SCHMIGADOON!
HOW MUSICAL COMEDY SCHMIGADOON! FINDS THE RIGHT KEY…
Keegan-Michael Key on the magical town that likes to get down, 24/7.
Following musical roles in The Prom and Jingle Jangle, Keegan-Michael Key makes it a hat-trick with Apple TV+ comedy Schmigadoon! Key heads the cast alongside SNL star Cecily Strong: they play a couple, Josh and Melissa, seeking to pep up their relationship with a countryside backpacking trip. “In the middle of the hike, they get lost and find this small town,” explains Key. “The town is straight out of a 1940s musical, where everyone is singing and dancing. And then they discover they can’t leave until they find true love!”
The show is directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and filled with extravagantly choreographed hoofing routines. “Schmigadoon! is a love letter to the golden age of musicals, like Singin’ In The Rain and Seven Brides For Seven Brothers,” continues Key, whose character is initially hesitant to join in with the mayhem.
There’s a greater sense of diversity than you might find in musicals of old. “The people that live in this town just happen to be from different racial backgrounds, existing in a certain amount of harmony,” says Key. “It’s funny… Parody is a term that we could use but also, in a manner of speaking, it’s a deconstruction of the musical, while also respecting the genre.”
A wealth of Broadway talent was enlisted to play the town’s residents. “This is an incredibly demanding show,” says exec producer Cinco Paul, who co-wrote Schmigadoon! with his Despicable Me screenwriting partner Ken Daurio. “We wanted the actors to sing live on the set and dance, so we had to get a wide variety of real musical-theatre talent involved. These people had to have the chops required to pull it off.”
Among the big names who signed up for the six-episode series are Tony Award winners Alan Cumming, Kristin Chenoweth and Jane Krakowski. “It was really important that we have legit Broadway stars,” says Strong. “Walking around New York right now, all of the theatres are shuttered. And back when we filmed it, the theatres were shuttered. It’s sad to see Broadway looking this way.
But we got to make musical theatre during this time and it was really wonderful because Schmigadoon! is such a tribute to Broadway.”
For the uninitiated, the show’s title is a nod to the 1947 Broadway musical Brigadoon, which was turned into a Gene Kelly movie in 1954. Despite the pun, Paul is keen to point out that viewers don’t need to be familiar with Broadway history to enjoy the series. “The title encapsulates the idea that this is a parody and a funny look at musicals,” the showrunner admits. “But I think it works just as well for people who don’t know them because it’s an introduction. Key’s character Josh certainly helps in that respect, because he knows nothing about them. He hates musicals!”
“This is definitely a show where we’re not asking anybody to go in knowing everything that happens in Brigadoon or Oklahoma!,” confirms Strong. “But there are little nods of our heads, or Easter eggs, for the musicaltheatre audience. There’s something for everyone.” Adam Tanswell
SCHMIGADOON! STARTS ON APPLE TV+ ON 16 JULY.