Olivia Rose Keegan – High School Musical: The Musical – The Series

By: Jamie Steinberg

Q) How was your character Lily on “High School Musical – The Musical: The Series” originally described to you?

A) It was originally described to me as being compared to Reese Witherspoon in the movie Election. She was described as a sweet, bubbly Freshman at East High. I’m pretty sure that was close to the original breakdown.

Q) Was there anything you added to Lily that wasn’t in her initial breakdown?

A) Yeah, for me, a part of building a character is creating your own theories on her backstory and a lot of the things that I think about Lily the audience might never now. And it’s fun for me to come up with those things in my mind. It’s a sort of fun little thing that as the season progresses you get more chances to see, “Oh, was I right about her family story?” Hopefully, everyone will get to see those other layers and twists and turns to Lily.

Q) How was it for you channeling a freshman? Were you able to recall your freshman days or did you focus more on her breakdown?

A) [laughs] I think we all try to erase our freshman year of high school. But sometimes we have to revisit those demons and those icky memories. So, I definitely took from that. And I’m very competitive, but luckily, I’m just very competitive with myself whereas Lily chooses to be competitive with the people around. I definitely want to honor the breakdown and everything, but it is also always fun to come up with your own theories and add your own backstory.

Q) What is Lily’s dynamics like with the East High kids?

A) Her dynamic with the East High kids…She’s very sweet and goofy, but underneath that is a mean streak and a violently competitive streak. She wants to be the best. She is a determined girl who will knock down anything who gets in her way to get what she wants. It’s an admirable quality, but I just think sometimes she takes it too far. As far as her interaction with the kids from East High, I think that trait of hers could come out sometimes and get the best of her.

Q) Were you familiar with any of your costars before working with them?

A) Julia [Lester] and I tested for a Disney pilot back in like 2012 – actually in the same building that I went in for the callback for Lily. Julia ended up booking it and I remember just being able to sit and talk with her. We sat and talked for hours and hours and it made the whole experience so fun. We were about twelve years old and however X-amount, of years later…We were like, “Long time, no see!” It was just a very special full-circle moment for us.

Q) Talk about working with Derek Hough.

A) So fun! He is a so great to work with – such a goofball. I’m very excited for everyone to see our dynamic in relation to each other because the way our characters interact with each other…I love the way it was written, and I can’t wait for people to see it.

Q) What can you tease are some of your favorite moments or episodes that you are looking forward to people watching?

A) Episode 7 has some really fun stuff in it. I’m very excited for everyone to see Andrew’s [Barth Feldman] debut as Antoine. I can’t even describe how brilliant, funny and wonderful he is. And Roman Banks, too! This season has some amazing guest star talents. They really come on the scene and shake things up. So, I’m very excited about that.

Q) Are you able to tease some songs or even your favorite songs to perform this season?

A) No, we can’t reveal what songs we’re doing, but I’m very excited for people to hear them!

Q) You are a part of social media. Are you looking forward to the fan response when they meet Lily?

A) Yeah! I think that’s one of the great things about social media is that you can communicate and see your art effecting people, hopefully, in positive ways. I am mentally prepared to be so hated because Lily is not very lovable right off the bat. She’s kind of the epitome of everything gone wrong in a hormonal insecure teenager in ways. [laughs] Also, of course, there are many good qualities. Hopefully, as the season progresses, people will see more layers. What I love about the show is that nobody is one-dimensional. It tells very human stories about everyone. I’m excited for people to see that about Lily. I’m very mentally prepared though for people to hate me because that just means I’m doing my job. And you’re not supposed to like Lily.

Q) Is there anything else you’d like to tease for fans about this season of “High School Musical – The Musical: The Series?”

A) I’m just constantly blown away by the overall talent of the whole entire cast and being able to be on set with them is just such an inspiring experience. As far as behind the scenes, sometimes it feels like we’re just watching a Broadway caliber show, especially before the quarantine when bigger groups of people could hang out on set. If someone started singing a song from Season 1 that everyone knew the choreography to everyone would just start breaking out in song and dancing in sync. I would just sit there as a happy audience member. That still happens, of course, in smaller numbers. But it just has been such a wonderful experience to get to be a part of such a talented cast.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who are fans and supporters of you and the work you do?

A) Thank you so much for giving me a job! It’s never felt like a job. I feel very, very lucky to be able to do what I love as a job. It doesn’t feel real. So, just thank you from the bottom of my heart. It means the world and I hope that my art can…The really fun thing, especially about this show, is it tells just honest true stories about people and I just really hope that every single person of demographic can watch this find something to relate to and it might make them feel less alone. At the end of the day, I think that’s what all artists – or all humans – strive for. It would mean a lot if I could do that for anyone.