Schmigadoon!

I stumbled across this show one night flipping through streaming services. I have always been a fan of Cecily Strong and still miss her in SNL so...why not watch this strange show called 'Schmigadoon!' I loved it from the very beginning! I have always been a big fan of musicals...the more showy and over-the-top the better and this show starts out strong and stays that way through both seasons. Some people might say it's satire but I think instead it pays homage to the shows of decades past. For the most part I always knew what musical they were stealing from during both seasons (and so glad they got in 'Phantom of the Opera' at the end with the chandelier finally landing on someone!).

The jokes are smart, the musical numbers are spot on and I love how Cecily Strong admits that as a size 12 she can't compete with the skinny girls but...there she is...singing and dancing and showing them all how it's done.

Loved Patrick Martin in 'Spirited' and I hope he's found a home on Apple TV.

My favorite part was watching the actors change characters between season 1 and season 2 with Dove Cameron and Alan Cumming as my favorites.

I can only hope that there is a season 3...

The intelligence of this show is encased in the fact that it's unmistakably a musical with song and dance, and yet is also a parody of musicals. There may be a dark side that emerges only at the end of the first episode, but until that develops, it's a story filled with amusing ironies. Two of the songs in the first episode are clearly meant to resonate Rogers and Hammerstein musicals. The opening song is a riff on Oklahoma and another a riff on Carousel. But they are at one and the same time well-written and well-rehearsed numbers, and yet are funny because of their self-conscious acknowledgment that they are musicals. Hard to explain, perhaps, but you'll see what I mean when you watch. Parts are laugh out loud funny.

I liked the first season and am absolutetly loving the second.

In the first season we get some really oldy musical vibes from the 1930s to 1950s. Falling in love with no sense what so ever ... and lots of frills, pastels, and plastic trees. And what else would you want?

In the second season we find our selfs in more reasent years and musicals. Like Hair (70s) and Sweeny Todd (00s). It becomes a weird mix of the dark streets of 1800s London, the smoke filled lokales of 1920s Chicago, and all the flower-power you can handle from the 1970s (actually a bit more than that, to be frank).

The songs and dancing numbers are (at least in my opinion) well written, and well performed by the actors.

If you plan to watch this, do so with an open mind.

This is not meant to be a masterpiece. But to entertain and make us laugh.

Which I think the creators and the cast succeeds perfectly.

Was I a theater kid? Yes! And this show was just the kind of funloving meta musical sitcom my little musical soul needed. It's filled to the brim with great actors (and great singers), the songs are beautifully written and the story is different but still recognizable. If you don't like musicals, this probably isn't for you...But if you do, than OMG this is sooooo good... It does border on parodying the musical greats rather than pay homage, but I honestly don't mind.

Either you like musical theater or you don't. If you do, then Schmigadoon - the town and the series - is for you. If not, stay away. The musical parodies are clever, though obviously derivative; the production numbers are appropriately over the top. At a few moments, it's a little too cute and self-aware for its own good, but for the most part, don't ask why, just enjoy. As the couple trapped in a Broadway fantasy while trying to revive their flagging relationship, Keegan-Michael Key and Cecily Strong play their parts well, but the real standouts are Broadway veterans like Alan Cumming and Kristen Chenowitz playing it for all the Camp it's worth.

Halfway through, it's not hard to guess where this is likely going. Maybe there will be surprises, but even if it ends crossing that bridge hand in hand, it will more than enough fun.