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'Grey's Anatomy's' Jesse Williams on the musical episode: 'It's not a gimmick'
Yes, fans are abuzz with the news of "Grey's Anatomy's" musical episode on March 31. But, what if you're over the "Glee" effect and musicals make you cringe? Jesse Williams, who plays Jackson Avery, says he knows where you're coming from, but you shouldn't worry.
"People might not love it. I tend to not like musicals on principle," Williams, 29, tells Zap2it. "But this is not jumping the shark, it's not a trick, it's not a gimmick. It's totally in line with this season and these characters. And it's just incredibly moving."
The musical episode revolves around a crisis with Callie's (Sara Ramirez) pregnancy and will feature some "Grey's" classics, including songs by Snow Patrol, Chasing Cars, and even the show's former theme song, "Cosy In The Rocket" by Psapp.
"I don't even think this should be called a musical," Williams says. "It's just a regular episode of 'Grey's Anatomy' that's just super-heightened, really intense, incredibly well-written and there's singing in it. Music is a big part of our show anyway, right? We break artists all the time. There's always terrific musical assistance. And this is no different. It's just instead of hearing the original artist's voice, you're going to hear Sara Ramirez or Kevin McKidd or Chyler Leigh or Chandra Wilson, who is phenomenal. One of my favorites scenes is when she sings."
Williams has avoided confirming whether or not he's helming a song in the episode, but he now tells us, "I'm not really singing in it. I'm a really awful singer."
Of course, that's not without trying. The actor tells us that the producers heard everybody sing, including him.
"It wasn't so much an audition," he says. "They've heard people sing. Kevin McKidd has sung before in a webisode, I believe. Sara Ramirez has won a Tony for a show on Broadway and so has Chandra Wilson. So, they wanted to get a sense of the newer people who they haven't heard sing. I think they thought I was giving them false modesty like, 'Oh no, I'm really not that good,' but maybe I am. Then, they realized, 'Oh my God, he's telling the truth.' That's fine. I'm good at other things and this happens to not be one of them."
But the fact that he doesn't do any major vocals in the episode hasn't tainted his opinion of the episode. He believes the musical episode will definitely leave an impression on viewers.
"I think like in the finale last year when everyone universally loved it and thought it was amazing and a cool departure from our regular pace," he says. "I think this will be similarly talked about."
What are your feelings surrounding "Grey's" doing a musical episode?
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I think it'll be interesting. Music IS a big part of their show so I guess I'm looking forward to it.
I'm excited for this episode. I remember when Dr. Bailey aka Chandra Wilson sang acapella on an episode and she had a great voice.
Soooooooo excited!! I think this'll be more akin to Buffy's Once More With Feeling than an episode of Glee. Or at least I hope so!
I think Sara Ramirez is the only Tony winner on the show. Chandra Wilson has not won one.
I feel like only Sara should sing, lol. But that's bad because I haven't given anyone else a chance.
But when I first heard this news I thought - oh no! The Glee effect.
Then I thought about it more and Jesse confirmed what I thought and was saying to everyone all along. It's an episode with singing it in.
No one is going to break into song for no reason. Well, that's at least what it sounds like.
It's not a musical...it's an episode where the actors sing in it aka a regular episode.
The concept is totally scary. Ugh...musicals are all scary, unless it's on Broadway. Maybe i'm just skeptical since the viewers have been given the craptastic, contrived, cliched SL of the freaky trio show. Save Arizona is the sane one in most instances, just blinded by love. So, i'm going to err on the side of caution--I'll DVR it, cross my fingers that it's good when I decide to watch it as anything to get us past this baby mess, modern family, bi PSA we keep getting from these lazy writers...Not original, not until this musical?? We'll see. Bless us all. amen. :)
Grey's is heading to flatline status STAT. The switch from a medical show about interns and learning along with their lives to a night time soap operas has put the show on life support ... it's terminal they would do TV a favor by pulling the plug ... I've watched my last episode with the silly Mark and Lex breakup redux ... they either love each other or they are just in lust ... the story lines suggest the latter as the hop from bed to bed. No longer interested in the trashy soap opera romances/break room "naps"/battles over babies and so on.