SPOILER ALERT: This story mentions plot developments in Season 1, Episode 4 of “Agatha All Alongside,” at present streaming on Disney+.

Though “Agatha All Alongside” isn’t a musical per se, music serves because the present’s literal plot gadget, when the coven led by Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) sings “The Ballad of the Witches’ Highway” collectively in Episode 2 with a purpose to conjure the titular mystical pathway, all within the hope of constructing their needs come true. The significance of “The Ballad” resonates all through the present; every episode title comes from the tune’s lyrics, and, as govt producer Mary Livanos explains to Selection, “the tune will proceed enjoying an extremely vital position within the present.”

Living proof, Episode 4, titled “If I Can’t Attain You / Let My Tune Train You.” As soon as they attain the street, the coven — comprised of Agatha, Teen (Joe Locke), Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone), Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza), Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), and Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn) — face a sequence of life-or-death trials that check their witchcraft information and ability, and in Episode 4, they’re pressured to sing “The Ballad of the Witches’ Highway” once more to free Alice from a curse that has had her household in its (fairly literal) clutches for generations. This model was first recorded by Alice’s mom, Lorna Wu, and have become a pop hit within the Nineteen Seventies; over the course of the episode, Alice realizes that her mom’s model was, in actual fact, a spell, designed to maintain the curse from destroying Alice’s life.

To create a tune that might assist so many alternative meanings and variations, Livanos and creator/showrunner Jac Schaeffer turned to the songwriting crew Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (“Frozen”), who gained an Emmy for writing “Agatha All Alongside,” the tune in Marvel’s 2021 sequence “WandaVision” that arguably spawned Hahn’s spin-off.

Schaeffer and Livanos spoke with Selection concerning the creation of “The Ballad of the Witches Highway,” whereas the forged of “Agatha All Alongside” mentioned how they shot their efficiency in Episode 4 and what it’s like signing alongside a Tony-winning Broadway legend like Patti LuPone.

How was this tune initially developed?

Mary Livanos (Government Producer): Throughout the writing of this present, Jac saved wrapping her head across the story and was decided to discover a option to work with the Lopez’s once more. She created the thought of the “Ballad of the Witches Highway,” then the Lopez’s got here in and wrote off her authentic idea. They wrote so many easter eggs and a lot element that it bloomed all through improvement.

Jac Schaeffer (Showrunner): I used to be chasing the tune so arduous, and it grew to become a factor of, like, the tune is the factor. I had this notion of the tune working as a spell that will get you, the viewers, to look at the present. I’m making an attempt to entice you in the way in which that leisure does, and to me, the tune entranced me like a spell would. That then fed into the concept that the tune might be used as a literal spell within the present. I used to be actually drawn to the tune’s multifaceted goal. After which, after all, I knew the Lopez’s can be up for that very particular problem.

We had kind of a temp tune for some time as a result of it had all these plot factors in it, but it surely had no melody. It was a guiding observe to the story. We gave that to them and mentioned, “Please, please, please take these concepts and switch them into the enduring earworm you’re able to producing.” They usually did simply that.

Writing a tune that should serve each a thematic and a story goal throughout the context of the story and to make it rhyme, catchy, and melodically rhythmic could be very difficult. However they actually loved the puzzle that got here with that problem.

What was it like singing with Patti LuPone?

Joe Locke (Teen): It received to the purpose the place it was so intimidating, it wasn’t intimidating anymore. Once we had been recording the Episode 4 bit, Patti was going within the studio earlier than I used to be, so I used to be watching her do it, and there was a second the place I used to be like, “Oh my God, I’ve received to go in and observe Patti LuPone.” Then I used to be like, “Oh, there’s no means in hell I can ever beat that or prime that or get wherever close to that. So it’s effective.” You’re not even in the identical area when somebody is a lot of an icon. So, like, it doesn’t matter. It’s effective.

Did you guys truly play your devices in the course of the Episode 4 efficiency?

Sasheer Zamata (Jennifer Kale): I did take bass classes, so I realized to the most effective of my talents.

Ali Ahn (Alice Wu-Gulliver): I’m truly enjoying. It was a really cool second for me. I’m not within the recording, however I’m truly enjoying within the scene.

We heard the forged would sing collectively for enjoyable backstage. What are a number of the songs that Patti would make you all sing?

Ahn: She made us sing this Chuck Mangione tune that I nonetheless play. It’s so good.

Locke: Lots of Broadway stuff. There was one tune she by accident placed on. It was this actually previous, actually sexist nation tune about marrying up. She didn’t imply to place it on, however then she began listening to the lyrics and mentioned, “Oh, that’s terrible. I find it irresistible.”

This interview was edited and condensed for readability.