Alex Newell Hopes ZOEY'S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST and His Character Start Conversations

Alex Newell currently stars as Mo on the new NBC musical dramedy series Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist. In the series, Mo is Zoey Clarke's effervescent landlord-turned-confidant after she discovers she has the power to hear people's inner thoughts via song.

Newell, who recently starred on Broadway in Once on This Island, draws from his own experiences growing up for the upcoming fourth episode of Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist. In the episode, Mo struggles with expressing his true self in his Church's choir, due to the discrimination he endured as a child in his former choir. During the episode, Mo, who is usually a bright and positive influence, grapples with his internal struggle of being true to who he is and being accepted in the church. Newell shared that this storyline is based on his Pastor growing up and hurtful things he said about Newell to his mother, sharing that "I lived that, where the person who was supposed to teach me about God is telling me that I'm wrong."

Newell applauds the shows use of music, saying it "is the literal song that works best for the feeling that you're feeling now." For example, in episode four, "when you have Mo's façade crack, you see that Mo is the Pretender," in reference to his musical number The Great Pretender. Unlike other shows, ZOEY'S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST doesn't put on big over-the-top numbers, but instead tunes into the characters' emotions to express their inner feelings through song, the result is a much more emotional and personal musical number.

Newell got his start on The Glee Project and later was cast in the series Glee, so he's no stranger to musical television. In fact, Newell is happy to be back on television after making his Broadway debut, because, "I was missing a void when Glee ended." Speaking on the differences between Broadway and television, Newell said, "[On Broadway] there comes a place where you have explored every facet of that character. It takes you longer to get there on a television show, because everything's changing each week, so you have to find the actual humanistic qualities. Newell continued, "To do that, and then add my musical love, and singing different types of music all the time, that is just anything that any artist would want to do, because you're starting to challenge yourself."

Newell hopes the show starts conversations, and when asked what he wanted to see from the show and his character, he said, "You never really see a non-binary's dating life ever on television. Let's do that. You don't see someone who's effeminate or plus-sized have a love interest on TV, let's do that. Let's do something that people don't see on television often."

Newell believes his purpose in life is to educate, and with Mo, Newell is able to show audiences a character that has yet to be seen on television before. Newell talks about the lack of representation in the media, and said, "I don't think for myself-who I am-I've ever been represented on any platform, other than me, because I've kind of made this lane for myself in a way. RuPaul was like this avant garde thing when I was growing up, just very far away and not tangible." He continued, then I got into the Broadway musical theatre world and I heard someone that sounded like me, that was a boy, and that was Billy Porter." The entertainment industry still has a long way to go in creating an inclusive and diverse world, but characters like Mo are making big strides for inclusivity. Newell remarked that with Mo, "It's nice to know that someone can see themselves in me."

Newell also spoke about the future of the season and shared that Bernadette Peters will make a guest appearance on a future episode. He also hinted at a future on the stage when asked if he had anything theatre projects in mind, saying, "I do...that's all I'm going to say."

Tune into ZOEY'S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST this Sunday on NBC to see Mo's storyline unfold and watch a clip from the episode below!

Photo Credit: Sergei Bachlakov/NBC