‘Only Murders in the Building’ Showrunner Breaks Down Meryl Streep’s Reaction to ‘Beautiful’ Episode 3 Ballad

“Only Murders in the Building” leveraged the full talents of Meryl Streep in Season 3, including her singing abilities. Episode 3 closed out with a powerful ballad, titled “Look for the Light,” performed by Streep and Ashley Park that was written for the show by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Sara Bareilles.

Showrunner John Hoffman told TheWrap that Streep immediately fell in love with the song when she first heard it over Zoom.

“I’ll never forget playing her Sara Bareilles singing that song, with Justin Paul and Benj Pasek having just composed it,” Hoffman recalled. “My favorite moment was she was listening, and Sara’s just weaving this beautiful melody and the lyrics together and then she hits this line ‘My love is a lighthouse. So darling, my darling, look for the light.’ I watch Meryl just go ‘Oh’ and she left the screen and I thought ‘Ok, we’re in a good place here.”

“To watch what she did with it — and Ashley Park kind of bringing a little extra oomph — you just don’t get this,” Hoffman continued. “It’s a thrill for me, as a bit of a theater nut, to get the chance to do this. I have strong opinions about the way we do it so that it’s part of the fabric of the show, and [so] it pushes the story forward.”

Season 3 sees the show’s trio Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin), Oliver Putnam (Martin Shot) and Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) embark on their toughest case yet: figuring out who killed Ben Gilroy (Paul Rudd), a Hollywood action star whose Broadway debut was cut short by his untimely death.

The series, which is created and written by Hoffman and Martin, is executive produced by the pair, as well as Short, Gomez, “This Is Us” creator Dan Fogelman and Jess Rosenthal. “Only Murders in the Building” is produced by 20th Television, a part of Disney Television Studios.

In addition to Pasek, Paul and Bareilles, other musical contributions this season come from Scott Whip and Marc Shaiman and Michael R. Jackson. “Only Murders in the Building” is composed by Siddhartha Khosla.

“Only Murders in the Building” airs new episodes Tuesdays on Hulu. The first two seasons are available to stream now.

The post ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Showrunner Breaks Down Meryl Streep’s Reaction to ‘Beautiful’ Episode 3 Ballad appeared first on TheWrap.