‘Zoey’s’ survives grief with a song in second season
Zoey’s “heart songs” have gone quiet.
After the devastating finale of the first season of “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,” when the Clarke family lost its patriarch (Peter Gallagher) — and mourned him at a funeral that included a single-shot rendition of “American Pie” — Zoey holed up at her mother’s home, hiding from her new reality.
Her “heart songs” have been hiding too: No one has accidentally poured out their deepest emotions in a tune since the funeral.
But both Zoey and her musical numbers come roaring back, even with a heavy heart.
“She is a problem solver by nature and she thinks, at some point, that she can just solve her way out of the grieving process,” Jane Levy, who plays the eponymous Zoey and grew up in San Anselmo, told the Daily News.
“But you have to go through something in order to move forward; you can’t go around it.”
The second season, which was to premiere Tuesday at 8 p.m. on NBC, jumps right back into the show’s shining glory: the dream- sequence musical numbers with dazzling choreography. The season opener includes “Hello, Dolly,” Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” and fun.’s “Carry On.” Levy teased Britney Spears and Ariana Grande. And each song sends a secret message from its singer, choreographed to a T by Mandy Moore, who won an Emmy last year.
“As someone who’s in every single musical number...I’m not actually involved in much of the process,” Levy told The News. “I’m just a lucky front row patron.”
Like the musical numbers, much of Zoey’s life seems to be happening without her permission: her dad’s death, a messy love triangle between her best friend and a new co-worker, a promotion at work.
“It’s hard enough being a boss, but extra hard knowing what your employees or co-workers think of you at all times because they sing to you,” Levy, 30, laughed.
But while her office at SPRQ Point may be a little less toxic than your average Silicon Valley haunt, the interpersonal drama continues, this year aided by guest star Harvey Guillén (“What We Do In The Shadows”).