"My life dream has always been to be a cartoon, so I was completely geeking out about this," said Tony winner Jessie Mueller about her new role as Rider in the upcoming animated musical series Centaurworld from Netflix, premiering July 30.
The series follows a war horse who is separated from her rider and transported into a land full of brightly-colored, wacky, singing centaurs. In the clip above, Rider, voiced by Mueller, sings "Rider's Lullaby" to Horse while the two are still in their war-torn world. Kimiko Glenn, who co-starred with Mueller in Broadway's Waitress, voices Horse.
Due to the nature of animation voiceover studio recording (and also a worldwide pandemic), the two did not record together in the studio, so it was not an in-person reunion. "But I got to hear her voice in my ears again, and it was just such a pleasure," says Mueller. "Every time Kimiko sings, I just kept saying 'Gosh, I love her voice. Gosh, I love her voice.'"
The series is created by showrunner Megan Nicole Dong, who executive produces along with Dominic Bisignano. The two also co-wrote the songs for the series.
In addition to Glenn and Mueller, the voice cast includes Megan Hilty, Parvesh Cheena, Josh Radnor, Chris Diamantopoulos, and Dong, along with guest appearances from Broadway favorites Brian Stokes Mitchell, Lea Salonga, and Renée Elise Goldsberry.