The cast of Julie and the Phantoms are 2021 MTV Movie & TV Awards winners!!
In case you missed it on Sunday night (May 16), the winners were revealed for the first part of the show and the stars of the Netflix series picked up the fan-voted Best Musical Performance award for “Edge of Great.”
Charlie Gillespie, Jeremy Shada and Owen Joyner reunited over the weekend!
The Julie and the Phantoms stars, who make up the Phantoms/Sunset Curve, all flew to Hawaii and reunited with director and executive producer Kenny Ortega.
“‘This Band is Back’! Aloha from Maui to @themadisonreyes @julieandthephantoms Cast, Creatives, Crew, @netflix and International #Phans! @charles_gillespie @owenjoyner @jeremyshada ❌👻‼️” Kenny captioned a photo of just the boys on his Instagram.
“These are the ugliest pictures I’ve ever seen of myself. Give me minute ill be back,” Owen captioned on a post from Jeremy. LOL!
Jeremy and his wife Carolynn have been spending the last week in paradise, and have even posted other pics with Kenny and Tori Caro, who is a member of Dirty Candy, and an assistant choreographer on Julie and the Phantoms.
Owen and Charlie joined them, seemingly this past weekend, as Owen posted a little video on Instagram of them on a plane.
While Julie and the Phantoms hasn’t been renewed for a season two yet, we’re still waiting in anticipation for another season announcement!
Get ready to rock with Julie and the Phantoms!
Newcomer Madison Reyes stars as Julie in the upcoming musical series for Netflix, alongside Owen Joyner, Charlie Gillespie and Jeremy Shada.
Here’s a synopsis: High schooler Julie (Reyes) lost her passion for music after her mom died last year. But when the ghosts of three dreamy musicians (Gillespie, Joyner, and Shada) from 1995 suddenly appear in her mom’s old music studio, Julie feels her own inner spirit beginning to reawaken, and she’s inspired to start singing and writing songs again. As their friendship with Julie grows, the boys convince her to create a new band together: Julie and the Phantoms.
The upcoming show is executive produced by High School Musical and Descendants franchises’ director Kenny Ortega, so you know it’s going to be great!
Julie and the Phantoms also stars Descendants 3‘s Jadah Marie, Booboo Stewart and Cheyenne Jackson, Owen‘s Knight Squad co-star Savannah May, Carlos Ponce, Sonny Bustamante and Sacha Carlson.
Look out for Julie and the Phantoms on September 10th on Netflix!
Flashback Friday!
It has been exactly FIVE years since the first Descendants movie premiered on Disney Channel on July 31, 2015.
The Kenny Ortega-directed DCOM starred Dove Cameron, Sofia Carson, Booboo Stewart, Cameron Boyce, Sarah Jeffery, Mitchell Hope, Brenna D’Amico, Kristin Chenoweth and more.
Descendants brought us the songs “Rotten to the Core,” “Evil Like Me,” “Did I Mention,” “If Only,” “Be Our Guest,” “Set It Off,” and “Believe.”
Here’s a synopsis: Driven by exciting music and performance, the story is set in the idyllic kingdom of Auradon where Ben, the benevolent teenaged son of the King and Queen (Beast and Belle from Beauty and the Beast), is poised to take the throne. His first proclamation: offer a chance at redemption to Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay, the trouble-making offspring of Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Cruella de Vil and Jafar, who have been imprisoned on the forbidden Isle of the Lost for 20 years.
These villainous descendants are allowed into Auradon for the first time to attend prep school alongside the teenage progeny of Fairy Godmother, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Mulan. Only time will tell if these evil teens follow in the footsteps of their wicked parents!
Check out the gallery for a ton of photos from the first Descendants movie!
Ryan Evans, the flamboyant High School Musical character played by Lucas Grabeel, has always been assumed to be gay, but never really confirmed.
His sexuality has always been a topic of conversation throughout the years, and director Kenny Ortega recently dished on when Ryan would have come out.
“The character of Ryan in High School Musical, Sharpay’s twin brother, we decided he’d probably going to come out in college. It was less about coming out and just more about letting his true colors come forward,” Kenny told Variety.
“I have to be honest with you. I didn’t think at the time — and Disney is the most progressive group of people I’ve ever worked with,” he continued. “I was concerned because it was family and kids, that Disney might not be ready to cross that line and move into that territory yet. So, I just took it upon myself to make choices that I felt that those who were watching would grab. They would see it, they would feel it, they would know it and they would identify with it. And that is what happened.”
“I have to say thousands of kids that have said, ‘If it weren’t for High School Musical, I don’t know that I would have ever been comfortable in my skin. I don’t know when I would have been able to feel comfortable enough to come out, embrace who I am,’” Kenny added.
Disney had eventually, years later, crossed that line when Andi Mack character Cyrus came out to his friends.
Zac Efron joined the High School Musical cast on the Disney Family Singalong on Thursday night (April 16), though he sadly didn’t sing with them.
The cast reunited to perform the smash hit song “We’re All in This Together” from their own homes. Zac is supposedly quarantined in the “middle of nowhere” with poor WiFi, but he sent in a grainy video that served as an introduction to the performance.
Director Kenny Ortega brought together Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Monique Coleman, and Corbin Bleu, as well as the casts of Descendants, Zombies, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series and more, for a great performance.
“Hi everyone, I hope that you’re safe and that you’re healthy and that you’re doing as well as possible during these unprecedented times. It’s my greatest pleasure to introduce a musical performance by some of my oldest friends, and some new ones. I hope that you enjoy, and remember, we’re all in this together,” Zac said. He unfortunately didn’t sing with the cast, but you can watch the performance below!
There’s another Wildcats reunion happening and we can’t wait for it!
Kenny Ortega will reunite with High School Musical stars Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, Lucas Grabeel and even Zac Efron for the upcoming Disney Family Singalong.
Kenny Ortega opened up to Deadline about the reunion, which follows their Zoom call that happened over the weekend.
“I wanted to find something I can do to participate and it was so great to be given the call and invited by ABC to join,” Kenny shared. “It gave me a purpose to get up every morning. I feel really good that we have an opportunity to do something like this — it’s good medicine.”
He added about Zac‘s participation, who will appear in a special video message: “We couldn’t reach Zac until late but when we did, he immediately jumped in, of course. Everyone we reached out to was quick — and you’ll see it in their spirit and the way they come together from their homes. They recognize this is an opportunity to strengthen spirits for those joining us for the broadcast.”
The Wildcats are expected to be performing their signature song, “We’re All In this Together” on the program.
The Disney Family Singalong is slated to air on Thursday, April 16 at 8/7c on ABC.
