Schimgadoon came crashing into our world and showed musical fans a new way to love some of their favorite shows. For me, it changed how I felt about the “Golden Age” of musicals and was a beautiful showcase of the power and grounded comedy Cecily Strong constantly brought to Saturday Night Live. Tying that in with the brilliance of Keegan-Michael Key, musical legends like Kristin Chenoweth and Alan Cumming, and the Broadway stars Aaron Tveit and Ariana DeBose, the show really just was a powerhouse.
It introduced many audiences to Dove Cameron (who played Betsy), who was big on things like Descendants, but Schmigadoon let her show a different side to her acting. And it did seem like we might not get a second season because the show was all about Josh (Key) and Melissa (Strong) finding their love for each other again. Season 2, though, brings new challenges for the couple who are desperate to find their happiness again and they think it all leads back to Schimigadoon.
Season 2 is described as follows: “Having found true love in the town of Schmigadoon, season two of “Schmigadoon!” will find Josh (Keegan-Michael Key) and Melissa (Cecily Strong) in Schmicago, the reimagined world of ’60s and ’70s musicals. The second season of Apple’s broadly acclaimed comedy will include new original musical numbers from co-creator and executive producer Cinco Paul.”
And the trailer gives us a hint at some of the musicals we can see being references in the second season…
This era of musical
Look, I’m very excited about it for a number of reasons. A big one being that these are the musicals I actually like. I am not a huge fan of the “golden age” of musicals because most of them tend to have elements that did not age well and yes, we can stage them differently to make them work (the recent revival of Oklahoma! serves as a stunning example) but that shouldn’t have to be the case. And the musicals that season 2 will tackle are arguably some of the best around.
In the trailer and promo images, we can see clear references to some of the musicals they’re taking on. Ariana DeBose (pictured above) is obviously a reference to the Kander and Ebb musical Cabaret. There are call-outs to shows like Pippin, Hair, Chicago, and of course Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street with Cumming and his butcher knife.
This is precisely the kind of second season I wanted from this show—not just a rinse and repeat of the same place with similar nods to musicals of the same “golden age” era, but moving into the next era of musicals entirely. This also gives me hope that we might get a third season based in the “rock musical” era that started with Rent and went into shows like Spring Awakening and beyond.
This trailer has me so excited for what Schmigadoon season 2 has in store for us!
(Featured image: Apple TV+)
