coaster. Man.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Oh man, totally signed up for this stuff, like I know, right, So, okay,
so you've done and and what other? So you did
other Disney Channel stuff before high school musical a bunch
of stuff.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Did I do a bunch of stuff? Well, well, I
guess Thutterman's was after Thunderman's was after I did a
show called Kicking It. I know. Yeah, remember whether it's
before or after. That's the problem with twenty years. No,
I know, I'd have to have to get my IMDb
page up here and track everything. But I don't. I think, Uh,
(38:16):
those are the two that jump out of me. There
were probably there were probably others.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
And then of course all sorts of other film and
television work before this time.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Lots of really good stuff. I just I don't know, man,
I just got so lucky. I just got so so lucky.
I hit a couple of things, hit a couple, a
couple of big things early and and yeah, I just
had a really great time sort of sort of launching
ten years in New York after drama school, and then
came out here. You know, in like ninety one. You
(38:48):
did a lot of theater tho those first ten years. Yeah,
a lot of theater all over sort of New England,
New York, you know, Bufflow Studio, Arena, Syracuse Stage, Jeeva
and Rochester. Did a few shows. Was in New York.
One really huge production of Julius Caesar at the New
York Shakespeare Festival with Martin Sheen and Ed Herman, and
(39:11):
my dressing room mate was Al Pacino. So we got
down wow every night, every night. It was a trip. Yeah,
that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
You could be this long into this talking about your
career and like this happened to casually drop.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
Yeah. He and I hung out every night and he
was so wonderful legend work with and legend, and at
the time it was interesting. It was just before he
started Godfather three. Wow. So he had a bodyguard standing
outside our dressing room who just sort of screen people
so nobody could come in. And one day and on
(39:44):
this young actor. I was out of school maybe two years.
I'm just you know, I'm still trying to figure it
all out, Like how did I get here? And I
was putting Octavius, which I would argue is the best
part in Julius Caesar. It doesn't come in until after
the intermission fact four, and he's got the best armor,
the best armor or more length cake. I mean, it
(40:07):
was just my costume was spectacular, awesome, and all my
stuff was with Al Pacino. He played Mark Antony, so
he and I did all our scenes together. So there's
a little sheepish knock at the door in this guy
Lou who was Al's bodyguard, sticks his head in and
he goes, there's someone here to see him. Who is it?
It's Bobby. Door opens and Robert de Niro walks in
(40:29):
and he sits down next to Al and they start talking.
And I have never taken my makeup off those slowly
in my life. I'm just leaning and listening. It's like
one of these guys talking about one of it. Yes,
oh my lord. I mean I'm in this room three
feet from two of the biggest movie stars on the planet.
(40:52):
It was pretty. It was pretty. It was pretty epic,
and he was there were They were just great people,
great people. Wow, wow, some good, some good stuff, some
some great, some great early opportunities. You know, that's cool.
I have a picture of me and Al and another
having a pillow fight and come on, come on with
Alpha Cheta. This pillow fight broke out at one time
(41:16):
and he's like shying away and it was it was wild. Wow.
I did not think we were going to get to
that in this That's amazing, man, please please, yeah, absolutely,
that's so good.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
I just got to mention I was talking to Peter
bars KINI or screenwriter. Yeah, yeah, you start talking about
where the music like originated from the show. What really
first time I got in the cities, well like in
nineteen sixty five, I had this job and I was
driving around Janis Joplin and she's putting these eight trac
chapes some like so this is my Janis Joppa moment
with you and al Pacino.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
How I feel like stuff? Right, it's amazing, right, wow? Huge.
She would tell stories like and then this happens.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
She's stick in another at eight track, taking play the
soundtrack to her next story, and put in another one.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
It's a graz story. Oh you're doing It's so funny.
You say her, you say her voy her name, and
her voice is like, come long, comea sorry, I got this.
Janus Joplin likes it's in my brain. I love it, man,
I love it.
Speaker 1 (42:35):
For this generation that's listening to this, go see trading places,
pick up some chances Joplin, and see some some al
Pacino movies.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
Old school, old school, throw.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
That got gems here for you kids. Yeah, guys, you've trusted.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
Us this far.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
Okay, so high school musical comes out, you get recognized
like crazy. I'm sure everywhere you go, like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
Yeah, on street corners in New York getting out of
a taxi and this woman goes, oh my god, oh
my god, this is mister Evans. Oh my god. I
mean like that that kind of like Beatles stuff. You know,
it's like, it's hilarious. You've gotten this forever. I'm sure
you know that. You know the vibe, Yeah, just like
it didn't see it coming, didn't like what a shocker.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
I mean, when you joined the cast, it was a
it was a big thing, so like you knew you
were getting into something iconic, but not twenty years later, No, no, no, right, right,
we you know, we looked enough of same that were like,
it's still we're still getting it, right, like still like people.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
Yeah. Yeah. And then and then when you're I mean
I've been to movie openings and all that kind of stuff,
you know, premieres, but when you go to a Disney
event and it's dancers and singers and set pieces and
swimming pools and food and golf carts, and I mean
(43:55):
it was just so it was it was just huge.
After this movie came out and the launch of the movie.
That whole countdown remember the countdown to HSM two they
did on the channel. Yeah, and there was this whole thing,
you know, you and everybody cleared the decks. I knew
(44:15):
so many people who like, I'm not doing anything Thursday night.
Thursday night, I am in front of my TV. I'm
not you know. I mean, there were big parties and
then and then when the DVD launched, it was another
big thing at El Capitan. Yeah. So it was just
it was just being part of a being part of
a real you know phenomenon. It was just it was
(44:36):
so much fun. Yeah, so much fun. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
I can't believe how many people have told me they
watched it on opening night with a party, and it
was that. The numbers were it was. It was the
most viewed cable movie ever in history television and then.
But the experts are like every household that was counted
had about twenty you know kids the movie. So the
(45:01):
numbers were like way off, but still still most most
watched it.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
Yeah, totally, I totally get it. I mean I remember
I just remember, you know, in my house, my house,
my daughter was just beside herself waiting for it to happen. Yeah,
big stuff.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
She was so she was she was like a year older.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
I guess third grade. Yeah, so she had put her
second at the other school and then moved over in
third grade. Yeah, school, and and oh my lord.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
Yeah, you know it's funny. I've always thought it was
funny because if I take my kids to elementary school,
the kids were crazy, but if you went to junior
high in high school, not so much.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
They're a few years later. Right, It's like you just
watch it or grow up.
Speaker 1 (45:41):
And now like I do, I do, Like I hear
people there, you know, I want a cameo, and you know,
I hear people requesting videos. And it used to be
like graduate, graduate from high school and you send them
a video. Now graduate from college. And now I'm like
that won't get married. Now I'm having a kid like.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
I was growing up. I love it. And it's so
funny because as you know, as I've obviously aged, and
people say, people will say, and you may get this,
like I know you or we've met before, Yeah you know,
do you like you know, do you shop at Trader
Joe's or whatever it is? And I say, well no,
and then I look at them and I say, well,
(46:17):
how old are you? Yeah, yeah, oh twenty six, I said, yeah, yeah,
twenty six. I was in high school musical No, you know,
jaw drop moment. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
I think if you're a millennial, if you're in that
window like one hundred percent, you know, Honor Curtis Brown
for for sure. Right, yeah, I've got I have had
a lot of people say, especially early on, and then
they got to know my character.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
This is how it started. They said, you were my coach,
you coached me.
Speaker 1 (46:45):
I remember you were, And I'm like, well, kind of
like no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
No, you were my coach.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
You were I'm like, yes, yeah, I am your coach,
but not how you're thinking.
Speaker 2 (46:56):
I'll let them get there. You know, you should say
to him, but I want to know, Oh did you
get your head into the game. Yes? Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:05):
And then as time goes on, then then they know
your character name. And then five years later now they
know your personal name, and it's like right, right, right,
twenty years you still still here?
Speaker 2 (47:13):
We are, man, here we are I know right.
Speaker 1 (47:18):
Well, hey, before before you start thinking about leaving me,
what what are you up to? What you're doing? What
are you on social media? Much are you what are
you doing what you got going on?
Speaker 2 (47:26):
What am I doing? I mean, you know this is crazy,
my my, My big thing right now is I am
playing I'm playing softball in three different leagues. Wow, I
am the I'm batting forth playing shortstop. And my team
in Manhattan Beach is going into the playoffs tomorrow. Wow.
(47:48):
Ready for this? Are you sitting down? I'm ready? My
team is nineteen and oh whoa already league. All teams
are equal. We have run the table to WHO and
it's a perfect season for the first time ever. Excited.
(48:11):
I'm still very elm still just digging the game, dominating
wherever you go, even in a park in Manhattan Beach, Yes,
especially there. Yeah, No, I mean, you know, I've been
I've been very lucky. I did a I worked on
a show for Amazon for a little while. I had
a recurring thing on CSI. I did a bunch of
(48:33):
shows there. I did a recurring part on Station nineteen,
The Firefighters Show. Yeah yeah, played Travis's dad on that one.
And so yeah, you know, just just keep showing up, man,
just keep showing up. Yeah. Yeah, Well, you you are
a true like working actor. Man.
Speaker 1 (48:50):
You got such a body of work you've done for
so many decades. It's just I feel the same way.
Speaker 2 (48:55):
Nount God. So grateful, yeah, so grateful for it. And
it's people say, you know, you gotta retire, and I said, well,
I feel like I've been retired since the day I
graduated from drama school. Yeah, yeah, you know, a long
time ago. And then you know, you do the gigs
when they come along, and you hopefully you enjoy your
life in between, and you you know, you don't you
(49:15):
don't hook too much on any of them, and just
do your best when the opportunities come along.
Speaker 1 (49:21):
Yeah, I think retirement, like for an actor, it used
to be maybe moving away, moving to the countryside, but
now that it self tapes like, is there a retirement?
Speaker 2 (49:29):
Like I know, there's only people in their eighties and nineties,
and you know, look at June squib She's had a
career that started when she was like seventy. You know.
Speaker 1 (49:40):
Yeah, we're saying as we're available, we're available, we're here.
Speaker 2 (49:45):
We're not ever going to retire.
Speaker 1 (49:46):
So you need a couple of couple dads, you know, Yeah,
you get them right on, right on. I'd see that show.
Heck you Troy's dad Sharpay's dad off on an adventure.
That's right, playing tuff ball together, that's right, Jack and.
Speaker 2 (49:59):
Vance advanced dude, I don't want to say it right,
say that a couple of times like where this is going? Man?
Well hey please post that stuff? What what's your do?
Do you ever handle? What are you on Instagram? Guys?
Do you Curtis Brown? Robert Curtis Brown? One word? Yeah,
(50:20):
one one big giant loan all the way across the stop.
A very cool yes, brother? What what a what a treat?
So great to see your face. You look like you
have not you like sleeping in a cryogenic chamber or something.
You're like, we're.
Speaker 1 (50:37):
Stayed active and uh gosh, it's a good it's a
good thing to do for as an actor, I guess.
Speaker 2 (50:42):
So. Uh Yeah, we're blessed, man, we are. We're blessed, truly.
It's the it's just our souls. They're just so pure.
That's it.
Speaker 1 (50:52):
Great to see. But let's get together soon, right on.
Congrats with with everything and thanks for spending some time
with with me, with our wildcat, with our people, our
East High family. Yeah, we are, we are. We are
so grateful for all of you out there. So I
love you guys.
Speaker 2 (51:08):
We are indeed, we are indeed spend what a ride, dude,
twenty years ride, yeah, twenty years more. Man, Let's keep
it going. Let's do it, jack and dance, all right, baby,
love it over stickers, lunchboxes. Oh yeah, man, I gotta
get all the merchandising. I love that the kids are
going to be especially the kids are gonna love it.
Speaker 1 (51:27):
They're gonna love it all right, rally all right, man,
I'll talk to you suit all the best. Thanks for
being here, all right, take care o, goodbye
Hey Wildcats, this is Bart Johnson and you're listening to
gig your Head in the Game.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hi. Everyone, welcome back to gig Yourhead in the Game.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Today's guest is someone high school musical fans will recognize
as mister Evans, who plays the proud dad of Sharpay
and Ryan Evans. But beyond Lava Springs, he's had a
fascinating career both off and on the screen. I'm thrilled
to dive into his experiences filming high school musical. Here's
some behind the scenes stories and catch up on what
(00:34):
he's been up.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Two cents. Please welcome my friend, my brother Robert Curtis Brown.
No way, come on, oh way, Yeah, I knew you're
you know what.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
I knew you were going to get a nice button
I'm shirt. Look at all sharks like, look at it
like an Evans.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
I like I would know I was going through my
claws and looking for the Vands Evans shirt. I don't
think I was not really like.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I've been wearing like a butt up shirt for those
you know, I'm gonna go coach on this one because
I know, I know, you know, Advance is gonna go
all to look a sharp.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
You've got, you got, you've got to represent it, right.
I looked for the club I was. I don't think
they make that shirt anymore. That was a while ago.
Is that did you wear something you wore something like that?
I guess you always striped? Yeah, real crazy big stripes
and big big stuff, big big looks. Are you handsome boy?
I'm good man, I'm so good, So good to see you. Likewise,
(01:30):
it's been too long, man, it has been too long.
It's so great to have you. Robert Curtis Brown, my friend.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
It was so nice to have you, Like when you
rolled up on on the movie. I got a friend,
I got this one. I love another adult another dad. Well, welcome,
welcome to the podcast, Robert. So great to have you, man,
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Glad to be here, happy to see your face.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yeah, but people don't know is that we are really
our friends in real life? Hell yeah, met on the movie,
but like instantly, like right, right, do you remember what
that was?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
By the way, let's go back.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I want to hear first of all, Robert, it's an
honor to have you here, one of the one of
the Evans family. Here where Sharpey gets all her stuff.
From I think credit for any.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Of that stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
But man, it was so so awesome to have you
in the movies. I was so excited to have You've
done a million things before the movie, You've done a
million things after the movie. It's so fun to see
you popping up on TV and movies all the time.
For me, all the time, it's always like, hey, I
love it.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, well, I know we're going to talk about We'll
talk about all that.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
But of course this podcast is dedicated to all the
fans out there for twenty years of being the most
incredible fans, my family, my East High family as I
call them.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Well, I just want to do something special, So I
want to bring in, like all the family members that
were part of this franchise that contribute to the Wildcat universe.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
And we couldn't do it without you.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
So thank you for being a part of a big
thank you for twenty years to our peeps.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Thanks man.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, but let's let's bring it back to the beginning.
You've got you were deep into your career before you
got this phone call. I know you've done a minie
that you have over one hundred and twenty credits. I've
been looking him up and going. Man, some of my
favorite shows.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
By the way, very fortunate, very fun.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Can you tell me like, let's just for the people.
This is all questions for for peeps, like how did it?
How did this start?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
For you? This? Yeah, this started. This was really a
wild little intersection of of of of a lot of things.
I I got the call to read for Mark Taylor's part.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Oh yeah, okay, but Judy Taylor, of course is the
head of talent for Disney Channel.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
She was awesome.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
She was really instrumental getting all the right pieces and
people involved, and her husband is.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Just perfect for this character. You read the part for
Fulton Fulton, yes, right, for that first Yeah, so that
was the part I was actually in for. And I
remember going to to read and we read the part,
and then Kenny or Tega, our director, asked if I sang.
(04:21):
And I hadn't really prepared much, but I said sure, yeah,
I do. I sing, and he goes, you know, give
me something, So I sang on the spot, on the spot,
sang something from pal Joey. I think it's from Pal Joey.
A little bit of me and a whole lot of
(04:41):
you had a dash of starlight and a dozen roses too,
then let it rise for one hundred years or two.
And that's the recipe right too. And it's a little
bouncy and it's it's a sweet little song. So I
sang the song and he goes read these other pages.
(05:02):
So I went out into the lobby and I sat there,
and you know, you're given five minutes to look over
the material. Came back in and it went really well,
and we had just a blast in the room, and
Kenny couldn't have been sweeter. And those both sides were
for mister Evans. Evans now mister Evans in I School
(05:26):
Musical two was really wonderful character with a wonderful entrance
and a big, nice storyline. So I was happy with
the opportunity. But who knows. The night I auditioned, we
happened to have tickets for the high school musical concert,
(05:48):
the music concert, music concert. Ah. So we went to
the concert and afterwards we lined up because my daughter
who was nine at the time, perfect age, perfect dad,
she wanted to meet all the characters. And they had
(06:10):
this big table and lines of you know, walk along
and sign the programs and all that stuff. And I'm
walking down this line with my nine year old thinking
I might be playing their father. Yea, they have no
idea and they have no idea, and I'm certainly not
gonna say anything. But it was like I'm sitting there
(06:32):
with you know, with with my kids and with Ashley
and with Lucas, thinking should I say something to them,
I might be your dad. That's just a weird line.
That's a weird line. It's gonna like, you know, I
don't know what that's gonna get. It's gonna get you
thurity to haul you off. Let's not do that. Let's
(06:54):
just play this, you know, straight, and.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
They might not even know you were there was a
dad involved in number two. Have no idea, you have
the script public before they did. At this point, they
could very well be just kept going.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
And then like two days later I learned that, uh,
that I had gotten the part, and and beside myself
it was so much fun. And then and then of
course we had this you know, amazing experience in Utah
in Saint George shooting the movie and this beautiful, beautiful
golf resort, and it was just glorious. It was glad.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah, by the way that I was at the concert,
it was so fun because you see, like all these
it's la it's a different experience, right, So all these
like big celebrities and filmmakers. I met Kevin Smith there,
like one of my hero filmmakers, right because their daughters.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
This is what you do.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Many exactly, that's a great it's a great time to
meet everybody.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Oh my gosh, it was such a such a phenom
at that point. You know, it was like such a
such a crazy event, and it was packed and it
was high energy, and the show was really fantastic. And
the thing I realized in doing the listening to going
to the concert, listening to them is that these kids
like they're the real deal. I mean, they really had
(08:11):
the goods. They had the talent and the chops and
the dancing and they're singing and all of it. So
I thought, wow, there's nothing, you know, there's nothing pretending.
These guys are really good. Yeah, that's a talented group.
Judy Taylor, I mean, and ever all the.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Casting people, Kenny finds these super talented kids that just
are are so you know, I don't know if you
feel so. Sometimes I'll go to a Broadway show and
it's like they're either really good actors or they're really
good singers. They're usually not both, you know, so when
you find both and then they're so charming. Like we're
just talking about Zach and Vanessa. They were so charming
(08:47):
when they were together. It's just like electricsiss, Like those
two were so sweet.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Yeah, yeah, thank you and yeah. I mean so all
of them were just so lovely and so talented, and
I thought, wow, did jump been to this pool? Is
pretty uh pretty special now?
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Yeah, so that's let's talk about that. So you were
you it was just that one meeting with Kenny I
was in.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yes, that it may have been. There may have been
like a pre thing with Judy Taylor. I'm thinking there
may have been something, uh something earlier.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
You done any Disney Channel stuff like did you know
I didn't know really Judy before No, I had.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Done let me think I'd done uh several you know,
something a show called Kicking It, okay, called the Thunderman's
but I think that's on the Nickel after Okay, yeah,
it was after one anyway. Yeah, right, right, So, so
there were a few kids shows that I sort of
had had had been in on.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yeah, I tested for Thundermans by the way to be
the dub dad. Yeah, it was me at There's Three
was like back and above, like it was an all
day event. Oh I have been a fun show.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Yeah, it was fun. It was the back. Yeah, some
some talent on that show as well. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
And then till two days later you get the phone
call and you're like, you're Sharpay's dad, Oh my god.
And by then she's iconic, like everybody loves shar Pei.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Iconic, iconic, and and so I told my daughter this
was happening. She was finishing school at a place called
Ocean Charter down in Culver City, sort of you know,
a Waldorf Fie kind of school, but there were plans
to move them to our local homeschool, the public school,
(10:37):
and so over the summer while the movie was set
to come out and was switching schools landed at Grant
Elementary School. And her dad, who's dropping her off every morning,
Sharpay's dad. It was nuts every morning dropping her off
(11:01):
at elementary school. So it created quite a stir and
m came home one day, I'll never forget it. And
she came home she goes, I have too many friends,
so a nice problem to have.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah, yeah, I had kids in elementary school then as well,
and you know you.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Can't walk them in, No, can't do that anymore. Yeah,
it was pretty It was pretty crazy thinking a rock
started these like seven year old kids. Yeah, and I
knew that, you know. I mean I've been doing a
lot of stuff and done some nice projects and stuff,
but that being a part of that phenomenon was so
completely different from anything else I had sort of touched on. Yeah,
(11:44):
I mean some big movies, well known movies and working
with big people, but that kind of that kind of
like cultural yeah, milestone. I mean it was such a
huge hit. And to be involved in the second one.
I mean, my character, as you wis, was not in
the first one, but the first one really set the
(12:05):
table and they got then. I'm sure when Disney realized
they had this, you know, this massive hit on their hands,
it was like, let's make a few more. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Yeah, I think it's a it's a great compliment to
Ashley and to Lucas too, like let's go fill out
there because you can't do that with all the characters,
but like the more interesting characters, like let's take a
look at their universe a little bit that happens a
lot on a series like what was their family?
Speaker 2 (12:30):
You guys are so great. Jessica Tuck, who played my wife,
who was, Oh, yeah, and she's you know, she lives
two blocks from me and we you know, she's a neighbor.
Was she then like, yeah, that's great, that's great. In fact,
the house that she lives in was a house we
(12:52):
we almost bought when we when we when we moved
to to this part of Santa Monica. So anyway, a
really small world. And then we wound up his husband
and wife in that great movie. Amazing, amazing. Yeah, you
guys are so perfect together. I was.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I thought, always think it's funny like talking to some
of the cast and and getting to know like like
I'm like, I coach a lot, like I've been coaching
the last fourteen years on my three Kids volunteer coat.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I don't do stuff that pays money. I only do
stuff that there is a rule I have.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
It's got to cost money and no rewards please.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Uh no money?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Right, Yeah, that's yeah. My wife loves that plan. But
you know, because so like when I play coach, it
feels like, oh this is easy. I could do this
in my sleep. Man, Like a coach. Is this authentic?
And I always got a kick out of you, like
of where, like like where you went to school?
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Rehybie were you where'd you go to school? To college? Yeah?
I went to Yale to.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Yale, kid, that's what I remember. I was thinking if
I I remember that correctly? And then your kids carry
on this tradition and they went where right?
Speaker 2 (13:50):
But I went to Yale after Yale? Yeah, id about
eight years ago. I love.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
That is exactly what I want to see from from
Vance Evans.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
You got to carry on my legacy, baby, But.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
You know you pull that, you know, like missus Darbus,
she's she was on Broadway with Kenny and you know,
to bring all her Broadway drama. It's like, there's God,
there's stuff to mine out of our real lives, you know,
totally totally you're doing that.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Yeah, yeah, and that that whole I mean, you know,
I grew up in a you know, very middle class family,
but then you land in a place that's where there
are a.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Lot of pretty pretty well off kids. You know, you
getta you get a taste of a very different world.
So yeah, it was eye opening. Yeah, yeah, oh that's great.
Well you you did a great job of bringing that
kind of waspiness to right now.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
So when we when we work together, I'm trying to
remember what when we were Do you remember when we
were in the basketball we had that was number two,
those number two when we had our scene together, right.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yeah, right when we were watching the basketball practice and
the boot were all there.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, I've been watching the boys play,
right And and do you know this is like become
a trivia now because I'll for a while, I think
it's more known now. But everybody wondered like if I
had a first name, like does coach have a first name?
And the only time my name is mentioned is from
you in that scene. Oh yeah, it's the only time
(15:19):
in all three movies other than that, I'm coach man.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
That's it. I'm trying to remember what I called you.
You call me Jack Jack? Hey Jack, you go to
see the Jack or something that Jack Bolton. That's a
good name, is a great name.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
I'm so glad you said it, though, because if you
did it then it would be up for debate forever.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah yeah, oh, thank you, thank you for that. Well
you got it. There's another funny naming story in that movie.
The naming story is there's a big dinner scene we
have at the club with Troy and Sharpey and another couple,
and the other couple in the script, I can't remember
what their names were, but I went to Ken and
(16:01):
I asked him if he wouldn't mind if I changed
their names. Uh. He said, what do you want to use?
I said, I want to use Peter and Claire, which
are kind of waspy names right a little bit on
the side. They happen to be my kids middle names. Uh. Oh.
I stuck them in the movie a little a little
nods of my kids, and Kenny was digging it. So
(16:21):
I love it. I love that. Yeah, a little another
little Easter egg in High School musical too. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Well, we're always talking to Peter Barsacini on here. Those
are our screenwriter, and his daughter's name is Gabriella, and
Alicias his niece.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
I think. So there's like, you know, there's some fun
little references. Yeah, the fun references there.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
But that is that is a Kenny though, because Kenny
so but he's like, let me hear the name first.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
I'm not going to compromise on Okay, it's gotta gotta
have the right music, right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Okay, So then, well so we did do you remember
I think we shot that in Did we shoot that
in Salt Lake?
Speaker 2 (16:55):
When we did the.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Basketball I think it was back at Salt Lake for
for that, because because the movie was mostly shot down
to Saint George, right, which I think you did the
dinner scene. You probably did the dinner scene down to
Saint George in Toronto.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
The outdoor, you know, the final the big final number
was we did the number that?
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Yeah, the big uh what was it called? The big competition?
All the fans are gonna kill us. We don't come
up with it. Do you remember what it is? Star
dazzled Star Dazzle Award, Dazzle Award thing, go baby.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
I guess it was just the Showcase. Maybe they didn't
have a name for this club, the sort of club showcase,
right yeah. Yeah, mister had won for the last fifteen years. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly,
never lost, right, Yeah. We did those and we did
all the obviously all the golfing scene, and the best
was the you know, the helicopter landing on the first team.
(17:43):
That's I forgot about that. My favorite entrance of all time.
I mean, you had a helicopter, man, you do it
all right.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
It's like walking away from flames blowing up, you know,
it's at that level.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
That was the second choice, right exactly. Helicopter Another That
was another hilarious small world story because at the time
the movie came out, my daughter had begun learning the
french horn, and so we found this wonderful teacher who
a couple people had recommended. He was coming to the
house and they were playing for weeks and weeks, and
(18:18):
she was getting pretty good. And one day he comes
in and he goes, do you know that scene in
High School Musical two where the helicopter lands and there's
that big french horn solo, which is your entrance song?
He said, I was the guy who played that on
the track Get Out of Here. I had no idea
(18:41):
this guy is in my living room who had played
the french horn part for the I'm not kidding. It
was like, you've got to be I mean, la is
filled with wonderful musicians, but the fact that the living
room crow to play the same inst it was kind
of a trip. Ah. That's amazing. Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Smoke amazing that that that place where you landed and Trada.
Was that that country club down there? Man, that place
is awesome.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Huh beautiful. David David Hall. I'm mentioning his name because
he's such a wonderful guy. He was the manager of
the club and a couple of times we had spoken
and met while we were shooting the scenes and stuff,
and he goes, you know, if you ever want to
come out and you want to play ever on a
day off, you know, please, you know, let me okay,
(19:30):
And I got I got that club. I think I
broke the club record. Ah wow for lost ball. Oh yeah,
I mean thousands. I think you had to play together.
Fair ways were about that wide. My recommend they're about
six inches wide. It was brutal, there was, but a
(19:55):
spectacularly beautiful course. All David Hall was so was so
kind to us, uh to uh to set us up
to play some golf. All that's nice.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
We should you and I should go do ah do
a round out there for the for the twentieth Oh heck.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Yeah, he would love And I'm still in touch with
him actually, Oh cool, yeah with them? Yeah yeah, we
can recreate the Zach's dance a dance splash the water yes,
all the good stuff.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Okay, so let me ask you a couple of things
about that movie. Do you have a favorite scene? Like
what what did you enjoy the most?
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Wow, it's always fun.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Like locationally, I don't know, but how you feel about location,
it's a lot of the fun gets sucked away when
you have kids. You just want to be home with
your kids. But other than that, like location, vacation is
pretty nice.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Go shoot somewhere fun, pretty fantastic. And that part of
Utah is so beautiful. It actually coincided part of the
shooting schedule, coinciding with my daughter's spring break, so I
was able to bring them to Utah, so they were
all They were all there for like that little week,
nine days, ten days, something like that. So it was
(21:11):
really nice. It was really nice to be able to
do a little work. And then we did some touring
around southern Utah and stuff. It was really beautiful. Yeah,
national parks out there, science Yeah, Well, there's a state
park just outside of Saint George called Snow Canyon, you
know it. Yeah, it's really close to Intrada, Yeah exactly. Yeah.
(21:31):
It was really it was really otherworldly and it's like
these petrified sand dunes absolutely gorgeous. So we did a
lot there.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Uh were they on the set?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Did they come coming out? They did? I have a
I have a wonderful picture of M with Ashley, and
m doesn't know quite what to do with herself, you know,
with like megastars sitting next to her, and Ashley couldn't
have been more sweet to her. Yeah, So she met everybody,
and we walked around and met uh, met Zach and
(22:03):
met uh Vanessa and everybody. So they were they were wonderful.
That's good. Yeah, the kids are sweet, man. They were
always great. Laugh.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Their fame rose so quickly through those three movies. I
was always so amazed that they're they're so cool still,
they're so down to earth.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
They never got it Snotty or Brady, you know, no
exactly just I mean I think that's partly because, like
as I said earlier, they were the real deal. I mean,
these were not people who were like putting on the parts.
They were they were they were that talented. Yeah, that
dancing and Lucas and Ashley is like, I mean, she
was like Lucy o Ball. She was so funny, her
(22:40):
sense of flaming and her her her sort of quick wittedness.
She was just so much fun to work with. Yeah. Yeah,
people love her, people love to hate her. Yeah. And
then then there's these theories. Have you heard the.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Theory of the the the lore of uh that she's
really the hero and Gabriella is the villain.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Oh, there's a whole thing.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
It's pretty smart too, because it's like, well, Gabrielle's like
pulling her away and Sharpay is always trying to uh
get him to you know, to excel and be great
and double down and get resources and you know, like be.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
His best self, and I Gabriel's like pulling him away,
man from his things. He's been working out. Wait a
second year, there's a home. There's a whole bunch of
HSM universe. Yeah, yeah, HSM After dark Man, there's some stories.
(23:31):
You has asked me about my favorite scene. Favorite. Yeah,
it's so funny because because I think back on it
and there were it was just the whole experience of
being there and watching other scenes being shot. I mean,
I mean the fun one was the helicopter entrance, which
was just, you know, so completely over the top, and
(23:54):
it was it was amazing that they were able to
even pull it off, you know, bistically. But but that
was that was pretty That was pretty spectacular. And then
just balancing and there I am with you know, with
Corbin and with with uh, you know, all these Zach
and Vanessa and everybody. It was just it was a
great It was a great way to bring the character
(24:16):
into the story. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Yeah, it's such a fun character of those kind of
roles where you play those kind of roles.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Do you do you love?
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Like I don't feel like I get auditions for like
a flayer or a doctor.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
I'm like, oh, dude, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Like I'm I'm gonna try really hard to get his job,
and then on the inside, I'm gonna say, please, don't.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Get the job.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
I don't want to have to learn medical jargon to
be like all like just somebody just feel like a
dude or let you know, let me be happy, like
mister hey, hey, you know life of the Party guy.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
It's funny. I just thought I just thought the character
when I when I started thinking about the character, I
thought of Richard Branson. Yeah, yeah, yeah, a guy who
uses his wealth to just open the world. It's like, yes,
not just to himself, but to his f family, to
his kids. It's like making things happen, bringing people together.
(25:05):
It's like this ultimate sort of uh you know, giver
and and someone who acts out of this incredible gratitude
for for all the all the possibility, you know, sort
of I sort of rather than thinking of him as
a guy who's just rich. Yes, I knew it was
about it was about you know, sending sending the ripples
(25:28):
out and making things happen for other people and and
having wonderful experiences. So that was sort of the energy
I felt was behind the character. Was just this abundance,
this incredible abundance, you know. Yes, yeah, you know.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
I've been talking with a lot of people about their
characters who have not approached this like some actors might suspect, like, oh,
it's a dizzy's little Disney channel. I'm gonna I'm gonna
be this one dimensional, one thing, and it's just not
interesting that way you see in a big movie.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
I mean, you see a big movie. I just watched.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
I just watched a movie every night by myself in
the theaters for six nights. Cinel, Did you see anything
great the movie I wanted to see the least no
interest in this because I stopt the poster, like like
was this.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Cheney's handa movie? Roofman, Oh yeah, it's great. The movie
is great.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Chris Kirsty Dunston was great, like terrific movie and all
these other like big movies, one dimensional characters, not interesting.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Just it baffles my mind.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
But anyway, I just appreciate when someone brings more than like, oh, okay,
oh Sharp Pays Dad, Let's see it would probably he'd
probably be this kind of guy, let me be this
one dimensional character, so not interesting, but you bring this
Richard Brandson into it, and all a sudden, now he's
charming and interesting and wants to do good and you
could see it like, okay, Sharp Pay might get caught
up on the wrong side of that maybe right right
right right, texture that way and yeah, a little.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Too much or you know the pink goat the the
golf cart, yeah yeah, over the top pink golf cart.
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
But underneath she's got more than that going on. She's like,
that's the moment she's in her life. Underneath it's and
then you see she brings moments of this uh you know,
there's the levity, but then there's also the sincerity of
like these moments where she gets real and it's like,
you know what, those are the colors that I think
contribute to make this thing so special and not a
one dimensional it's like such a special thing.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, those kind of choices. Yeah, it
just it just you know, not not casting, not casting.
It's you know the old actor axiom. You know, don't
don't judge your own character and say good guy or
or a bad guy, or he's this guy, he's he
is who he is, and so so don't don't cast
(27:42):
him as a you know, a villain who's just spoiling
his daughter. He's a guy who's had up so many
opportunities and and is using that to bring other people
in and make other things happen, to connect people to you.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Know, that kind of that kind of idea, And now
its up all these fun things for you and your wife,
for Jessica like to get like like just be so
much more interesting.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Totally. I love it so that when they get to
by the time they get to high school, musical three,
we make our entrance that we've just been to India,
and so we dressful and all that, all those crazy
colors and you know.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Yeah, now we want to know, Like I would watch
a show with you guys, like where they go next?
Speaker 2 (28:22):
I want to see how they do. The world is
wide open, It's wide open, so many possibilities. So yeah,
that was that was a that was a fun way
to sort of approach the you know, the the the
idea of being so wealthy that you know, you don't
want it to be a burden on the guy, you
don't want to be it. But it was. It was fun.
It was really fun.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Yeah, I think I know the answer to this already,
but these are some of the questions that people want
to know from you. Yeah, who did you spoil? I
know this, but who did you spend the most time with?
Who did you have like any characters that on the
(29:02):
show that you got to have a little more time
more like hit it off with or have good memories with.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Yeah, I mean, you know, mostly I think about mostly
with with Jessic, with my family, with the people in
my family you know, uh uh Ashley and Lucas and Jessica,
uh and you know a lot of our stuff was
together and and so yeah, the four, the four of us,
And it was also it was also you know, within
(29:30):
that within that story, we were lucky because we got
to play a whole family. We got to play you know,
parents and two kids and and and come up with
the rhythm of our own and how we operated with
one another and played around. So even in that first
scene with the helicopter, some of the some of that
dialogue and stuff was improvised. It was not. It was
(29:51):
just we were just getting to know each other, you know,
So it was it was really fun. You and Jessica
were just making stuff up. Yeah. Well there' stuff with
like Ryan and I you know you and Ryan. Yeah yeah, yeah,
like you know, you know, you've been working out, you know,
you know, you know, soy yoga, you know, and so
all that stuff. All that stuff was just our own.
You just brought that on the fly. Yeah yeah, yeah, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Is so much more interesting. Did you guys make up
other stuff? Like Jessica seems like she seems awesome. I
just loved her. But she's and a super talented works
a ton, but she's probably great to work with too
as far as like improvising and just kind of make
it like she embodied that case she went deep days,
I'm in, I'm.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
All in totally. And and again the same we sort
of connected in the in that idea of our characters
being you know, we're just like life is this banquet
and we get to we get to dig in, you
know what I mean. Like that was that was sort
of the way we thought about our characters.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Yeah, I heard this, Uh this reality city star. He
was somebody that everybody hated on this reality show. It
was like some MTV reality show, and he just just
was a menace, just I mean, like in real life
on the show, just like a tall, complete terror. And
he's like he's like, look, man, look this is a
like someone gave me a Ferrari in life. Like I've
(31:20):
got this little famous gonna last about five minutes. I'm
gonna tear it up. I'm not gonna like tet you
like a baby and give it back to you like
you know, brand new, Like no, I'm gonna like CAUs
as much chaos as possible.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
That So I was like, it was such such an
interesting take, and I was like, oh man, there's a
there's some life lessons in there. You know, We've been
giving great opportunities. And if you don't like grab him
and make something out of him, enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
You know. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely and I mean, my gosh,
here we are all these years later, still talking about
this iconic movie. I mean movie that that. I mean,
people people still, you know, when they recognize me or
I mentioned it, or someone mentions you know, you know
who that is, and people really like freak out. It's
really they really like it was a big deal for
(32:09):
for you know, for all of us to be to
be involved in it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Yeah, it's interesting and and and well we gotta talk
about some of this other stuff you've done. But I
remember when I was watching Handsmaid's Tale, which is such
a heavy show, and then you popped up. I was like,
oh yeah, Curtis Prouh my gosh, and you're like heavy
on that show.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
I'm like, oh, my gosh, gotcha heavy? Oh, oh my gosh. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
But even though it's like this critically acclaimed, like amazing,
incredible TV series, do people freak out as much.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
About that as they do with this one? Though? Yeah.
It's very funny because there were I mean, that show
it was a lot, you know, it was. The show
was it was timed so perfectly in terms of when
it was launched, the subjects they were talking about and
what they were dealing with and and it was some
pretty scary stuff and it it came up. I mean
(32:58):
obviously the show was in development for a long time
and just sort of hit when it did. Yeah, but yeah,
that's a show that that people followed pretty intensely. Yeah. Pretty,
Uh they were, they were pretty hooked on it. Yeah. Yeah,
and to play the guy who essentially the guy who
(33:19):
essentially started billiad it's uh, you know, you feel like
your ground zero. But anyway, it was. Yeah, it was
a great gig. Great, Yeah, spooky to work on, very
spooky to work on. Yeah, it's so dark that show,
my gosh, so dark. And the mood on the on
the set, you know, it's I mean Margaret Atwood, who
(33:40):
wrote the novel, was there. Oh, he was consulting on
the show and could advise. You know, she when when
she wrote the book, everything in the book had happened
in history. There was an historical basis for everything that
took place at some point or another, and she pulled
these ideas together and so you know, the fact that
it was all all based in reality was pretty we
(34:02):
gave gave it an extra level of of terror. I
think for a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Yeah, yeah, you know, it just tends to always go
back love like the authenticity, more authenticity in mind out
of a situation like boy, it just it just hits.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
It's different truly.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
But what do Disney Channel people or or people that
grew up watching those great dcom shows? Uh, what do
they recognize you from?
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Or what do they do? What do they respond to? Well,
I mean, I mean most of it now is high
school musical, but but yeah, uh, you know, there's there's
a there are a number of shows that have sort
of come and gone, like you know, Supernatural or all
the Star Trek shows. I did all those and and
and and they're these shows that sort of have these
(34:49):
really hardcore followings, right right, So so those kind of shows,
but the the shows for kids, I mean, you know,
I mean my first my first movie was Trading Places,
which became a huge, huge, huge hit. I mean right
out of school, and I was, you know, there I
was working with these you know, Hollywood legends, I mean
(35:12):
legends like Ralph Bellaby and Donamichi. A few months after
I graduated, and I'm like, oh man, this acting thing
is so easy. You just we're talking about land in
this huge movie with Eddie Murphy and Droyd and James
Lee Curtis and you know, just cruise, you know, not
quite the way it works out, but it's still one
(35:32):
of my favorite movies. I love that movie. It still
holds up. It really. Yeah. I was one of your
first jobs after school. Uh. It was my second job
after wow, I did. I graduated in May and went
to do a regional theater production of A Midsummer Night's Stream.
(35:52):
Some amazing people Judy Jody Long who wound up being
the LA screen actors killed President Sag after a President It,
Keith David who has had an astonishing career, j Smith Cameron,
who of course his own succession. I mean, some really
great people in this production. And then I finished the
(36:13):
show and went back home, and it's like, now what
do I do? How do I get a career started?
And then I got this call to gwinn and read
for Bonnie Timmerman and trading Places and and booked the gig.
So it was h Yeah, it was off and running.
That must have been amazing to be on that big show.
It was. It was well, It's funny because I was
(36:33):
shooting the movie during the day and I was actually
understudying a Broadway show at night. Wow, So I had
two jobs at once and again it's like, I mean
light work. It's it's nothing. It's just like to just
go from gig to gig to gig. Yeah. Years later
it's all the same, so it's uh yeah, it was
(36:56):
just it was just a really lucky break to get
to get that first one, you know, in such in
again another movie that that so many people know and
love and have seen, you know, multiple times.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Yeah, oh my gosh, my first job in how when
I moved here, I'd like packed up my car and
quit college and did the drive and I got this
France for Coppola film Familia is my first movie. I
was like, but the the pain and suffering came quickly after.
Right then I started waiting tables and then to take off,
(37:28):
and then uh, I get to quit that job, and
then a year later I'm waiting tables again.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Oh that's that's four times. Oh my gosh, I know
that's the roller coaster. Man.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Oh man, totally signed up for this stuff, like I know, right, So, okay,
so you've done and and what other? So you did
other Disney Channel stuff before high school musical a bunch
of stuff.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Did I do a bunch of stuff? Well, well, I
guess Thutterman's was after Thunderman's was after I did a
show called Kicking It. I know. Yeah, remember whether it's
before or after. That's the problem with twenty years. No,
I know, I'd have to have to get my IMDb
page up here and track everything. But I don't. I think, Uh,
(38:16):
those are the two that jump out of me. There
were probably there were probably others.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
And then of course all sorts of other film and
television work before this time.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Lots of really good stuff. I just I don't know, man,
I just got so lucky. I just got so so lucky.
I hit a couple of things, hit a couple, a
couple of big things early and and yeah, I just
had a really great time sort of sort of launching
ten years in New York after drama school, and then
came out here. You know, in like ninety one. You
(38:48):
did a lot of theater tho those first ten years. Yeah,
a lot of theater all over sort of New England,
New York, you know, Bufflow Studio, Arena, Syracuse Stage, Jeeva
and Rochester. Did a few shows. Was in New York.
One really huge production of Julius Caesar at the New
York Shakespeare Festival with Martin Sheen and Ed Herman, and
(39:11):
my dressing room mate was Al Pacino. So we got
down wow every night, every night. It was a trip. Yeah,
that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
You could be this long into this talking about your
career and like this happened to casually drop.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
Yeah. He and I hung out every night and he
was so wonderful legend work with and legend, and at
the time it was interesting. It was just before he
started Godfather three. Wow. So he had a bodyguard standing
outside our dressing room who just sort of screen people
so nobody could come in. And one day and on
(39:44):
this young actor. I was out of school maybe two years.
I'm just you know, I'm still trying to figure it
all out, Like how did I get here? And I
was putting Octavius, which I would argue is the best
part in Julius Caesar. It doesn't come in until after
the intermission fact four, and he's got the best armor,
the best armor or more length cake. I mean, it
(40:07):
was just my costume was spectacular, awesome, and all my
stuff was with Al Pacino. He played Mark Antony, so
he and I did all our scenes together. So there's
a little sheepish knock at the door in this guy
Lou who was Al's bodyguard, sticks his head in and
he goes, there's someone here to see him. Who is it?
It's Bobby. Door opens and Robert de Niro walks in
(40:29):
and he sits down next to Al and they start talking.
And I have never taken my makeup off those slowly
in my life. I'm just leaning and listening. It's like
one of these guys talking about one of it. Yes,
oh my lord. I mean I'm in this room three
feet from two of the biggest movie stars on the planet.
(40:52):
It was pretty. It was pretty. It was pretty epic,
and he was there were They were just great people,
great people. Wow, wow, some good, some good stuff, some
some great, some great early opportunities. You know, that's cool.
I have a picture of me and Al and another
having a pillow fight and come on, come on with
Alpha Cheta. This pillow fight broke out at one time
(41:16):
and he's like shying away and it was it was wild. Wow.
I did not think we were going to get to
that in this That's amazing, man, please please, yeah, absolutely,
that's so good.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
I just got to mention I was talking to Peter
bars KINI or screenwriter. Yeah, yeah, you start talking about
where the music like originated from the show. What really
first time I got in the cities, well like in
nineteen sixty five, I had this job and I was
driving around Janis Joplin and she's putting these eight trac
chapes some like so this is my Janis Joppa moment
with you and al Pacino.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
How I feel like stuff? Right, it's amazing, right, wow? Huge.
She would tell stories like and then this happens.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
She's stick in another at eight track, taking play the
soundtrack to her next story, and put in another one.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
It's a graz story. Oh you're doing It's so funny.
You say her, you say her voy her name, and
her voice is like, come long, comea sorry, I got this.
Janus Joplin likes it's in my brain. I love it, man,
I love it.
Speaker 1 (42:35):
For this generation that's listening to this, go see trading places,
pick up some chances Joplin, and see some some al
Pacino movies.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
Old school, old school, throw.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
That got gems here for you kids. Yeah, guys, you've trusted.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
Us this far.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
Okay, so high school musical comes out, you get recognized
like crazy. I'm sure everywhere you go, like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
Yeah, on street corners in New York getting out of
a taxi and this woman goes, oh my god, oh
my god, this is mister Evans. Oh my god. I
mean like that that kind of like Beatles stuff. You know,
it's like, it's hilarious. You've gotten this forever. I'm sure
you know that. You know the vibe, Yeah, just like
it didn't see it coming, didn't like what a shocker.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
I mean, when you joined the cast, it was a
it was a big thing, so like you knew you
were getting into something iconic, but not twenty years later, No, no, no, right, right,
we you know, we looked enough of same that were like,
it's still we're still getting it, right, like still like people.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
Yeah. Yeah. And then and then when you're I mean
I've been to movie openings and all that kind of stuff,
you know, premieres, but when you go to a Disney
event and it's dancers and singers and set pieces and
swimming pools and food and golf carts, and I mean
(43:55):
it was just so it was it was just huge.
After this movie came out and the launch of the movie.
That whole countdown remember the countdown to HSM two they
did on the channel. Yeah, and there was this whole thing,
you know, you and everybody cleared the decks. I knew
(44:15):
so many people who like, I'm not doing anything Thursday night.
Thursday night, I am in front of my TV. I'm
not you know. I mean, there were big parties and
then and then when the DVD launched, it was another
big thing at El Capitan. Yeah. So it was just
it was just being part of a being part of
a real you know phenomenon. It was just it was
(44:36):
so much fun. Yeah, so much fun. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
I can't believe how many people have told me they
watched it on opening night with a party, and it
was that. The numbers were it was. It was the
most viewed cable movie ever in history television and then.
But the experts are like every household that was counted
had about twenty you know kids the movie. So the
(45:01):
numbers were like way off, but still still most most
watched it.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
Yeah, totally, I totally get it. I mean I remember
I just remember, you know, in my house, my house,
my daughter was just beside herself waiting for it to happen. Yeah,
big stuff.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
She was so she was she was like a year older.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
I guess third grade. Yeah, so she had put her
second at the other school and then moved over in
third grade. Yeah, school, and and oh my lord.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
Yeah, you know it's funny. I've always thought it was
funny because if I take my kids to elementary school,
the kids were crazy, but if you went to junior
high in high school, not so much.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
They're a few years later. Right, It's like you just
watch it or grow up.
Speaker 1 (45:41):
And now like I do, I do, Like I hear
people there, you know, I want a cameo, and you know,
I hear people requesting videos. And it used to be
like graduate, graduate from high school and you send them
a video. Now graduate from college. And now I'm like
that won't get married. Now I'm having a kid like.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
I was growing up. I love it. And it's so
funny because as you know, as I've obviously aged, and
people say, people will say, and you may get this,
like I know you or we've met before, Yeah you know,
do you like you know, do you shop at Trader
Joe's or whatever it is? And I say, well no,
and then I look at them and I say, well,
(46:17):
how old are you? Yeah, yeah, oh twenty six, I said, yeah, yeah,
twenty six. I was in high school musical No, you know,
jaw drop moment. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
I think if you're a millennial, if you're in that
window like one hundred percent, you know, Honor Curtis Brown
for for sure. Right, yeah, I've got I have had
a lot of people say, especially early on, and then
they got to know my character.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
This is how it started. They said, you were my coach,
you coached me.
Speaker 1 (46:45):
I remember you were, And I'm like, well, kind of
like no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
No, you were my coach.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
You were I'm like, yes, yeah, I am your coach,
but not how you're thinking.
Speaker 2 (46:56):
I'll let them get there. You know, you should say
to him, but I want to know, Oh did you
get your head into the game. Yes? Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:05):
And then as time goes on, then then they know
your character name. And then five years later now they
know your personal name, and it's like right, right, right,
twenty years you still still here?
Speaker 2 (47:13):
We are, man, here we are I know right.
Speaker 1 (47:18):
Well, hey, before before you start thinking about leaving me,
what what are you up to? What you're doing? What
are you on social media? Much are you what are
you doing what you got going on?
Speaker 2 (47:26):
What am I doing? I mean, you know this is crazy,
my my, My big thing right now is I am
playing I'm playing softball in three different leagues. Wow, I
am the I'm batting forth playing shortstop. And my team
in Manhattan Beach is going into the playoffs tomorrow. Wow.
(47:48):
Ready for this? Are you sitting down? I'm ready? My
team is nineteen and oh whoa already league. All teams
are equal. We have run the table to WHO and
it's a perfect season for the first time ever. Excited.
(48:11):
I'm still very elm still just digging the game, dominating
wherever you go, even in a park in Manhattan Beach, Yes,
especially there. Yeah, No, I mean, you know, I've been
I've been very lucky. I did a I worked on
a show for Amazon for a little while. I had
a recurring thing on CSI. I did a bunch of
(48:33):
shows there. I did a recurring part on Station nineteen,
The Firefighters Show. Yeah yeah, played Travis's dad on that one.
And so yeah, you know, just just keep showing up, man,
just keep showing up. Yeah. Yeah, Well, you you are
a true like working actor. Man.
Speaker 1 (48:50):
You got such a body of work you've done for
so many decades. It's just I feel the same way.
Speaker 2 (48:55):
Nount God. So grateful, yeah, so grateful for it. And
it's people say, you know, you gotta retire, and I said, well,
I feel like I've been retired since the day I
graduated from drama school. Yeah, yeah, you know, a long
time ago. And then you know, you do the gigs
when they come along, and you hopefully you enjoy your
life in between, and you you know, you don't you
(49:15):
don't hook too much on any of them, and just
do your best when the opportunities come along.
Speaker 1 (49:21):
Yeah, I think retirement, like for an actor, it used
to be maybe moving away, moving to the countryside, but
now that it self tapes like, is there a retirement?
Speaker 2 (49:29):
Like I know, there's only people in their eighties and nineties,
and you know, look at June squib She's had a
career that started when she was like seventy. You know.
Speaker 1 (49:40):
Yeah, we're saying as we're available, we're available, we're here.
Speaker 2 (49:45):
We're not ever going to retire.
Speaker 1 (49:46):
So you need a couple of couple dads, you know, Yeah,
you get them right on, right on. I'd see that show.
Heck you Troy's dad Sharpay's dad off on an adventure.
That's right, playing tuff ball together, that's right, Jack and.
Speaker 2 (49:59):
Vance advanced dude, I don't want to say it right,
say that a couple of times like where this is going? Man?
Well hey please post that stuff? What what's your do?
Do you ever handle? What are you on Instagram? Guys?
Do you Curtis Brown? Robert Curtis Brown? One word? Yeah,
(50:20):
one one big giant loan all the way across the stop.
A very cool yes, brother? What what a what a treat?
So great to see your face. You look like you
have not you like sleeping in a cryogenic chamber or something.
You're like, we're.
Speaker 1 (50:37):
Stayed active and uh gosh, it's a good it's a
good thing to do for as an actor, I guess.
Speaker 2 (50:42):
So. Uh Yeah, we're blessed, man, we are. We're blessed, truly.
It's the it's just our souls. They're just so pure.
That's it.
Speaker 1 (50:52):
Great to see. But let's get together soon, right on.
Congrats with with everything and thanks for spending some time
with with me, with our wildcat, with our people, our
East High family. Yeah, we are, we are. We are
so grateful for all of you out there. So I
love you guys.
Speaker 2 (51:08):
We are indeed, we are indeed spend what a ride, dude,
twenty years ride, yeah, twenty years more. Man, Let's keep
it going. Let's do it, jack and dance, all right, baby,
love it over stickers, lunchboxes. Oh yeah, man, I gotta
get all the merchandising. I love that the kids are
going to be especially the kids are gonna love it.
Speaker 1 (51:27):
They're gonna love it all right, rally all right, man,
I'll talk to you suit all the best. Thanks for
being here, all right, take care o, goodbye
Hosts And Creators
Will Friedle
Sabrina Bryan
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