#Jasmine Cephas Jones, Marisa Davila, Jane Krakowski and Mae Whitman on Their Characters’ Musical Moments: “There Are No Filters” to Song and Dance

In Blindspotting, Jones plays Ashley Rose, a mother raising her young son with the help of her partner’s family while he serves time in prison for drug trafficking. “She’s very strong and puts her family first,” says Jones of her stoic character. “I always look at her as the superhero. There’s a lot of women like this in the world, who do it all in one day.” Where Ashley doesn’t need to keep it all together is in the moments when her character breaks the fourth wall, expressing her emotions in verse. “If you’re ever wondering how she’s feeling, this is the moment where she tells a secret to the audience,” explains Jones. “Usually, it’s a lot of pent-up feelings she needs to really express. We say it is her letters to her son Sean, and he’ll get to read them when he grows up.” While pivotal to the character, performing the spoken-word sequences can be a challenge, even for the experienced Broadway actress. “Sometimes I’ll get the verse very, very last minute,” says Jones. “I’m lucky that I grew up in the theater and I’ve done a lot of cold readings. I analyze it as much as I can, then arrive on set, where you just have to dive into the deep end and hear it in your voice.” It also feels like a challenge because Jones does not — well, did not — rap. “I’m a singer and I have tone in my brain, but this is definitely out of my comfort zone,” she says. “How Ashley expresses herself through verse, though, it’s one of my favorite things. It’s tapping into a different part of me as a performer, which can be challenging. I’m working on overdrive and my brain gets fried, but I love it.”

Songs often serve to elevate emotions, but in Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, the numbers also have another purpose. “Jane is very careful and intentional, but when we see her break into song, there are no filters,” says Davila, who plays Pink Ladies founding member Jane Facciano. “As women, we filter a lot of our thoughts for society to take us seriously or listen to us. Here we see everything she’s holding back.” The prequel to the film that depicted ’50s youth through a ’70s lens takes its social commentary even further in 2023. “Gender equality, racism, gender dysphoria — back then, we didn’t have dialogue to describe it. We’re seeing a time in history where everything is very new,” says Davila, who feels a personal connection to Jane’s struggle. “There’s so much in the show that means the world to me, starting with Jane being biracial and not knowing where she fits in. I’ve always felt too white to be Mexican or too Mexican to be white. Seeing Jane go through that makes me feel like I’m not going through this alone.” Setting the series in the ’50s allows for cheerful distractions from an earnest message. “It gives us a chance to have these hard conversations in a more digestible way. It’s like, ‘Oh look, there’s a mascot!,’ giving you more time to process what’s happening,” she says. Yet conveying themes as progressive as theirs in a vehicle as revered as Grease is not without its stress. “The legacy comes with so much excitement — and so much pressure,” says Davila. “For the longest time, the internet was saying, ‘I’m so afraid it’s woke.’ [What’s] fun is when people realize that, just like the movies that did their own thing, so does our show. It’s just in the same world.”

While in show business there is an adage that dying is easy and comedy is hard, there isn’t a quippy quote for the laborious intensity of a TV musical. “I’m desperate to go back to Parenthood, where I was crying every day, after doing this,” jokes Whitman, who in the musical rom-com Up Here came up against a new professional challenge. “I can’t hide anything when I’m singing, and that was a really interesting thing to explore. You really can’t fake it.” Eager to work with a veritable who’s who of Broadway musicals, Whitman hired vocal coach Doug Peck to prep her for the role. “I owe everything to him. He is the most nurturing person. He can really see into your soul,” she says. “It almost felt like therapy at times. Learning to tune in to my body gave me such a deep understanding of myself and also the confidence to know that I was capable of this — because I was really insecure and scared.” Preproduction also differed from what Whitman was used to. “I have been averse to rehearsals because I like to keep things fresh and off-the-cuff. That’s been my process,” she says. “Here, we got together a month before filming, and it was almost like camp. We recorded the entire album while doing dance and acting rehearsals, creating a foundation. I loved having the preparation and then throwing it all away, knowing that, wherever we landed, it was going to be honest.” For the veteran actress, finally adding singing to her repertoire has been the ultimate lesson in exposing herself. “I can be naked, I can be dead, I can be whatever on camera, and I don’t care at all. To sing on camera is very nerve-wracking,” she says. “But, for me, it’s worth it every single time I’ve been brave enough to stay vulnerable, and I feel lucky that I keep being put in situations where I’m safe enough to do that.”

Krakowski may be fond of the Golden Age musicals co-creator Cinco Paul parodied in the first season of Schmigadoon!, but when it was time to progress to the sounds of the 1970s, the actress was truly in her element. “These were the musicals that inspired me, the women that I wanted to emulate,” she says. “It was the first time the women didn’t have to be ingenues to be the lead. They didn’t have to sing soprano. They could be sexy and have some edge.” This season allowed Krakowski to show off her talents in a song and dance number emulating the style of revered choreographer Bob Fosse. “When we were doing ‘Bells and Whistles,’ I got to put in all of my special skills for my résumé, and it’s also a loving parody-slash-salute to [his] musicals,” she says. Speaking of tributes, her character is an amalgamation of Chicago‘s lawyer extraordinaire Billy Flynn and his client Roxie Hart, with a dash of Bobbie in the gender-flipped revival of Company thrown in. “We wanted to make nods to those women and to those steps,” she says. “If people knew what those iconic steps were, they’d recognize them. That part of the creation was super fun for me.” Krakowski credits Paul for writing homages that feel wholly original. “When I read analyses where they pick out all the Easter eggs, I’m amazed that there are so many other fans that are like me. But I also do believe that the show exists on a level that, if you don’t know any of the musicals, you’re still fully entertained by the journey of Josh and Melissa.” It is, however, the creative blending of iconic musicals that continues to amaze her. “Did I ever think Sweeney Todd would cross over with Annie and Cabaret? Never. But I love that it somehow works.”

This story first appeared in a June stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.