Ah Schmigadoon!
A few years ago, when it first came out on Apple TV, then called Apple TV+, I was in the right place, at the right time and in the right frame of mind. That is, the show had just debuted to roaring acclaim, I had an active subscription to the streaming service and I happen to be a big ol' musical theater nut. So, perfection trifecta, right?
Except when I started to watch it, with each passing scene, all I found myself doing was passing judgement. "Oh, I wouldn't have cast them." "Oh, that mashup is too awkward." "Well, that's a lazy composition." "You call that an homage?" Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. (To quote from "The King and I") I just thought that I knew better and could have come up with a more creative parody mashup of beloved musicals from the Golden Age of Broadway Musicals.
So not even a full episode in, I clicked my remote and never came back. Despite the renewal of a second season, despite the continued praise of both critics and fans, I forgot all about it, like some magical village in the woods accessed by way of a mysterious stone bridge, I crossed back over into our real gritty world and never looked back.
Well, this week I decided to step back across that old bridge and give it another go. I rewatched from the beginning, continued on, and watched more and more. Was I still critical? Sure. But you know what? The more I watched, the more things I'd been dismissive about made a bit more sense and before you know it...
I fell in love with Schimagadoon!
I think that's what that fucking little Martin Short leprechaun did to me. He banished me to the real world, having to endure it for a few years until I could come back and learn to appreciate the genius of this show. Yes, some of the songs are hit or miss, but some are really spot on, especially some of the numbers in the second season Schmicago!
I'm still on the fence about the casting for some characters, particularly the mains, Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key. But primarily Kristin Chenoweth, Alan Cumming, Aaron Tevit and Dove Cameron make up for them.
The mashups in both seasons are really clever and I found myself always wanting more. The plots are kooky but they have to be, don't they? I especially liked the second season. I'm really sad Apple TV didn't pick up its third season, it would have focused on the themes of musicals of the 80s and 90s and it would have been a hoot.
This is also a rare case of a musical theater performance, originally made for TV, now actually running on Broadway as its own musical theatrical production. So yeah, it's that good. I guess I was wrong those few years back.
Well thanks little Martin Short fella for showing me the error of my arrogance and making me come back to Schimagadoon!