Frankie Rodriguez is the “proud owner of a cardboard cutout Zac Efron” and Carlos in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, but he’s not just a High School Musical superfan. In fact, we caught up with Frankie recently to find out how he’s keeping himself entertained and inspired while social distancing and HSM wasn’t the only thing on his list—though he did have #HSMTMTS watch party on his Twitter.
Welp. Guess now I’ll go practice that recorder I’ve been putting off since 4th grade…
— Frankie A. Rodriguez (@MrFrankieAR) March 17, 2020
These are all of the things Frankie is loving right now. And, no, none of them are recommendations to practice that recorder you’ve been neglecting since elementary school.
What’s on His Netflix List
When he has his eyes on a screen, Frankie is probably watching Netflix’s Cheer. Being a Wild Cat, Frankie knows the perfect combination of drama and talent when he sees it which means he also has the musical romcom From Justin to Kelly on his watch list—”Still a fav.” He’s also been working his way through past seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race and “ALL of the makeup tutorials on YouTube”.
Current Go-To Playlist
If you opened up Frankie’s Spotify, you can almost guarantee he’s listening to Ariana Grande’s complete discography. He says, he has “Ariana Grande on LOOP!” But it’s not all pop music for this High School Musical star. He recommends a virtual trip to Broadway if social distancing has you down. “Broadway playlists always cheer me up!”
An Uplifting TBR
There are only good vibes and inspiring stories in Frankie’s current TBR. On his shelf right now are style icon Tan France’s memoir Naturally Tan and Generation Friends by Saul Austerlitz (a throwback to the classic TV series).
Podcasts for “Musical Theatre Peeps”
In uncertain times, it’s all about keeping life interesting, so Frankie is listening to RuPaul’s What’s the Tee podcast to get the latest from RuPaul’s celebrity guests. But, “for the musical theatre peeps,” Frankie also recommends Booked It which takes you behind the scenes of the theatre industry.
Exercising His Musical Theatre Skills
Keeping up your performance routine might be the most difficult part of social distancing (that and missing your BFFs), but Frankie has a pretty clever solution for keeping his talents in perfect condition. His advice? “YouTube your favorite karaoke tracks to sing your favorite songs! And make time to dance at least once a day!”