My Review - Schmigadoon !
Series 2. Welcome to Schmicago
Streaming on Apple +
My Rating. 10/10
For lovers of Musicals and I'm in definitely in that club I give Scmicago a perfect score for supreme talent , Originality and Production.
I loved series One which was also an affectionate nostalgic homage to musicals of the 1950's such as The Music Man, Oklahoma, Brigadoon and gave it an 8 although in hindsight it should be a 9 for originality.
Series 2 really pleasantly surprised me by departing entirely from the nostalgic chocolate box musical tributes of the 1950's to now pay homage to the darker raunchier musical theatre of the 1970s with shows like Chicago, Cabaret ,Pippin, Hair , Jesus Christ Superstar , Godspell Promises Promises Sweet Charity, Dream Girls, Annie and Sweeney Todd .
The story opens with last seasons adorable couple Josh Skinner and Melissa Gimble again perfectly cast with two talented stars Keegan- Michael Key and Cecily Stong who are struggling to find any optimism in their lives in New York .
After leaving the sunshine flowers and sweet inhabitants of Schmigadoon who sing a happy tune whenever they feel afraid the seriousness of life and it's challenges have caught up with our couple.
Josh and Melissa decide to try and cross the bridge again to return to the musical world of Schmigadoon where they were so happy only to find that they have landed in Schmicago to a very different musical vibe .
Greeted by The Narrator (Titus Burgess )who beckons them to leave their field of flowers and join us for magic,mystic exotic experiences . Schmicago is a darker world of city lights , dark corners in nightclubs, plus a few very seedy characters like Octavius Kratt the proprietor of the infamous Kratt Night Club.
The inhabitants of Schmicago are a much more promiscuous and diverse population promoting an environment of free love crime and stark reality compared to peaceful sleepy Schmigadoon.
At first Melissa is horrified but Josh is intrigued and they decide to stay and experience this new musical world.
They meet some great characters like Jenny Banks ( Sally Bowles ) in a great performance from Dove Cameron ,Miss Codwell ( Mrs Lovett) deliciously played by Kristin Chenoweth ,Dooley Blight ( Sweeney Todd) also performed with perfection by Robert Cumming .
Then there's Aaron Tveit as Topher (Pippin) who is on a quest of searching searching for his true self . Then there's the cell block lawyer who tries to get Josh acquitted when he gets wrongfully accused of murder Bobbie Flanagan ( Billy Flynn) played by the wonderful Jane Krakowski .
The Emcee of the Kratt Night Club is Ariana DeBose in a totally different role from her Academy Award Winning performance as Anita in West Side Story.
Her Dream Girls inspired number titled Its Over is sensational. As is Ann Harada a Broadway star of great shows like Avenue Q who plays the seedy talent manager of the Kratt Club Madam Frau who gives our heroine Melissa Gimble her big show biz break. Ann has a great number in the second half titled There's Always a Twist a different take on Burt Bacharach's great song Promises Promises.
Just about the entire cast in both series have returned with very different identities in Schmicago and most are Broadway stage musical stars or
"gypsies" an affectionate term used for the members of the chorus, the ensemble, the singers and dancers who travel from show to show to show. They're the body and soul of musical theatre. What's a Broadway musical without big ensemble numbers and there's plenty in Schmicago.
Don't think for a moment that the Schmigadoon / Schmicargo series is just a collection of songs and production numbers from musicals that are constantly revived on Broadway .
On the contrary Schmigadoon is a completely original love letter to those shows of yesteryear created by the "Despicable Me " creators Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio with completely new song lyrics by Cinco Paul and music by Australian born composer Christopher Willis a film score composer and musicologist specialising in eighteenth Century music .
The Plot line of crossing over from one world of existence to another used in each series of Schmigadoon has been used in countless movie and stage scripts like The Wizard of Oz ,Brigadoon, Harry Potter ,Back to the Future ,The Time Travellers Wife , Midnight in Paris ,and The Golden Compass to name a few. So the originality of Schmigadoon lies in its creative team who use that alternate universe technique for the purpose of saying thank you the great musical composers and creative teams by not imitating them but by adding a new dimension to their work .
The influences are unmistakable for anyone who loves musicals in Schmicago we have tributes to the work of Stephen Sondheim ( Sweeney Todd , Company )Burt Bacharach, ( Promises Promises) Kander and Ebb, ( Chicago, Cabaret) Cy Coleman, ( Sweet Charity) Stephen Schwartz (Pippin) Andrew Lloyd Webber( Jesus Christ Superstar) Charles Strouse (Annie) and Galt MacDermot (Hair).
There is already talk of a third series which if I may suggest be titled Schmigauxfolles as the only great Broadway composer who hasn't been featured so far is the late and great Broadway composer Jerry Herman .
There's a lot of plot scope with Jerry Herman's great legacy of musicals like La Cage auxfolles ,Hello Dolly ,Dear World ,Mame ,Mack and Mable ,Milk and Honey and the Grand Tour .
Schmigauxfolles could have Josh and Melissa crossing over again to another musical World set in St Tropez France run by an Aunty Mame type larger than life character who runs a nightclub featuring spectacular female impersonators and headlined by the fabulous Dolores Levi .
I'll leave the rest of the plot line to the Schmigadoon creators Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio but hope they include a Hello Dolly type waiters gallop number and the madwomen of Chailott great characters that include the acidic Constance, the girlish Gabrielle, and the ethereal Josephine in a tea party scene as crazy as the Mad hatter's in Alice in Wonderland.
I'm getting carried away it must be Show Fever but I do hope we see a third season of Schmigadoon and to quote a much used line from Sondheim's The ladies Who Lunch in Scmicargo said by
Karen Konoval who is just billed as the Female Barfly " I'll Drink to That."
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