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PEOPLE & ARTS Saturday 15 February 2020
'Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist' finds heart, song in tragedy

By LYNN ELBER Associated La Land," stage projects,
Press Television Writer and the Oscar, Grammy
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The and Emmy ceremonies.
zestfully titled, song-and- She's also a double Emmy
dance filled "Zoey's Ex- winner for her choreogra-
traordinary Playlist" has an phy on "So You Think You
unlikely origin. The NBC se- Can Dance" and "Dancing
ries, about a young woman with the Stars."
who channels other peo- "Zoey's Extraordinary Playl-
ple's thoughts through pop ist" brought its own chal-
songs, was inspired by the lenges, Moore said.
devastating illness of cre- "These numbers that we're
ator Austin Winsberg's fa- creating are unique to
ther. each character in each
In the months before a scene. It's not like the kind
rare neurological disorder of show where you've got
claimed Richard Winsberg's a cabaret club, and ev-
life in 2011, the 68-year-old ery time you're in the club
architect who had been there's a band. These danc-
engaged in a full, active ers live in so many different
life was left immobilized worlds within the show,"
and unable to speak. Moore said. "It is physically
"We would try to figure out different worlds, because
ways to communicate with In this Jan. 11, 2020, file photo, Mary Steenburgen, center, a cast member in the NBCUniversal you do (a number) in a
him, but we didn't always series "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist," discusses the show alongside fellow cast members Jane bedroom, or in a coffee
know what he was think- Levy, left, and Alex Newell at the 2020 NBCUniversal Television Critics Association Winter Press shop. But we're also able to
ing, what he was process- Tour, in Pasadena, Calif. Associated Press physicalize emotion: Some-
ing. And I was also becom- thing can be a very sad
ing a dad for the first time, song, and so how does that
while losing my dad that I look? What kind of shape,
was really close to," Austin what kind of dance moves
Winsberg recalled. "It was during a sad song, versus
a very, very painful time in one that's talking about
our lives." being jealous or one that is
The distance of years al- someone poking fun?"
lowed Winsberg, 43, to ad- What may be entertaining
dress the loss in his writing. and touching for viewers
"One day I thought, 'What remains personal for Wins-
if the way that my dad berg.
saw the world during that "Every episode, something
time was through musical that happens to (Mitch)
numbers?' And somehow or happens to the family
the idea of that made me is something that we went
smile, and it brought a little through over that time. And
joy out of something that it's raw and vulnerable, put-
felt very sad and tragic," he ting yourself out there like
recalled. that," he said.
"Zoey's Extraordinary Playl- It's also proved rewarding.
ist," which previewed in Since the preview episode
January and begins its full aired, Winsberg has heard
12-episode run at 9 p.m. from dozens of people
EST Sunday, stars Jane Levy In this Jan. 11, 2020, file photo, Mary Steenburgen, second from right in the bottom row, a cast whose families are afflicted
as Zoey, a computer coder member in the NBCUniversal series "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist," discusses the show at the 2020 by diseases akin to progres-
whose life is transformed NBCUniversal Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour, in Pasadena, Calif. sive supranuclear palsy,
during a medical test. She Associated Press which took his father's life
becomes the one-wom- Peter Gallaghand and with unwavering network Instead, the goal was to within a relatively short
an audience for such im- Mary Steenburgen play support. create "an external expres- time after it was finally di-
promptu numbers as work Zoey's parents, Mitch and "We have eight days to sion of the person's internal agnosed (the disease can
friend Max (Skylar Astin) ex- Maggie, with Lauren Gra- shoot episodes, and we do wants and desires," Wins- be mistaken for the more
claiming his unspoken af- ham as her boss. somewhere between five berg said. "So, in a way, it's common Parkinson's, ac-
fection for her with the Par- Musicals are familiar turf and six musical numbers an extension of the come- cording to Johns Hopkins
tridge Family tune "I Think I for Winsberg. He wrote the an episode," he said, all dy or the drama that's hap- Medicine).
Love You." book for "First Date," which within strict creative rules. pening in the scene. It's not It's heartening that view-
There's choreography was on Broadway in 2013- "We didn't want them to just a musical number for a ers are "seeing the reflec-
along with the vocals, in- 14, and sold three other feel like music videos. We musical number's sake." tion of what they're going
visible to all but the bewil- music-centered TV pilots to didn't want to make them That high bar found the through," he said. It also
dered Zoey. But the burden networks that didn't make it feel like fantasy numbers, choreographer who could makes his family's loss count
turns into a gift when she to series. But creating what where the lighting and the leap it: Mandy Moore, who for something.
gains entry to the thoughts are essentially a dozen mu- costumes and everything shares her name with the The value of bringing
of her dad, who is incapac- sical productions on a tight change and with people "This Is Us" actress but is a awareness to the disease is
itated with an illness like schedule proved logistical- singing directly at the cam- star in her own field. Her "part of my dad's legacy,"
that of Winsberg's father. ly daunting, he said, even era." credits include the film "La he said.q