Even Cole Sprouse Loved Making Riverdale's Hedwig And The Angry Inch Episode

there really are 250 extras on set Whenever I walk into Riverdale. There’s glitter everywhere, and scores of actors in matching drag. Although I spend most of my day in the Andrews’ modest family member residence, outdoor, there’s a musical going on.


This is Riverdale’s third musical episode, nevertheless it’s unlike those that have come before it in that there’s no musical, at least, in the established sense. This year, Kevin is heading a variety show, and all are encouraged to take the stage with an act of their choosing. Yet any time Principal Honey bans Kevin from performing his proposed number from Hedwig and Upset Inch, all of the students come with each other to exclusively perform songs from the iconic musical. The way it plays out in the episode is much less of a variety show, and more Glee-like, with the songs woven into the storyline.


However this hour still feels like a true occasion. “Normal episodes, every character has their own storyline: Betty's doing her detective stuff, and Jughead is off at Stonewall, and Archie's boxing, and Veronica is doing her several companies and dealing with her family member stuff,” Camila Mendes says. “But this episode habitually permits for the full cast to get with each other so you get to be able to see people just having fun on set constantly.”


“I truly believe in my heart of hearts the reason why Season 1 was so beloved was because we all worked with each other all of the time. So I think that's why we cherish these moments so much is because we all get to be together,” Madelaine Petsch tells me later in the afternoon, Vanessa Morgan by her side. “That's why I truly love them, and I love watching them, so I imagine that's why the fans love them. Because you get to be able to see Cheryl and Betty interact, and Toni and Kevin interact, and those are such crucial moments.”


Charles Melton arrives in the Andrews’ living room dressed in full Hedwig attire, straight from shooting a scene at Riverdale High in which the hallway is full of students in the matching drag look. “My feet are very sore walking around in, what is this, eight inch heels?” He says. Still, he loves his heels, and also because the jeweled specifics on his sleeves.


Good thing also, because it took him a hour along with one half to get ready this morning, which is a lot longer than the typical 15 minutes it takes to adjust his hair and brilliant his pout. He passed the time in the trailer finishing Netflix’s Cheer on his phone while Petsch and Vanessa Morgan were sat next to him, applying their own makeup. It was business-as-usual for the females, who'd figured out their coloring throughout a makeup test a week ago. “The makeup test was a little bit horrific for me because I made my eyebrows black at first. It just did not work on my face,” Petsch says. “So then, today, I went a little more tame.”


Casey Cott was also in the room, sitting “very, very, very still” as a team pampered him nearby for a whopping two-and-a-half hours. Unlike the others, this wasn’t his starting day in drag. “I’ve been doing it all week,” he tells me throughout a brief break he has later in the day. He’s grown accustomed to his “gnarly” glitter lipstick, however today, it’s his wig that he loves the most. “This wig is super bad ass because this is the particular wig that John Cameron Mitchell wore in the movie Hedwig. This is his wig,” he says. “So, Victoria, head of our hair department is aware someone connected and got us this wig. So, while it is the most uncomfortable, it's my main go to thing.”


Not each person gets to dress in drag. It causes some envy on set — “I don't know why I wasn't included in that to be honest,” Mendes says. “I would have loved to wear those wigs and do that makeup.” — Although no one seems also hurt. (She still has some upcoming fun donning a glam-rock look for a sleepover number in Betty’s room alongside Lili Reinhart, Petsch, Morgan, and Cott.)


Even still, each person is going all-out. It’s easy, given the rock-and-roll feel of Hedwig, and on day seven of filming out of eight total, plus weekends spent rehearsing, not to say those recording sessions prior, Reinhart is feeling it. “I’m tired today,” she says, sitting next to me on the Andrews’ back patio. “Musical episodes are usually an enormous undertaking.” She’s on the verge of losing her voice from all of the singing she’s been doing over her voice tracks; it’s something the cast does to create the performances look real, she explains. Nevertheless she’ll slip in a day-to-day nap while in her lunch break to keep her energy up — and then will crash while she gets house at night.


Separately, Mendes says that she required to get a massage right after aggressively thrashing around throughout a mosh-like scene that was filmed several days back. She and Reinhart were attempting to prepare each other laugh while in rehearsals. (The director respectfully instructed her she may tone it down for the real take.) “I think everyone's attempting to create each other laugh constantly,” she says. “I don't think it's about being cool. It's about who can be the funniest.” (That could be, hands down, KJ Apa. “Maybe it's the accent, yet also it's just KJ being KJ. He just makes everything funny,” Mendes says.)


It’s not all fun and games, though. Some days, there’s real work to get done on a tight timeline. In this episode, there’s a massive fight scene between Betty and Jughead, and concurrently Veronica and Archie. Although since it’s a musical episode, rather than screaming at each other, they’re scream-singing. On top of that, it’s a punk-influenced number, something way outdoors of both Mendes and Veronica’s comfort zones. And in case that wasn’t enough, they only had one hour to get it right. “Singing it was very vulnerable,” Mendes says. “But something about the rush of it all just gave us that kick of energy that we were just like, ‘All right, let's just completely commit to it, give it everything we've got,’ and ended up being one of my main go to numbers for now because it was just so raw and full of rage and I don't think we get to be able to see that a lot in Riverdale.”


That’s right: Jughead belts it out in this episode, in more than one number. It isn't Cole Sprouse’s preference activity, however, he contends, “it appears to prepare sense for the character,” particularly given that the songs are right now intended to drive the narrative. "I don't think Jughead's necessarily the sort of kid that gets up on stage in front of the complete town and dances like a Jellicle cat,” Sprouse says. “So if he's singing, going about his regular narrative, then that usually to prepare more sense.”


Plus, he feels connected to this particular music. Hedwig was the opening musical he watched as a child. “I thought for certain it was going to be Cats [for this year’s musical],” he says. “But I'm proud that it's Hedwig. I have a very fond connection to that music since I was a child. I really, really love that musical." Besides, Sprouse adds, he’s not terribly uncomfortable in the recording booth — as soon as he’s in there singing as Jughead, at least.


Meanwhile, Morgan and Petsch, loaded up on caffeine, are still high off filming their duet, which sees them jumping on the counters at Pop’s. “It was all women just…” Morgan starts, “Killing it. Crushing it. Intimidating our principal,” Petsch finishes. Ganging up on Principal Honey has been a consistent theme for Petsch’s Cheryl this season, however actor Kerr Smith is used to it. “I guess I'm the Scrooge in this episode,” he says. “Every scene they're dancing around, and it's just me in the corner with my arms crossed.”


The bright side, Smith adds, is that he gets a front-row seat to all the wonderful performances — particularly once Cott takes the stage. It is, immediately considering that, Kevin’s annual masterpiece. “He's done a remarkable job at all these dance numbers he has to do. It's really been cool to watch,” Smith says. He’s not alone in that assessment. Almost every cast member during the day has been singing Cott’s praises. “I’ve just been in awe at what he’s doing,” Melton says. “He looks really, really buff right now,” Sprouse marvels. “That’s my main go to moment of this episode is watching Casey just live it,” Petsch says, while Morgan hones in on his “Tear Me Down” song-and-dance. “That’s the highlight,” she says.


“Tear Me Down” was one of the more nerve-racking scenes for Cott, he says. “It’s just something that I’ve never done before, something like this, on TV,” he says. In scene, the complete town shows up to watch Kevin do his thing, and he does it. “I haven't felt that much energy or excitement from a room of people since I've probably done a play or something. And I think K.J. And Cole and Lili and Cami and Charles and Mads, all really rallied the sort to do that.” It was a really special moment for Cott. “It almost felt like Season 1 again,” he says, honing in on the sentiment Petsch said earlier.


Soon after speaking with the cast members, I poke around the set, walking via wide halls of Riverdale High, checking out Archie’s room (which isn't connected to the rest of the Andrews’ house, and popping in to Le Bonne Nuit, all of the while walking by class president campaign posters and flyers with the bolded words ‘Missing: Jason Blossom.’ This is all to kill time before the night’s big performance: The Archies are getting prepared to storm Pop’s.


Even though the current temperature is a chilly 39 degrees and mist falls from the sky, eventually, Sprouse, Reinhart, Apa, Mendes, and Cott come onto the roof of the iconic diner. Safely harnessed in place, Mendes yells down for someone to please take a photo of her. Apa calls out saying his guitar isn’t plugged in. “How am I even playing?!” And Sprouse jokes that his character is also socially awkward to justify his presence. Then, the music track plays and so they snap into character as Jughead, Betty, Archie, Veronica, and Kevin, forming the musical group Archie Comics fans have been waiting for.


I go backstage, in case you will, in between some takes. “I’m feeling pretty amped,” Apa says. His feet are cold from the rain, however he calls this “probably the coolest moment” of the episode for now. “The music was playing. There's two cameras operating now on a crane and we just, yeah, we went for it. It's great.” It was his first time ever on the roof of Pop’s.


Sprouse comes up and affectionately strokes Apa’s eyebrows. He doesn’t flinch. “Cole likes to touch me on my face every time he walks past,” he says. “We have a very intimate relationship.” Apa begins telling me how much he was loving seeing Sprouse on the roof next to him — “I love watching him since in the musical episodes because I can visualize the un-confidence in his face” — although he’s rapidly pulled away. The musical group is needed back on set for one more encore.