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New York (AP) – A pair of modern day hikers come out of the woods and enter a town where they are greeted by something strange: suspicious and friendly residents barging in a welcome song for a bunch of bangs of foot and knees.
“What is it and why does music come from everywhere?” Said one of the incredulous hikers. “It’s like ‘The Walking Dead’ is ‘Glee’ too.”
Thus begins the charming Apple TV + comedy “Schmigadoon! Which combines Cecily Strong with Keegan-Michael Key and finds hilarity in the clash between modern sensibilities and classic standards of Broadway musical theater.
“It is not a show that is aimed only at a musical audience. I love that it’s for the musical audience so much, but I think it’s special and I think it’s really, really funny and I think it’s really, really sweet, ”Strong said. “That way I think it can be for everyone. “
The town of Schmigadoon is stuck in the overly cheerful Technicolor era, where two hotel rooms cost $ 1 – unmarried couples should never sleep in a bed, of course – and residents suddenly sing corn pudding to the amazement of strangers. “Oh no. It’s a song. You just started another song,” Key’s character exclaims to his partner at one point.
The typical behavior of the apple-cheeked musicals of the 1940s and 1950s is muddled, such as when a resident turns his mate over and pats him on the back during a group dance number. “No, no, that’s not OK! Unless it’s consensual, ”says Strong’s character.
Cinco Paul, who co-created and co-wrote the series with Ken Daurio, said he loved old musicals but also knew they were often very problematic in places and wanted to explore the tension.
“I would love to be stuck in a musical city,” he says. “But I’m also hyper-aware of the things that just aren’t great about them. And so I wanted the show to highlight these things and have fun with them.
The creators managed to convince a bushel of Broadway stars to fly to Vancouver and self-quarantine for two weeks before joining the show, including Alan Cumming, Kristin Chenoweth, Aaron Tveit, Jane Krakowski, Ann Harada and Ariana. DeBose.
Cumming plays the mayor in the top hat, Chenowith is a bitter bitter from the Bible, Trevit is a rapscallion carnival worker, and Martin Short has a cameo as a leprechaun. The backpacking couple learn they can’t leave the Magic City until they find true love, straining their already shattered relationship.
The title is a joke about another village that was unaffected by the days of the Broadway musical “Brigadoon” and it spits out escape and naïve shows like “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” and “Hello,” Dolly! “
Lorne Michaels, an executive producer, says the genius of the show lies in re-examining strict gender, gender and racial roles after WWII without the show being overtly political, let alone offering plenty of songs and dances. .
“It’s a very light touch,” he said. “We are in a very difficult time right now, where people think it is enough to advocate for justice. And you say ‘Well, no. You have to entertain too.'”
The show’s writers also include Allison Silverman, Julie Klausner, Kate Gersten and Bowen Yang. Paul jokes that he picked people who “maybe have a little more poison pen than I do.” But “in the end, all of us in the room loved musicals so much and it turned out.”
The songs are also by Paul, who delved into the writing of composers like Frank Loesser and Richard Rodgers. But at first he didn’t like what came out, calling the first batch lazy.
“I needed to be harder on myself and try to really embody these songs, imitate them in a real and really authentic way,” he said. The aim was to “sound like they came from an unknown Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that has finally been revealed”.
Strong always laughs at them. “I think singing about corn pudding is ridiculous,” she says. “And then the girls and the boys split up and danced. It’s so ridiculous.
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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
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