Exclusive “The Fosters” Interview: Bradley Bredeweg and Cierra Ramirez Talk Musical Episode, “The Show”

Freeform’s “The Fosters” airs a very special episode this week! One that has been in the works for a long time and I got the chance to talk to co-creator Bradley Bredeweg and actress Cierra Ramirez about it. “The Show” was written by Joanna Johnson, Bradley Bredeweg, and Peter Paige. It also is the Fosters directorial debut of  Bradley Bredeweg. With 12 original songs in the “R + J: A Romeo and Juliet Tale” musical written by Brad Hooks, the episode is one that you don’t want to miss.

“As they perform the parts of Romeo and Juliet on the show’s big opening night, Mat and Mariana are forced to face the depth of their feelings for each other. The musical performance sparks heightened emotion for members of the Adams Foster family, causing them to reflect on recent events. Meanwhile, a domestic violence call leads Stef to a tragic discovery.”

(Freeform/Nicole Wilder)

(Freeform/Nicole Wilder)

This episode has been in the works for a while. What did it feel like to finally have it be a reality and what was it like pitching this to the network?

Bradley: It was a dream come true to be able to do this kind of thing on our show. It was a massive undertaking for us. We do our show in a very limited time, we only have seven days to film a episode. So it was a big undertaking for us and the fact that we were able to pull it off was quite a dream come true! And the network was on board from the moment we pitched this to them, they were so excited about it. I think we delivered, well I hope we delivered, and the network seems to be very proud about this and very behind it. We are just really excited to get to it out there for people to finally see it because it has been quite a process for us!

Well let me tell you, you definitely delivered! I was able to screen the episode and as a musical theatre fan… you delivered! The soundtrack is gorgeous.

Bradley: Well that’s Brad Hooks by the way. He is a musical genious. He wrote 12 original songs in the shortest amount of time. You can’t even believe how quickly he turned around those numbers.

Speaking of the soundtrack, will it feature a mix of all the different versions of the songs? Cause I know the main one we have heard so far, “Love Will Light the Day”, has been sung by multiple singers at this point. So what can we expect from the soundtrack?

Bradley: Yes. We will have all 12 songs from the show available on iTunes starting at 8pm Eastern when the show airs. So everything will drop at that time and we are just really proud to get those songs out there!

That’s so great! Cierra, what was it like to be able to showcase your triple-threat abilities? And on top of that with a cast that includes Corbin Bleu and Ashley Argota?

Cierra: It was amazing! I’ve never been able to do anything musical in any of my projects before. Performing has always been my first love and as much as I’ve wanted to do theatre in school, I just ever got around to it so this is really a dream come true for me as well. The cast was unbelievable! I saw “R&J: Love is a Battlefield” when Bradley did it at the Rockwell so it was pretty intimidating going into this with Ashley Argota cause she was an amazing Juliet already so to go after that was pretty fun and exciting. And Corbin Bleu, I grew up watching him on “High School Musical.” The whole cast made it so easy to jump into! The whole process happened so fast. We had what we called a boot camp because there were so many songs and routines we had to learn really fast. The whole process was pretty crazy and I couldn’t imagine it with any other team because it was an amazing experience.

That’s amazing! So for the Matiana fans out there, what can we expect from that relationship going into the final two episodes?

Cierra: Well we saw in “Rehearsal” that there was still an undeniable attraction between them. They have things standing in there way, they have to think of some others now so after this play we will have to see! We have seen the letter and the fact that Zoey has always been out to get Mariana. We will have to see if they can make a mature decision together. Will they suck it up and move on or will the undeniable attraction take over them? I’m excited to see because I too am a Matiana fan. I have been rooting for them ever since she made that mistake in 3×01 and she has learned from it. So I am excited to see what will happen!

Cierra, we have got to see Mariana grow into such a fantastic young women throughout the series. And the relationship that she has gained with Ana have been so complex and beautiful. So my question is, if Gabe gets out of this sticky mess, is there a chance that we might see him again toward the end of the season or in Season 4? Because I really like Gabe and want to see more of him.

Bradley: I will tell you that it is not the last that you have seen of Gabe. He is not leaving our world and will definitely be apart of our show moving forward. We love him, he is such a great actor!

CHECK OUT A SNEAK PEEK FROM THE MUSICAL EPISODE BELOW!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v_AozIxWkY]
I want to thank Cierra and Bradley for such a great conversation. As a massive fan this really was such an amazing opportunity and I can’t wait for another in the future. 
Feel free to send me your own thoughts on Twitter @DustinB3350 and Instagram @dustin3350 or @jonnorship5ever. Also be sure to follow PopHeartsTV on all major social media platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, & now Tumblr by searching @PopHeartsTV!