We drank three rounds with the stars of Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist
Three Rounds with the Cast of 'Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist'
EW's Sydney Bucksbaum shares three rounds of cocktails with the cast of 'Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist' to chat about season 2.
On Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist, it's easy for Jane Levy's titular Zoey to meet up with her friends and family for a drink (or two, or eight ... ) whenever she wants. And these days, dealing with grieving her father, putting her relationship on pause, and getting promoted at the worst possible time at her company, she's been wanting to drink ... a lot. But in real life, sharing a cocktail with friends looks a lot different in 2021. So when EW gathered the stars of NBC's delightful and emotional musical drama for three rounds, while we couldn't just walk over to a bar or restaurant like Maximo's, Levy and her costars Skylar Astin, Alex Newell, Mary Steenburgen, and John Clarence Stewart were more than game to raise a toast to season 2 virtually.
And even though Levy is taking a month off of drinking, the booze was flowing for everyone else — and so were the compliments. In the first round, the stars sip on "Mo-garitas" (water for Levy) as they each call out everyone else's musical numbers from season 2 that have aired so far that they call their favorites, refusing to take credit for having the best one themselves. The cast also discusses filming Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist as a "COVID-free world" onscreen while dealing with the pandemic offscreen, and an upcoming episode that tackles systemic racism in the workplace with authenticity.
Sergei Bachlakov/NBC
In the second round, the cast drank "Mo-scow Mules" (sensing a theme here?) and Levy once again had water. Newell accidentally made a Kentucky Mule instead and just went with it, because that's "the right way that Mo should have made it." In talking about the musical numbers they're most proud of this season, Astin teases a song that Max sings in this week's episode when his father Allen (Chip Zien) visits him. Newell remembers singing "Rise Up" in the premiere because of the challenge of singing it live every time. "I had a really wonderful time doing 'Juice' and twerking," Stewart says as Newell shouts, "You were twerking for Jesus?!"
And then Levy decides to drop some juicy intel on an upcoming Zoey heart song. That's right: a Zoey heart song! "Me just coming through with all of the spoilers and I'm not even drunk, but Zoey may or may not do some drugs and may or may perform a musical number on drugs," she reveals. Some of the cast didn't even know that happens! The round ends with all the stars dishing on their No. 1 wishes for a heart song for their character — showrunner Austin Winsberg, are you listening?
NBC
For round three, everyone drank "Mo-hattans" (minus Levy, who once again had — you guessed it! — water) and Levy started things off by asking Newell something she had always wanted to ask him. "When you sing ... do you channel something?" she says with a laugh. "Where is it coming from? Not just the sound, there's something that I can't put into words." That prompts Newell to explain where his passion comes from.
And when Newell says that he wants to see Steenburgen's Maggie find love again after losing her husband, Steenburgen gets choked up about how deeply she experiences that story and how she can't imagine that happening to herself. She brings a tear to everyone's eye talking about love and loss. "My god, that s--- hit me to my core and my soul," Newell says when she's done. "Thank you for that." The third round ends on another beautiful thought from Steenburgen about the magic of the show and the love the cast shares for each other. Watch all three rounds in the full video above now.
Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist 2 airs Tuesdays on NBC.
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