Whitaker sings familiar tune in Netflix’s ‘Jingle Jangle’
Musical reinvigorates fantasy storybook elements of beloved films with majority Black cast
The most memorable characters have the most melodic names: Willy Wonka, Caractacus Potts, Mary Poppins and now, Jeronicus Jangle.
The last is the leading man of the Netflix musical “Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey,” which reinvigorates the fantasy storybook elements of beloved family films with a powerhouse and majority Black cast, including Phylicia Rashad, Anika Noni Rose and Keegan-Michael Key. But it’s Oscar winner Forest Whitaker who delivers a surprisingly delightful turn as Jangle.
The role — of a heartbroken inventor recovering from a major betrayal — mirrored Whitaker’s own artistic crisis and pushed him to revisit a skill set he’d long left behind, he told the Times.
What drew you to this role?
When you first meet Jeronicus (played as a youngster by Justin Cornwell), he’s on top of the world and, by that, I mean, he was living in joy. And then he loses his most prized inventions, which is a part of his spirit, really. It’s a story people can relate to, because we’ve all been in difficult places where we felt like we couldn’t go on because life had hit us so hard. But it’s possible, even if you’ve fallen, to rise. I do feel lucky to play Jeronicus because he’s this character who’s trying to find himself and his passion again. In a way, I was taking a parallel journey as an artist.
How so?
Originally, I wanted to work as an actor as a way to explore the human condition and how we connect with others, and every part I’d play was about expanding that understanding. And then, at some point, that joy of invention and exploration, it just got blocked. I didn’t feel like I was doing good work, I couldn’t make my work stronger. I felt like I had lost my passion. Starting with the play “Hughie,” I’ve tried to get it back again and really push myself to grow. So the fact that “Jingle Jangle” is a musical, it was a great challenge, because I hadn’t sung in such a long time.
How did you prepare for these vocal demands?
I started taking vocal lessons right after I got the script. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to handle the complexities of the songs. I felt like I was straining whenever I’d get to a certain high note because I didn’t really have a falsetto.I just buckled down and kept working on it with my vocal coach, Matt Farnsworth, and started to get it.
You’ve rarely sung onscreen, even though you studied music performance in college. Why is that?
I don’t know. I loved singing. I was in a doo-wop group when I was 13. And I played the baritone horn in junior high and that’s how I started first reading music. I sang in the high school choir; in college, I had my first experiences going abroad by performing in different cathedrals across London with the madrigal choir. I studied classical voice at USC and I got my first agent from my first professional play, “The Beggar’s Opera.” Originally, I was thinking I would go do musicals on Broadway. But I guess I was concerned, with the Italian arias I was working on, that I wasn’t communicating to the people I knew and that I wasn’t going to be able to connect in the way I was hoping. I had a scholarship at the USC music conservatory as a singer, but they also accepted me into the acting conservatory. So I made the decision not to sing anymore, even though I told the guys at the music department that I wouldn’t stop. I switched to acting and I pretty much left music behind.