The quirky new half-hour musical can be found on AppleTV and will consist of six episodes. The show was created by Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul who came up with the idea when watching “An American Werewolf in London." Paul had thought about how the opening scene was similar to “Brigadoon” and wondered what would happen if these two guys stumbled into a musical. This led to the creation of “Schmigadoon.” The new series follows couple Melissa (Cecily Strong) and Josh (Keegan-Michael Key) who are out hiking when they stumble into this town that turns out to be a musical.
They quickly discover that they can't leave until they find true love. Key provided a humorous anecdote during an interview with Stephen Colbert about his time on the series and shared how he was scolded whenever he would dance along with the musical numbers. Keegan-Michael Key is known for his comedic skills, such as how he added humor to the Public's "Hamlet" but "Schmigadoon" will be something new for fans to see.
USA Today reported an interview with Cecily Strong where she shared about how problematic the old musicals that we all love are and that "Schmigadoon" comments on these problems in a lovely way. Cinco Paul added that it was really important to him that they had an ensemble cast that wasn't all white like casts from old musicals.
They wanted their show to reflect the Broadway of today with a diverse world making up their musical town.
'Schmigadoon' brings hope through music
"Schmigadoon" was created as a way to win people over through comedy and musical magic. No current word from AppleTV on if the show will receive a season two but Cinco Paul already has plans for a potential season.
This is despite the fact that Melissa and Josh will find closure by the end of season one. USA Today reported a statement from Keegan-Michael Key who shared that if there is another season, he believes it should be called “Schmicago." He also revealed that Paul has already found a clever way to bring Melissa and Josh back.
Kristin Chenoweth shared in an interview Solzy at the Movies about her role in “Schmigadoon," starting with how one of her first questions was if she could be a brunette.
She continued by sharing how most of the Broadway stars in the AppleTV series knew each other, specifically calling out her friendship with Alan Cumming which has been for what feels like her whole life, and knowing Dove Cameron who has played her daughter twice. Chenoweth is well-known for her musical abilities, specifically "Wicked" which she celebrated with Idina Menzel in 2018 about the wonderful good that stems from the musical. The Broadway star continued with how she was glad that the world was getting to see Keegan-Michael Key and Cecily Strong as more than just being comedians. Her hope is that the people that don't like musicals will see things differently and support Broadway but most of all she hopes that it makes people laugh.
Ariana DeBose shared with the Chicago Tribune that they knocked her number “All of Your Heart” out in one day. In the same interview, she compared filming "Schmigadoon" to a Broadway workshop. Filming took place during the COVID pandemic in Vancouver which created a time crunch for the actors and performers. DeBose added that Paul and Director Sonnefeld insisted that the performers stayed in longer shots so the audience would be able to see the choreography. DeBose went onto share that playing Emma was a real treat and spoke about how rare it is to see a woman of color playing a Marion the librarian type of character.
Dove Cameron and Aaron Tveit tease 'Schmigadoon'
The cast also includes Aaron Tveit and Dove Cameron, with Tveit portraying the handsome carnival worker and Cameron playing the young beauty.
In a Comics Beat article, Tveit gushed about getting the chance to play a character based on Billy from “Carousel” which for him was a dream, and described playing Danny as so much fun. Cameron shared how the actors were encouraged to lean into the caricature of their characters and went on to say how in a way, all of the characters were all caricatures of caricatures. Cameron complimented the structure of the show on how it was self-aware while the characters were not. The show leaned into the surrealism of this musical world and this was what the actors leaned into to create their characters while also maintaining a human element. Tveit added that the more they leaned into this reality for their characters, the more serious they were about it.
He went onto talk about how he and Cameron especially got to take advantage of bouncing off Josh and Melissa's reality. Cameron is well-known for her role in Disney's "Descendants" while Tveit was recently seen in Hallmark's "One Royal Holiday" and "American Horror Stories."
"Schmigadoon" is packed full of Broadway stars which Aaron Tveit shared in a Comics Beat article about how he was excited to work with Alan Cumming who he's been a fan of for years but hadn't met him until this project. He also enjoyed getting to know Jane Krakowski. The actor went on to share that sometimes people say to never meet your idols but that wasn't true in this case as he had only good things to say about the cast.
Tveit continued with how he thought it was really special to film "Schmigadoon" as they were among the only ones that were able to put on a musical with the industry being put on hold due to COVID. Cameron shared similar thoughts with how she grew up on musicals and to her, these stars were like otherworldly aliens of talent. She gushed about how glad she was to be part of the show and getting to work with such big stars.
Romantic roadblocks ahead in 'Schmigadoon'
Ann Harada shared in an interview with TVLine that she thought her character, the Mayor's wife, was hysterical and explained that for her it was a case of knowing that the dialogue is normal while the character did not. She continued with how Cinco Paul did a great job of writing songs that remind you of other songs without being the same as the songs we're all familiar with.
Harada teased that the Mayor's wife is very much devoted to her husband despite the fact that he's clearly in the closet and went onto explain that to her there are different types of love. The devotion that the Mayor's wife has never wavered and she just adores her husband.
SpoilerTV shared the synopsis for the upcoming two episodes of "Schmigadoon." Episode four “Suddenly” finds Melissa (Cecily Strong) and Josh (Keegan-Michael Key) still trying to find their way out of this musical town. Elsewhere, Melissa is conflicted over her feelings for Doc Lopez while also rebelling against his archaic ideas. Meanwhile, Josh attempts to win over Emma the schoolmarm. Episode five “Tribulation” finds the various romances hitting roadblocks as Melissa encounters an unexpected person while Emma reveals something surprising and Mildred works to increase her power.
