Sara Bareilles is the Stealth MVP of ‘Girls5eva’

Peacock’s Girls5eva is a show about the power of an ensemble. Kitschy TRL-era girl group Girls5eva finds themselves reunited after 20 years of pop star dormancy when a young hip star samples their biggest hit. The four surviving members of the group quickly realize that they miss the magic of being on stage together. The only problem? They also have to figure out how to get their outsized personalities to gel together once more.

While fans and critics alike have been quick to praise Girls5eva star Renée Elise Goldsberry‘s deliciously narcissistic turn as Wickie, Busy Philipps‘s adorably demented riff on reality stars and influencers, and Paula Pell‘s flair for mixing physical and verbal comedy, one member of the Girls5eva ensemble seems to be overlooked. Sara Bareilles might not have the flashiest role to play in the sitcom, but she has the most important. As the down-to-earth Dawn, she has to anchor the emotional drama of the series as well as play straight man to her scene-stealing co-stars. That Bareilles is able to do all this and land punchlines of her own is something of a quiet masterclass in sitcom performing. Sara Bareilles is the unsung glue of Peacock’s Girls5eva. 

Created by Meredith Scardino and executive produced by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, Girls5eva tells the story of a late ’90s girl band who get a surprising second chance at stardom. Gen Z hip hop star Lil Stinker (Jeremiah Craft) samples the band’s biggest hit on his new single, which not only brings the four surviving members of Girls5eva back together, but inspires them to perform again. However this time they are going to do it without the creepy, misogynistic “mentorship” of their shady former manager.

Girls5eva is half-joyous musical comedy, half-scathing takedown of the inherent sexism of late ’90s and early ’00s culture. It cannot be understated that Girls5eva were formed in the same era that Britney Spears became a beleaguered pop star and Janet Jackson was “ruined” at the Super Bowl. For all the hilarious satire that’s thrown around, there is something deeply sad about the story of Girls5Eva. Summer (Busy Philipps) is trapped in a loveless marriage. Gloria (Paula Pell) spent her pop career in the closet and now must reckon with heartache over her divorce. Even though she seems to be the most confident of the group, Wickie (Renée Elise Goldsberry) is a slave to her need for adulation. Hell, their fifth member Ashley (Ashley Park) is dead for most of the show! Sara Bareilles’s Dawn is the only member of the group who seems to have transitioned gracefully into adulthood, and yet it is through her eyes that we understand the emotional pathos surging beneath the surface of the show’s goofy hijinks.

As Dawn, Bareilles has to pull off a comedy tight wire act. She has to be the audience’s down-to-earth proxy amid the madness of Girls5Eva and she has to believably be a former pop star. Bareilles has to set up jokes for her other co-stars while also delivering perfectly timed bon mots (and the occasional physical comedy moments). What Bareilles is doing is basically juggling with tone. She has to be relatable yet aspirational, realistic but also farcical, and most of all, the glue of the group.

Sara Bareilles’s task as an actor in Girls5eva is not dissimilar to what her character Dawn does on the show itself. She is the stabilizing force that allows her co-stars to go big in their most feverish comic moments. It’s subtle, powerful work that is difficult to pull off for even the most seasoned comic actor. That Bareilles is known as more of a singer-songwriter just makes her turn on Girls5eva all the more incomprehensibly impressive.

Before Girls5eva, Bareilles had only acted a little bit, and mostly starring in the critically-acclaimed musical she wrote, Waitress, on Broadway. Bareilles parlayed that experience into a gig playing Mary Magdalene in NBC’s live production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar in 2018. Bareilles was nominated for an Emmy for her performance (and has nabbed two other noms for hosting the Tony Awards with Josh Groban). So Bareilles is definitely a talented actress, but Girls5eva still feels like a revelation. The singer-songwriter doesn’t just pull off a great performance in a musical; she nails a complicated comic role.

All four of Girls5eva‘s leading ladies are transcendent in the show, but what Bareilles is doing is technically on another level. Moreover, it’s the kind of performance that only works thanks to its subtlety. The irony is that the quiet, no-fuss nature of Bareilles’s performance is what makes it less likely to be noticed by fans. Nevertheless, Sara Bareilles is the glue that holds the rest of Girls5eva together, if you can see it or not.

Where to stream Girls5Eva