What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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T10 WHATS UP! January 5 - 11, 2020 Skylar Astin ("Pitch Perfect," 2012). Next thing she knows, he's singing and dancing to the Jonas Brothers' groovy hit "Sucker," making his secret feelings for her abundantly clear. In another scene from the musical dramedy, Zoey's at a café with her neighbor Mo (Alex Newell, "Glee"), trying to come to terms with her new ability, when she witnesses an elaborate, fully choreo- graphed performance of DJ Khaled's "All I Do is Win," but Mo only sees "a bunch of mostly white people drinking overpriced coffee." It's a fun premise for a show, one that indulges the typical musical's over-the-top, perfor- mative nature as much as it subverts what the genre tends to be. And the rest of the cast is nothing to sneeze at, either — John Clarence Stewart ("Luke Cage"), Lauren Gra- ham ("Gilmore Girls"), Mary Steenburgen ("The Last Man on Earth") and Peter Gallagh- er ("The O.C."). Creator and showrunner Austin Winsberg, whose di- verse credits working on melo- dramas such as "Gossip Girl" and the "The Sound of Music Live!" sum up the unique tone of his new creation perfectly, has come up with a concept that I've never seen before: a musical that, through its lead, breaks its own fourth wall. It's pretty remarkable when you think about it, given that one of the biggest gripes surrounding the genre is the amount of sus- pension of disbelief required from the audience. How do you make people buy into the emotional life of characters who transition from dialogue to song as though it were nothing? Taking it at face value, people singing and dancing out of nowhere is very off-putting and absurd, right? Well, "Zoey's Extraordi- nary Playlist" kind of agrees, but it seems to have found its own solution to the problem. Instead of expecting the view- er to accept the musical num- bers without question, why not have the lead character find the singing out of place, too? It's brilliant, and it gives the new series an edge that other shows of the musical genre don't have. It makes it more accessible to audiences, gives them a greater ability to attach to Zoey's character, and makes the comedy land beautifully (what's funnier than a de facto one-woman audience for huge musical numbers?). But, most importantly, it gives the sing- ing even more of a punch and allows the characters to speak their most vulnerable truths. It's hearing what people are feeling, which is what musi- cals are all about. "[The show] is about how we express ourselves," said Gra- ham, who plays Zoey's no-non- sense boss, Joan. For a charac- ter who struggled to communi- cate her whole life, Zoey is handed the chance to hear oth- ers' innermost thoughts through music, a language as universal as they come — a gift curious in that it sends her on a journey that doesn't necessari- ly highlight her own voice but her ability to listen to others. It's a journey that's going to be hard to resist diving into. Tune in to a show that both reinvents and completely stands by the heart of the musical genre, when "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist" premieres Tuesday, Jan. 7, on NBC. Skylar Astin and John Clarence Stewart in "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist" continued from page T2 A penny for your songs: 'Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist' premieres on NBC TV FEATURE