''Schmigadoon!'' is an American

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

television series created by

Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio are American screenwriters. They are primarily known for writing screenplays for animated films, including '' Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who'', '' Despicable Me'', ''Dr. Seuss' The Lorax'', ''Despicable Me 2'', ''The Secr ...

, with all songs written by Paul, who also serves as showrunner. The series airs on

Apple TV+ Apple TV is a digital media player and microconsole developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is a small network appliance hardware that plays received media data such as video and audio to a television set or external display. Since its secon ...

and premiered on July 16, 2021. The series has been renewed for a second season. Season 1 of ''Schmigadoon!'' was a parody of, and satirical homage to, Golden Age musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. The series stars an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to ...

led by

Cecily Strong Cecily Legler Strong (born February 8, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and producer. Strong is most notable for being a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2012 to 2022. She is also the longest-tenured female cast member in the s ...

and

Keegan-Michael Key Keegan-Michael Key (born March 22, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He co-created and co-starred alongside Jordan Peele in Comedy Central's sketch series ''Key & Peele'' (2012–2015) and co-starred in USA Netw ...

. It is directed by

Barry Sonnenfeld Barry Sonnenfeld (born April 1, 1953) is an American filmmaker and television director. He originally worked as a cinematographer for the Coen brothers before directing films such as ''The Addams Family'' (1991) and its sequel ''Addams Family Va ...

, with choreography by

Christopher Gattelli Christopher Gattelli is an American choreographer, performer and theatre director. Early life and career Gattelli grew up in Bristol, Pennsylvania. He started dancing at the age of 11 and is a "Star Search" Grand champion.

. Cinco Paul won the

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, awarded to both the composer and lyricist. The award has gone by several names: * Outstanding Achievement in Music, Lyrics and Special M ...

in 2022 for "Corn Puddin'", a song that was featured in the pilot episode. In season 2, filmed in 2022, Josh and Melissa will find themselves in Schmicago, a world yielding a similar satirical homage to 1960s and 1970s musicals.

Background

Cinco Paul had the idea for the show over 20 years ago, that it would be funny if two men, like the backpackers in '' An American Werewolf In London'', stumbled upon a musical, instead of a horror story. According to Paul, the concept only fully came into focus for him when it changed to "a couple who are stuck there until they can find true love". Paul has said that even though Schmigadoon's musical style, characters and satire are largely based on 1940s and 1950s musicals, the sets and costumes reflect 1910s America, like the setting in ''

The Music Man ''The Music Man'' is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and ...

''.Schwartz, Ryan
"''Schmigadoon!'' EP Reveals Season 1 Episode Order Was Trimmed – What Was Left on the Cutting Room Floor?"
TVLine, August 17, 2021

Premise

Two New York doctors, Melissa and Josh, go on a backpacking trip in an attempt to patch up their failing relationship, only to find themselves still arguing. They get lost and soon discover a magical town called Schmigadoon, which is perpetually trapped in a Golden Age-style musical, and soon learn that they cannot leave the town until they find true love. The title and concept parody the 1947 musical ''

Brigadoon ''Brigadoon'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, and music by Frederick Loewe. The song " Almost Like Being in Love", from the musical, has become a standard. It features two American tourists who stumble upon Brigadoon, a ...

''.Cleal, Sam
"19 Reasons Why I Recommend You Watch ''Schmigadoon!'' Immediately"
BuzzFeed, July 27, 2021

Cast and characters

Main

as Josh Skinner, an

orthopedic surgeon Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

from New York City, and Melissa's boyfriend. *

as Melissa Gimble, an

OBGYN Obstetrics and Gynaecology (also spelled as Obstetrics and Gynecology; abbreviated as Obs and Gynae, O&G, OB-GYN and OB/GYN) is the medical specialty that encompasses the two subspecialties of obstetrics (covering pregnancy, childbirth, and ...

from New York City, and Josh's girlfriend. *

Fred Armisen Fereydun Robert Armisen (born December 4, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. With his comedy partner Carrie Brownstein, Armisen was the co-creator and co-star of the IFC sketch comedy series ''Portlandia''. He ...

as Reverend Howard Layton, long-suffering husband of Mildred and leader of the Methodist church in Schmigadoon.Cleal, Sam
"The Cast of ''Schmigadoon!'' Is Positively Stacked – Here's Where You Know Them From"
Buzzfeed, July 20, 2021 (season 1) *

Dove Cameron Dove Olivia Cameron (born Chloe Celeste Hosterman; January 15, 1996) is an American singer and actress. She became famous for her double role of the eponymous characters in the Disney Channel comedy series ''Liv and Maddie'', for which she won ...

as Betsy McDonough, a waitress, one of Farmer McDonough's seven daughters, inspired by Ado Annie from ''

Oklahoma! ''Oklahoma!'' is the first musical theater, musical written by the duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, ''Green Grow the Lilacs (play), Green Grow the Lilacs''. Set in farm country outside the town of ...

'' *

Jaime Camil Jaime Federico Said Camil de Saldanha da Gama (born 22 July 1973) is a Mexican actor, singer and television personality. He is best known for his roles as Fernando Mendiola in ''La Fea Más Bella'' and Rogelio de la Vega in ''Jane the Virgin'', ...

as Doc Jorge Lopez, an attractive but judgmental widowed doctor, set in his ways, inspired by Captain von Trapp from ''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. Se ...

''. *

Kristin Chenoweth Kristin Dawn Chenoweth (; born Kristi Dawn Chenoweth; July 24, 1968)Kristin Cheno ...

as Mildred Layton, the preacher's wife, whose great-great-grandfather founded Schmigadoon, based mainly on Mrs. Shinn from ''

''. *

Alan Cumming Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965) is a British actor. His London stage appearances include ''Hamlet'', the Maniac in ''Accidental Death of an Anarchist'' (for which he received an Olivier Award), the lead in '' Bent'', The National Theatre o ...

as Mayor Aloysius Menlove, the closeted gay mayor of Schmigadoon. *

Ariana DeBose Ariana DeBose (; born January 25, 1991) is an American actress, dancer, and singer. She has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award and a nomination for a Tony Award. In 2022, ...

as Emma Tate, Schmigadoon's schoolmarm, based on Marian Paroo from ''The Music Man''. *

Ann Harada Ann Harada (born February 3, 1964) is an American actress and singer who was first known for the musical ''Avenue Q'', in which she originated the role of Christmas Eve, the heavily accented Japanese therapist. Early life Harada was born in Ho ...

as Florence Menlove, the mayor's adoring but sexually frustrated wife. *

Jane Krakowski Jane Krakowski (; ; born October 11, 1968) is an American actress, comedienne, and singer. She is best known for her starring role as Jenna Maroney in the NBC satirical comedy series ''30 Rock'' (2006–2013, 2020), for which she received four ...

as Countess Gabriele Von Blerkom, Doc Lopez's fiancée, a rich, elegant woman, based on the Baroness from ''

''. *

Martin Short Martin Hayter Short (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, and writer. He has received various awards including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award. In 2019 Short became an Officer of the Order of Canada. He ...

as Leprechaun, a magical imp based on Og from ''

Finian's Rainbow ''Finian's Rainbow'' is a musical with a book by E. Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy, lyrics by Harburg, and music by Burton Lane, produced by Lee Sabinson. The original 1947 Broadway production ran for 725 performances, while a film version was re ...

''. Kenrick, John
"Musicals101.com's Aisle Say: Is ''Schmigadoon'' Worth Watching?"
Musicals101.com via YouTube, July 28, 2021 *

Aaron Tveit Aaron Kyle Tveit (; born October 21, 1983) is an American actor. Tveit originated the lead role of Christian the composer in the stage adaptation of ''Moulin Rouge!'' on Broadway, a performance for which he won the 2020 Tony Award for Best Acto ...

as Danny Bailey, the town's rapscallion, a carnival barker, based on Billy Bigelow from ''

Carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (List of sovereign states, international), roundabout (British English), or hurdy-gurdy (an old term in Australian English, in South Australia, SA) is a type of amusement ...

''. *

Tituss Burgess Tituss Burgess (born February 21, 1979) is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in numerous Broadway theatre, Broadway musical theatre, musicals and is known for his high tenor voice. He is best known for starring as Titus Andromedon on ...

(season 2) *

Patrick Page John Patrick Page (born April 27, 1962) is an American actor, low bass singer, and playwright. He originated the roles of Norman Osborn/Green Goblin in '' Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark'', the Grinch in ''Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christm ...

(season 2)

Co-starring

* Liam Quiring-Nkindi as Carson, a boy with a lisp, who announces scene changes. Emma says that Carson is her kid brother, but it turns out that he is her son. He is based on Winthrop Paroo from ''The Music Man''. (season 1)

Guest

Peppermint Peppermint (''Mentha'' × ''piperita'') is a hybrid species of mint, a cross between watermint and spearmint. Indigenous to Europe and the Middle East, the plant is now widely spread and cultivated in many regions of the world.Euro+Med Plantbas ...

as Madam Vina * Kevin McNulty as Farmer McDonough *

Timothy Webber Timothy Webber is a Canadians, Canadian television, film, and stage actor best known for his performance as Djordje in the film ''My Father's Angel'', for which he was a Canadian Screen Award for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor nominee at the 21s ...

as Marv * Bijou Brattston as Tootie McDonough, one of Farmer McDonough's seven daughters * Kyra Leroux as Carrie, one of Farmer McDonough's seven daughters * Darcey Johnson as Innkeeper Harvey. * Amitai Marmorstein as Pete, the cheerful Milkman, who is often the subject of offscreen violence, such as from Farmer McDonough's shotgun or a rock attempted to be skipped by the Mayor * Scott Patey as Larry the Fireman * Pedro Salvin as Old Doc Lopez, Doc Lopez's father * Michelle Rios as Mrs. Lopez, Doc Lopez's mother * Garfield Wilson as Henry the Iceman * Cassandra Consiglio as Nancy, Freddy's pregnant girlfriend. She is later revealed to be the Laytons' daughter. * Alex Barima as Freddy, a sailor, Nancy's boyfriend

Episodes

Production

It was announced in January 2020 that

was set to star in and produce the series, with a series order at

close to finalizing. In October,

Kristin Chenoweth Kristin Dawn Chenoweth (; born Kristi Dawn Chenoweth; July 24, 1968)Kristin Cheno ...

and

were added to the cast.

directed the season and also executive produced. Besides starring, Cecily Strong served as producer, and Ken Daurio served as consulting producer and writer. Andrew Singer also executive produces with

Lorne Michaels Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian-American producer, screenwriter, and comedian. He is best known for creating and producing ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and producing the '' La ...

on behalf of

Broadway Video Broadway Video is an American multimedia entertainment studio founded by Lorne Michaels, creator of the sketch comedy TV series ''Saturday Night Live'' and producer of other television programs and movies. Broadway Video also held the rights to ...

. The musical numbers were choreographed by

. In addition to Paul and Daurio,

Allison Silverman Allison Silverman (born February 17, 1972) is an American comedy writer and producer, known for her work on Russian Doll, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Late Night with Conan O'Brian. She was the head writer and executive producer for ''The Colb ...

Julie Klausner Julie Klausner (born July 3, 1978) is an American writer, comedian, actress, and podcaster. She is best known for creating, writing, and starring in the Hulu sitcom ''Difficult People'' (2015–2017), which also starred comedian Billy Eichner. ...

, Kate Gersten and

Bowen Yang Bowen Yang ( zh, link=no, 楊伯文; born November 6, 1990) is an Australian-born American actor, comedian, podcaster, and writer based in New York City. He co-hosts a comedy pop-culture podcast, '' Las Culturistas,'' with Matt Rogers. Since Se ...

were writers on the show. The first season was written in the summer of 2019. The season consisted of six episodes, although it was originally planned to be eight episodes.

Bo Welch Robert W. "Bo" Welch III (born November 30, 1951) is an American production designer, art director, film and television director and occasional actor. He is best known for his collaborations with directors such as Tim Burton and Barry Sonnenfeld. ...

serves as the series'

production designer In film and television, the production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Wo ...

. Filming for season one began in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

on October 13, 2020, and concluded on December 10, taking place during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The series has been renewed for a second season with all of the main cast returning, except for Armisen and Quiring-Nkindi;

and

will join the cast. By June 2022 filming of season two had begun, and it was completed in July 2022.

Music

Cinco Paul wrote all of the original songs for the series and also serves as showrunner. The underscore was composed by

Christopher Willis Christopher Willis (born 21 August 1978 in Newcastle, Australia) is an Australian-born British composer. He is the composer of the music to the 2013 Disney Mickey Mouse Shorts, and co-composer (with Rupert Gregson-Williams) of the music to the H ...

. Soundtrack albums were released by

Milan Records Milan Records is a record label located in Los Angeles, California specializing in film scores and soundtrack albums. In addition, Milan boasts an extensive electronic catalog which features down-tempo, chillout, and eclectic electronic releases ...

as each episode was released.

Release

A trailer for the series was released on June 25, 2021. The first two episodes aired on

on July 16, followed by one new episode each subsequent Friday until season 1 ended with episode 6 on August 13, 2021.

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, ''Schmigadoon!'' holds an approval rating of 88% based on 75 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''Schmigadoon!''s clever inside-theater jokes may not be for everyone, but there's no denying the joy of seeing this talented ensemble sing (and dance!) their hearts out." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a weighted average, the series has a score of 73 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". In ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', Matthew Gilbert noted the show's "underlying affection for musical theater hough itmakes ruthless fun of the conventions of show tunes. ... There is plenty of snark afoot. But the songs are also wittily written, and catchy. The choreography is top-notch and well-shot. And the cast members ... have an infectious enthusiasm."

Accolades

Among other accolades, the series was nominated for four

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

, winning one.Friedlander, Whitney
"The Innuendo-Filled Inspirations Behind ''Schmigadoon!'s'' Emmy-Nominated 'Corn Puddin'"
''Vanity Fair'', August 15, 2022 The soundtrack to Episode 1 was nominated for the

Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media The Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media has been awarded since 2000. In 2000 the award was presented as the Grammy Award for Best Soundtrack Album, and from 2001 to 2011 as Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Pi ...

, and Chenoweth was nominated for a

Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series The Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series is one of the award categories presented annually by the Critics' Choice Television Awards (BTJA) to recognize the work done by television actresses. Winners and ...

. The series, its writers, Key, DeBose and Chenoweth were all nominated for

Hollywood Critics Association The Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) is a film critic organization in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 2016 as the Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society and renamed in 2019. History In 2016, Scott Menzel, Scott Mantz, and Ashley M ...

TV Awards. The series was also nominted for the

Saturn Award for Best Streaming Fantasy Television Series Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

References

External links

*
Official pilot screenplay

"Corn Puddin"
scene from Episode 1, season 1 {{Apple TV+ English-language television shows 2020s American musical comedy television series 2021 American television series debuts Apple TV+ original programming Primetime Emmy Award-winning television series Television series by Broadway Video Television series by Universal Television Television shows filmed in Vancouver Television shows set in New York City Works by Barry Sonnenfeld Magic realism television series