![]() “I can’t hide anything when I’m singing, and that was a really interesting thing to explore. “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. 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. “For the longest time, the internet was saying, ‘I’m so afraid it’s woke.’ fun is when people realize that, just like the movies that did their own thing, so does our show. “The legacy comes with so much excitement - and so much pressure,” says Davila. ![]() Yet conveying themes as progressive as theirs in a vehicle as revered as Grease is not without its stress. It’s like, ‘Oh look, there’s a mascot!,’ giving you more time to process what’s happening,” she says. “It gives us a chance to have these hard conversations in a more digestible way. 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. I’ve always felt too white to be Mexican or too Mexican to be white. “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. We’re seeing a time in history where everything is very new,” says Davila, who feels a personal connection to Jane’s struggle. “Gender equality, racism, gender dysphoria - back then, we didn’t have dialogue to describe it. 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. “As women, we filter a lot of our thoughts for society to take us seriously or listen to us. “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. Songs often serve to elevate emotions, but in Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, the numbers also have another purpose. I’m working on overdrive and my brain gets fried, but I love it.”ĭavila as Jane Facciano on Paramount+’s Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies. It’s tapping into a different part of me as a performer, which can be challenging. “How Ashley expresses herself through verse, though, it’s one of my favorite things. “I’m a singer and I have tone in my brain, but this is definitely out of my comfort zone,” she says. ![]() 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 lucky that I grew up in the theater and I’ve done a lot of cold readings. “Sometimes I’ll get the verse very, very last minute,” says Jones. 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. “Usually, it’s a lot of pent-up feelings she needs to really express. “If you’re ever wondering how she’s feeling, this is the moment where she tells a secret to the audience,” explains Jones. 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. “She’s very strong and puts her family first,” says Jones of her stoic character. 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. Jones as Ashley Rose on Starz’s Blindspotting.
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