Alex Newell Talks His NBC Show Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist and Becoming Friends with Bernadette Peters

Actor Alex Newell has had an extraordinary 2020 so far. Two weeks ago, he wrapped filming on season one of the new NBC television show Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist. He released a music video for his new song, “Boy, You Can Keep It.” He played one of the narrators in a Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat concert at Lincoln Center. Oh, and he did a Carnegie Hall concert too. “And I decided to move into an apartment for the first time,” he told Broadway.com’s Paul Wontorek with a laugh on a recent #LiveAtFive interview. 

It’s been surreal for Newell as well. “I blacked out, not drunk,” he said about performing at Carnegie Hall. “I blacked out at Carnegie Hall when I was singing ‘And I'm Telling You’ [from Dreamgirls] to the back row. And then I heard my voice [echo] back to me on the last note and I said, ‘I've made it.’”

Newell made his Broadway debut in the 2017 revival of Once on This Island and was a recurring character on the TV show Glee (playing Unique Adams, who was transgender). On Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, about a computer coder (played by Jane Levy) who starts hearing everyone’s innermost thoughts in the form of songs, Newell plays Mo, Zoey’s neighbor, whose character was originally written as a bisexual black woman. But after casting Newell, the character morphed and became inspired by Newell’s own journey with his gender; Newell is gay, identifies as gender non-conforming and has no problems wearing both male- or female-coded clothing. 

“It focuses on Mo’s faith and Mo’s journey through gender expression at church,” Newell said about his arc on the show. “Since it is my personal story of my sexuality, and gender representation, in my own faith, in my house of worship, I really wanted to show that story in an honest way and I think it’s tastefully done.”

Zoey’s also stars Skylar Astin, Stephanie Styles and, in a guest-starring role, Bernadette Peters. Newell said Peters has become one of his friends on set. “I was filming a scene and she just like walked in during the scene and she’s like, 'I’m so sorry, you’re amazing, you’re so talented,’” he said excitedly. “And I just turned into a puddle.”

Newell also gets to sing on the show, and he teased that the March 1 episode is going to be “real good,” adding, “Honey I am belting to the rafters, like I think I'm belting a C. Like a high C. Not like a male C, like a high C, Christine C.”

Watch the rest of Newell's #LiveAtFive interview below.