While the actress says being in "Chicago" is still on her "bucket list," Krakowski gets to "Razzle Dazzle" in a role inspired by Billy Flynn on the new season.
Jane Krakowski delivered her show-stopping musical number on Season 1 of “Schmigadoon” from inside what she calls “the smallest car ever filmed in” — but even she was “blown away” when she saw what the creators had in store for her in Season 2.
The AppleTV+ series paid hilarious homage to ’30s, ’40s and ’50s musicals like “Oklahoma!”, “Carousel” and “The Music Man” on its first season, during which stars Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key found themselves trapped in a world filled with characters, tropes and musical numbers inspired by the aforementioned shows.
For Season 2, things get a little more twisted as the couple winds up in “Schmicago,” another musical-filled land with a seedier vibe thanks to influences from “Cabaret,” “Sweeney Todd” and “Hair.” For Jane, she steps into the role of Bobby Flanagan, a lawyer inspired by Billy Flynn from “Chicago” — and, like Flynn’s “Razzle Dazzle” number from that classic show, Krakowski gets one of her own inside the courtroom.
“I loved my part in season one. I thought it was a little gem that they gave me and it was fun to try and figure out choreography with the great Chris Gattelli and the smallest car ever filmed in,” she told TooFab. “But I loved it and this year I was just blown away when I first opened the script for season two. I couldn’t believe the role that [creator Cinco Paul] had written for me and the gems and jewels he delivered to me.”
“Just from the first moment where she starts talking and Bobby’s [theme music] starts playing, so whenever she walks and talks, the music that is ‘Chicago’ and Roxy and all that comes on, so I was living for all of that,” she added.
Her big number inside court is called “Bells and Whistles,” with Krakowski telling TooFab she “was allowed to put all my bells and whistles” into her performance. “Some that I’m good at, some that I’m making fun of, and some that I’m trying for the first time,” she added, “but it was really special and I am so thankful for such a great number.”
One of those things she’s trying for the first time is trapeze work — something it sounds like she couldn’t get enough of once she took some lessons.
“I have never done trapeze before! He had written that she enters from the ceiling on a trapeze and that was what it was supposed to be. I said, ‘Well, can I try and learn a few tricks while we’re still in rehearsal?” she said. “So they sent me to a local trapeze school and I tried to do whatever tricks I could learn before we got to filming and I was thrilled. That stuff is where I live, like fly me anytime. Fly me to the moon and I’m there!”
Though the Tony-winner hasn’t appeared in “Chicago” on Broadway herself, she said “it’s definitely one of the roles on my bucket list” — adding, “I wonder if I’ll ever get to do it, I hope I do at some point in my life or career while I can still twirl my finger and do a shoulder roll.”
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Most of the characters on the show are inspired by or mixed with characters from actual musicals — with some this season paying homage to Sally Bowles, Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett. Stepping into a gender-flipped Billy Flynn-type was a blast for Krakowski, who loved seeing all the random crossovers Cinco was able to come up with.
Teasing what’s to come, she said, “I never thought we’d see ‘Annie’ with Sweeney Todd, I never thought we’d see my character be Billy Flynn with ‘Company.’ He’s worked his way to make Sally Bowles have a relationship with Sweeney Todd and it works.”
She went on to call the show “magical to anyone who loves musical theater,” but one that’s still accessible to all.
Should that magic continue into a third season, it would likely again skip ahead a couple decades and possibly pay homage to musicals from the ’80s, ’90s and even 2000s — some of which, like “Starlight Express,” “Company,” and “Nine,” Krakowski has appeared in on stage.
“It’s such a hard question to see where we would go. I was in some of those shows in the ’80s and ’90s, so I could self-spoof many of the musicals I’ve already been in,” she said with a laugh. “I don’t know. Cinco has such a brilliant mind and the most loving heart towards musical theater that I can’t wait to see what he unfolds for us or comes up with in his own mind.”
For now, fans can enjoy the show’s second season when the first two episodes drop March 5 on AppleTV+, with new episodes every Wednesday.
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