I binged the first two seasons of Apple's "Schmigadoon!" over two days. Each season is only six episodes, and the episodes are only around thirty minutes apiece, so this wasn't difficult. "Schmigadoon!" is a series I kept putting off, being wary of the first season's aggressively wholesome vibes. However, when the second season started airing, and I finally got it into my head that this wasn't just a musical parody show, but a show that was a [i]parody of musicals[/i], I was onboard.
Josh (Keegan-Michael Key) and Melissa (Cecily Strong) are two New York doctors in love, who go on a backpacking retreat together to work out some relationship tensions. They wind up in the strange little town of Schmigadoon, where everyone behaves as if they're in a Golden Age 1950s musical, breaking out into song and dance numbers at every opportunity. When Josh and Melissa discover they're stuck there, and can only leave when they find true love, their relationship is further jeopardized.
Created by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, with every episode in the first season directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, and with a ton of Broadway vets in the cast, "Schmigadoon!" takes the assignment of being a musical pastiche very seriously. The songs are catchy, the performances are keen, and the production design has a wonderful look of unreality about it, aping the look of the old MGM spectaculars. I've seen a good amount of musicals from this era, enough to pick out some of the references to specific shows, songs, and characters. The title comes from "Brigadoon," and the various townsfolk share a lot in common with the ones found in "The Music Man," "Oklahoma," "Carousel," and "The Sound of Music." You have the insightful schoolmarm Emma (Ariana DeBose), stern Doc Lopez (Jaime Camil), the gregarious Mayor Menlove (Alan Cumming), the meek Reverend Layton (Fred Armisen), his uptight wife Mildred (Kristen Chenoweth), the rapscallion carnie Danny (Aaron Tveit), and the teenage temptress Betsy (Dove Cameron). Martin Short also shows up for a cameo as the leprechaun from "Finian's Rainbow."
Josh, who doesn't like musicals, and Melissa, who does, find themselves inhabiting new roles and getting caught up in some familiar plots as they search for love. A lot of the show's humor comes from the two of them pointing out and commenting on the absurdity of the tropes they see, and occasionally warping them to their own ends. Melissa, for instance, delivers a cheerful sex-ed lesson to two expectant parents with a tune very reminiscent of "Do-Re-Mi" from "The Sound of Music." She later shuts down a dream sequence ballet before it can get underway, grumbling that nobody likes them. However, "Schmigadoon!" also plays the love story of Josh and Melissa straight. Most episodes begin with a flashback to important moments in their relationship, and we're definitely supposed to root for them to end up together.
I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who isn't a fan of musicals, because there are a lot of musical numbers in the show, put together by people who clearly love all the over-the-top theatricality that they're making fun of. My biggest complaint with the first season is that they don't go big enough, or give enough of the individual performers the chance to shine the way they do in the second. There are plenty of big set pieces and solos, like Kristin Chenoweth singing "Tribulation," the "Schmigadoon!" version of "Trouble" from "The Music Man," but her villain character is so dour, it takes a lot of the fun out of it. Jane Krakowski shows up for two episodes to play a romantic rival for Melissa, and disappears just as she's starting to get interesting.
I like the first season of "Schmigadoon!" fine as sweet, feel-good entertainment, just the way I like the musicals that it's lampooning. However, the second season is such an improvement, I can't help but think of these initial episodes as necessary setup for far better to come. But more on that next time.
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