The 'Riverdale' Cast Can Do More Than Just Act and There Are Musicals To Prove It

You can hate on Riverdale for several things. There are the numerous off-brand names they blurt out every week (American Excess, anyone?), and Archie has countless jobs, including bounty hunter and boxing ring owner before the age of 30.

But one thing you can't rag on the show for is the musical talent among its stars. So, does the Riverdale cast sing in the musical episodes?

Each season of Riverdale welcomes an episode dedicated to a musical. Sometimes, the musical itself is part of the storyline as a play the characters put on. Other times, it's mixed in with scenes as a way to propel the story forward. It's a whole *thing* on Riverdale. And whether you love musicals or not, there's no denying how fun these episodes can be.

As hard as it might be to believe, the Riverdale cast — including Cole Sprouse and Lili Reinhart, who aren't known for singing — does sing each season. Each actor's vocals are authentic, even if there's some careful editing done to polish them up for the episode.

But the show has never shied away from music, so it makes sense that it wouldn't fake the funk here.

In real life, KJ Apa is a talented singer and guitar player. Ashleigh Murray, who plays Josie of Josie and the Pussycats, sang on the show before it was cool. That being said, these are still actors, and singing isn't their chosen art.

Ashleigh told Elite Daily in April 2020 that singing still isn't high on her list of favorite things.

"I always get nervous when I have to record because I'm worried about what people are going to think, and I'm really critical of it, the same way I am of my acting," she told the outlet. "It's still very scary for me. There will be 10, 20, 50 more positive tweets about my voice, but I'll see that one [negative one], and it will affirm my own insecurity."

Even though the Riverdale cast sings their lyrics without, ahem, professional singers doing the work for them, they don't sing live. Instead, as most fans can tell in the musical episodes, the cast lip-syncs to pre-recorded songs.

This ensures that any editing to their voices can be done ahead of time. And can you imagine doing multiple takes of a TV show while singing? No, thank you.

Casey Cott, who plays Kevin, actually has experience in theater before landing a role on Riverdale. He started in theater in his home state of Ohio and later studied acting at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama.

Riverdale's musical episodes aren't the same as a stage production of Romeo and Juliet, but it's something that probably comes easier to Casey than some of his co-stars.

Watch Riverdale on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on the CW.