C2 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19 , 2022
that for the more subtle reality of a
mockumentary-style show, she found
something that I honestly find brilliant.
She’s got to stretch muscles on this
show she hasn’t gotten to stretch in
years. Sometimes what happens with
older actors — especially older Black
actors — is people just start hiring you to
come be yourself. They’re not giving you
compelling work, especially in comedy.
They’re hiring you to come be yourself
and “do that thing you do.” Sheryl is
pushing into new zones, and she told me
that it feels so good to do at her age.Q: Do you feel your background of
creating your own videos online has
influenced how you view network
television and approach the show itself?
A: I’ve always really loved network
comedies. That love never went away. I
love 22-minute sitcoms. I e ven love the
commercials. And I love the idea of a
television show that is for everyone. My
favorite shows are shows that were for
everyone: “Martin,” “King of Queens,”
“The Office.” You would think that maybe
because of my digital background and
just being a millennial, maybe I would
have veered toward streaming or cable,
and I kind of did at first. I was playing
around in those worlds and was like,
“You know, what I really want to do is
make a sitcom for .” twork television.”
Network television is clearly not dead.
It’s still sitting there. Watching people
kind of revitalize the genre in recent
times — like with “The Good Place,” it
was really inspiring to me to see that takeplace on network television. “Ted Lasso”
is not the same, but it’s almost in the vein
of a network show. I was just like.” “This
can be done.”
I think my experience at BuzzFeed —
BuzzFeed was very for everyone, and the
stuff I made was made so that anyone
could relate to it and share — definitely
informed a lot of my love of creating in
that way.Q: What was behind your decision to
leave BuzzFeed? It was in 2018, right?
A: Yeah, 2018. BuzzFeed was a 9-to-5 job
at the end of the day. People look at it as
something else, but it was a 9-to-5 job.
When I started exploring options outside
of that 9-to-5 job and they started
panning out, I ju st simply could not work
that 9-to-5 job anymore. I was like, “Well,
I saved enough money and I w anted to go
out there and try my hand at creating in
the Wild Wild West.” You know, make a
pilot that never sees the light of day.Q: BuzzFeed, especially at that time, felt
like it was part of a media landscape
where people were throwing spaghetti at
the wall to see what stuck. What was it
like to transition from that environment
to setting out on your own to make a
name for yourself?
A: It was like leaving one Wild Wild West
to go to another one. For me, it was a very
positive experience. I didn’t go to college
for television and film, or even writing. I
went to school for advertising. For me, it
was my college, my on-the-job training.
You just said it: “Throwing [stuff] at thewall, does it stick? Does it stick?” Real
Internet guerrilla throwing stuff. “Does it
work? Does it not? If it doesn’t, I’ll tweak
it, I can delete it, we can learn and try
again.” That’s so valuable.
That’s such a fantastic learning
experience for people like me, and I think
it was such a fantastic learning
experience for people like Issa Rae and
Donald Glover and Bo Burnham. We
then were part of this new corporate
version of it because of things like
BuzzFeed and HuffPost and things that
were more corporate Internet. But you
know, that taught me some things, too.
I’m personally grateful for the time. That
time had a lot of issues as well, though,
so.Q: You mentioned Issa Rae, and I saw
you tweet around the time of the
“Insecure” series finale about how you
appreciated the way she opened doors
for people. Do you feel like you’ve gotten
to a place in your career where you’re
able to do that as well?
A: Yeah, absolutely, because I think
opening doors is more simple than
people make out. The way I’ve seen Issa
do it personally is simply that, if Issa likes
something or someone, she talks about
them, just casually mentioning the work
and the people she thinks are fantastic.
That kind of stuff matters.
In many ways, I feel that I’m able to do
the same now. I’m constantly just
bringing up peers, people I think are
incredible in comedic fields. Even in this
show, I’m really excited that I’ve gotten toshowcase people who I think are cool.
Not just celebrities — people who I
personally, Quinta Brunson, think are
the funniest comedians in the world.Q: “Abbott” also showcases teachers at a
time when there have been a lot of
conversations over whether school
should be remote or in-person.
Something I’ve felt is lacking from a lot
of the punditry is the consideration of
teachers as people, as human beings.
Does it feel any more significant for the
show to be coming out right now?
A: It’s crazy, “Abbott” was developed even
before the pandemic, and I f eel like so
many people gained a new appreciation
for teachers during the pandemic —
especially parents who had their one kid
at home and were like, “You are crazy.”
The teacher is dealing with that kid and
20 others at the same time. Imagine. It’s
insane. A small part of my goal with this
show, other than to make people laugh,
was to elaborate that, look, these people
have lives. As the show goes on, we bring
more of their lives into the school. Not
only are they doing this job, they’re
dealing with divorce or dealing with a
crap boyfriend like Janine.
That’s what I would see, too, with my
mom. She’s doing her job, meanwhile
she’s getting a c all on her phone about
something happening in her family life.
But she still has to do this job. They’re
just fully fleshed-out people, and I h ope
and think that’s what the show is doing
already.
[email protected]albums chart, becoming the first Disney
soundtrack to do so since “Frozen 2” in
- The showstopping earworm “We
Don’t Talk About Bruno” landed at No. 5
on the Hot 100.
In total, four songs from the film are on
the Hot 100, nestled between smashes
from Adele (whose a lbum got bumped out
of the No. 1 spot by “Encanto’s” sound-
track), Lil Nas X, Taylor Swift and the
Weeknd. Its success, boosted by the film’s
streaming debut and scores of “Encan-
to”-themed TikTok videos, has earned
comparisons to “Frozen” — another musi-
cal Disney juggernaut that gets a cheeky
shout out from none other than the mys-
terious Bruno in a different number —
and other Top 100 Disney hits.
Here’s w hat you need to know a bout t he
soundtrack lighting up the charts.
It has Lin-Manuel Miranda’s
signature touch
“Encanto” has a narrative soundtrack,
with songs that move the story forward —
and as any fan will tell you, the story is a
layered one. The film follows Mirabel
Madrigal (voiced by Stephanie Beatriz of
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” fame) as she inves-
tigates the tenuous state of her family’s
miracle: the enchanting events that be-
stowed her widowed grandmother with a
magical casita in which to raise her three
children and generations to come. Ulti-
mately, “Encanto” is a poignant explora-
tion of intergenerational trauma, and
Miranda’s lyrics speak to the family’s un-
healed wounds.
The film’s opening song, “The Family
Madrigal,” is a buoyant introduction to
ENCANTO FROM C1
the Madrigals and their magical gifts.
Mirabel sings of her mother’s ability to
heal ailments “with just one arepa,” and of
her a unt Pepa, whose moods can affect the
weather. She ticks off the extraordinary
powers of immediate and extended rela-
tives: a sister with superhuman strength
and one with immense beauty; a cousin
who shapeshifts and another whose ex-
ceptional hearing allows her to “hear this
whole chorus a mile away.” By the end of
the s ong, w hich e ntered the Hot 100 a t No.
62 this week, Mirabel has revealed every-
one’s gi ft but her own — and that’s where
the real story begins.
If you didn’t know the “Hamilton” cre-
ator was responsible for “Encanto’s” origi-
nal songs, you would almost certainly
know by the time you heard “Surface
Pressure.” In t he bouncy t rack, the b rawnyLuisa (Jessica Darrow) belts out her anxi-
ety and resolve around the (literal) heavy
lifting she takes on to help her family. It
contains one of the most Miranda-esque
lines ever: “Under the surface, I feel ber-
serk as a tightrope walker in a t hree-ring
circus,” Luisa sings before asking, “Was
Hercules ever like ‘Yo, I don’t wanna fight
Cerberus?’ ”
That mythological tidbit feels like it
was written by a man who (*checks
notes*) read an 800-plus page book while
he was supposed to be on vacation and
then wrote a B roadway smash based on it.
The song is currently at No. 14 on the Hot
100 chart, which isn’t surprising given
how much it speaks to the pressure we’re
all under — as working parents, care-
givers, medical professionals, extroverts
eager to return to the world, etc. — inthese chaotic times.The songs pull from traditional
a nd contemporary influences
“Encanto’s” soundtrack and score cel-
ebrate Colombia’s rich and diverse musi-
cal traditions while featuring some of its
brightest stars. “Colombia Me Encanto,”
performed by singer-songwriter Carlos
Vives, is a l ove letter to the South Ameri-
can country. Other Colombian musicians,
including pop stars Maluma (who has a
voice role in the film) and Sebastián Yatra,
also appear on the soundtrack.
In a Disney featurette, Miranda said
“What Else Can I Do?” — sung by Diane
Guerrero as Mirabel’s intoxicatingly gor-
geous sister Isabella, with asides from
Mirabel — was inspired by the rock en
español movement. “It was about finding
those Colombian rhythms that are so
unique,” he said. The song rounds out the
film’s Hot 100 presence at No. 67.
Yatra sings one of the film’s most heart-
rending songs, “Dos Oruguitas,” a violin-
filled track about two caterpillars that
must go their separate ways, despite their
immense love for each other, to grow and
find their own futures as butterflies.
Miranda told Billboard that the Oscar-
shortlisted s ong, e nvisioned as a Colombi-
an folk s ong, is his first completely w ritten
in Spanish without translating from Eng-
lish (though Yatra also performs a mostly
English version called “Two Oruguitas.”).
“I was really proud of it, I f elt like I p ulled
it from a deeper place within myself,”
Miranda said. The track could also mark
another milestone for Miranda, who is
merely an Oscar statuette away from
achieving EGOT status.
Some “Encanto” fans have lobbied for“We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” an ensem-
ble medley inspired by multiple genres, to
get an Oscar nod, but the s tudio submitted
only its symbolic, violin-filled tear-jerker.
Still, “Bruno” is a pivotal number because
it exposes the literal and figurative cracks
in the Madrigal family’s foundation. The
song revolves around Mirabel’s prophetic
uncle Bruno (voiced by John Leguizamo),
who became estranged from his family
after sharing unsettling visions.
“Bruno” begins with a comedic back-
and-forth between Pepa (Carolina Gaitán)
and her husband, Félix (Mauro Castillo),
who are both eager to recount how they
got married in a hurricane a fter T io Bruno
suggested there might be rain and Pepa’s
meteorological gifts went haywire. Later
in the song, their daughter Dolores (sing-
er Adassa) provides a hip-hop breakdown
of her uncle’s burdensome gift (“It’s a
heavy lift with a gift so humbling / A lways
left Abuela and the family fumbling /
Grappling with prophecies they couldn’t
understand.”)TikTok can’t get enough
“Encanto” has found its own corner of
TikTok, where fans have used the plat-
form to float character theories, dance
enthusiastically to musical numbers,
therapize the Madrigals (and those who
relate to them) and point out blink-and-
you-missed-it details — like the fact that
“We Don’t Talk About Bruno” is such a bop
that even the unfairly maligned Bruno
can’t help but nod his head to it. All said,
the “Encanto” hashtag has been viewed
more than 8.9 billion times on the social
media platform.
Abuela would be proud.
[email protected]Talking about ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ and other ‘Encanto’ songs
DISNEY
In “Encanto,” Mirabel Madrigal investigates the tenuous state of her family’s
miracle, which is de tailed in the film’s opening song, “The Family Madrigal.”Brunson chatted with The Washington
Post over Zoom this month about her
unique career in comedy, the rewarding
process of creating “Abbott” and her
personal connection to Janine’s story.
(This interview has been edited and
condensed for clarity.)
Q: Tell me about the origin of this story.
A: My mom is a teacher, so that informed
a lot of it. I went to visit her about three
or four years ago, before she retired, and
I was at school with her at night. It was
an open house night and they had her
staying until 8 o’clock. I was just like,
“You should not be here.” My mom’s
school isn’t in a great neighborhood. It
was 7:58 and one parent walks in, and
I’m actually upset. Like, “How dare you?
You had all day.” My mom did not care.
She sat down and had the parent-teacher
conference with that woman while her
son played with blocks in the corner. I
was just sitting at my mom’s desk
watching it, and I was like, “ This is what I
would like to spend my ene.” y on.”
I just love a g ood workplace comedy.
My mom has had so many funny stories
and so many funny characters who —
you know, she doesn’t even find this stuff
funny. But she told me stuff and I was
like, “Mom, this is hi.” rious.”
Q: The show is quite uplifting, even
though the characters are dealing with
heavy things. How did you navigate the
kind of comedy you wanted to do here?
A: I wanted to make the audience fall in
love with the workplace, and I wanted
the comedy to feel like you, the audience
member, were working at Abbott, too.
That informed the mockumentary style
— a style I’m already obsessed with, but I
think the reason I l ove it so much is
because it makes you feel as if you’re
there.
Especially with subject matter like
this, I t hink it’s important for the
audience to feel like they’re in on an
inside joke with our show. If I say to you
right now, “No soup for you,” that only
means something to you because you’ve
seen “Seinfeld,” too. And if you haven’t
seen “Seinfeld,” then that means diddly
squat to you. To me, the best jokes are
inside. They can only live in the world
and the soul of that show.
Q: Not only did you create “Abbott,” but
you also star in it and produce it. What
was it like to take this all on?
A: I created and developed it along with
Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker,
my executive producers, and wrote the
pilot, which was a really great
experience. Honestly, I may be one of the
few people in the world who loved their
development process. It feels so rare but
Warner Bros. and ABC were excellent
partners. Everything they suggested only
heightened it, and they listened to me. It
was really valuable.
Randall Einhorn, who is the director
for the first four episodes and the finale,
he joined us as an EP. He fell in love with
the show, and he wanted to be here. One
thing that’s great about Randall is that
his work helped pioneer the American
mockumentary style with “The Office,”
and he kind of helped launch “Parks and
Recreation,” too. Sometimes I wonder
where we would’ve been without him.
Q: Even in the first few episodes, your
character’s relationship with the older,
more experienced teacher played by
Sheryl Lee Ralph is really compelling.
What was it like to work with her?
A: Sheryl came from a lot of multi-cams.
Also, she’d never seen “The Office.” She’d
never even seen a mockumentary show.
Her finding a b alance between what
makes her fantastic and now tweaking
Q&A FROM C1
Before ‘Abbott,’ Brunson created buzz on BuzzFeed
PRASHANT GUPTA/ABC
“A small part of my goal with this show, other than to make people laugh, was to elaborate th at, look, these people have lives,” s ays Quinta Brunson, second from
left, on the set of “Abbott Elementary.” She says her mother’s work as a teacher informed her creation of the ABC mockumentary series.