If you have nothing but fond memories of High School Musical, then chances are, you are going to love Julie and the Phantoms. Produced and directed by HSM director and celebrated choreographer Kenny Ortega, the new Netflix teen musical series is about a teenager and her “hologram” band composed of ghosts.
The show’s maiden season follows newcomer Madison Reyes as Julie, a teenager who rediscovers her passion for music with the help of three deceased members of a band called Sunset Curve who had the misfortune of dying just hours before the night of their big break in 1995. Julie somehow managed to summon the ghosts of these three young men and eventually found herself fronting their band and becoming a big deal in her school by explaining their magical existence as mere holograms.
A recurring theme in the series is how music gets people through grief and allows them cope with a personal loss. During a virtual media junket with the show’s creator and several cast members, SoundStrip was able to interview the three actors that comprise Sunset Curve or as they are known in the series, the Phantoms.
Jeremy Shada, who portrayed bassist Reggie, shared that they had to adjust to many things throughout the process. In addition to “letting down walls” much quicker than normal, they also had to adjust to each song’s individual style.
“Kenny kind of put us in this rehearsal process that was like this very intense boot camp where we’re learning all our instruments and vocals. We were spending time with each other for about eight hours a day and learning these things and pushing each other out of our comfort zones, so we really had to just trust each other pretty quickly,” Jeremy revealed.
Charlie Gillespie who plays Luke, the lead singer and chief songwriter of the Phantoms talked how they all identified each other’s strong points and what they did to take advantage of their attributes.
“Our voices all have its capabilities and its limits so we’re able to work with what we have no matter what. But definitely like I found Luke. I found the voice that I used for a song like ‘Now or Never’ which was a lot more intense and a lot grungier [although that style] didn’t suit the song ‘Unsaid Emily’ as the levels were different.”
Thankfully, Kenny Ortega had the right idea of casting actors with musical backgrounds so the performing cast members were allowed to freestyle and put their own interpretation in the songs.
Owen Patrick Joyner, who plays Alex, is an accomplished drummer himself but loves the fact that he was allowed to “I had to figure out my own thing, and that was such a cool process,” said Joyner, who was able to add a bit of pizzazz on the song, “Bright” which initially did not have a lot of drumming going for it.
In addition to learning new tricks, the cast was able to focus on songwriting and had a lot of fun with their collaborative creative process.
“To get into the mindset of being a band, me and the guys have written Sunset Curve-like songs in between takes, which was fun but I’m sure the ones we wrote in the beginning sucked,” Charlie cracked. Their efforts, however, were ultimately rewarded when one of their songs, “Perfect Harmony,” a duet between Julie and Luke, was able to make it in the show.
Although they have very little similarities in terms of storyline, Julie and the Phantoms is still drawing comparisons to High School Musical mainly because of the vibe and trademark style employed by Kenny Ortega in most, if not, all of his work. But that’s just fine as far as the Phantoms are concerned.
“We’re massive High School Musical fans, and we really wanted a moment for ourselves like that moment where they danced on the rooftop. Madison and I really wanted to dive into our characters a little more and throughout the series we actually talked about writing songs. We thought Julie and Luke go through an enormous amount, so it was a really cool exercise which developed into something really big,” Charlie quipped.
Julie and the Phantoms is now streaming on Netflix while the soundtrack is also available in all major digital streaming platforms.
For more about the lead cast members of Julie and the Phantoms, watch this Netflix featurette: