The Kennedy Center continues their 2024-2025 season of their incomparable Broadway Center Stage series with a production that takes the prestigious company to a new level. Not only have taken what started as a glorified “concert” series and built it into the most impressive regional repertory company on the east coast, they have transferred one of their megahits, 2023’s impressive Spamalot to an admirable Broadway run which garnered a Tony nomination for Leslie Kritzer as the Lady of the Lake. This week, the organization takes things to a new level, debuting a world premiere of a new work that has all the potential to be the next big thing, Cinco Paul’s musical valentine Schmigadoon!, adapted from the successful Apple TV+ series. And that single step is a great leap in all the right directions for the Kennedy Center
For those not familiar with its TV predecessor, Paul (who did music, lyics, and book for the clever show) is obviously a musical fanatic, and has developed a richly intelligent musical that simultaneously skewers while paying homage to the golden age musicals of American theatre. Drawing stock characters from virtually every 40s-50s landmark musical and mixing them together Into the Woods style amid references from box lunch socials to the Wells Fargo Wagon, imagine a land where Ado Annie and her overprotective Pa from Oklahoma, Eulalie MacKechnie Shinn, Marian Paroo, and her little brother Winthrop from The Music Man, Billy Bigelow from Carousel, Og the Leprechaun from Finian’s Rainbow, and the Baroness Elsa von Schraeder from The Sound of Music all coexisted in the mythical land of Brigadoon, and you have a rough inkling of the foolery and fun you’re in for. For the non-musical minded like Josh, it’s the musical theatre equivalent of a Marvel Universe movie. Well, maybe more like a Justice League because the characters are all 50+ years old.
The framing device concerns a pair of jaded New York doctors Melissa (Sara Chase), and Josh (a brilliantly restrained Alex Brightman) who, after a concession machine meet-cute and a whirlwind romance (hilariously staged by Director/Choreographer Christopher Gatelli aided by some clever set pieces by Scenic Designer Scott Pask), find that six years later the flame is dying, and they take a vacation at a retreat to attempt to rekindle that spark. Getting lost and separated from the rest of the couples, they cross a benign-enough looking bridge where on the other side they find themselves stuck in a throwback rural community celebrating their town of Schmigadoon in song (“Oh, it must be something they do for tourists, like Colonial Williamsburg!”, Melissa figures). But after enough cornpone references, (and a production number that begged for audience participation, dedicated to the town’s infamous “Corn Puddin’”), as well as a primer on the laws of the land by a mischievous singing leprechaun (a fun cameo by Kevin Del Aguilla) the couple deduce that they are actually in a magical land that operates within the context of a literal musical of the era, from which they can’t depart until they find true love. This single fact of having to operate in the rules of musicals may just be the final disagreement that, complicated by the possibility that that love may not necessarily come from each other, tears the couple apart. (An inspired number lifted from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying‘s “Been a Long Day” Elevator Song, “Lovers’ Spat”, wherein their actual lovers’ spat is punctuated by a whole town chorus interjecting “And he said….” and “And she said….” truly doesn’t help.)
Because the witty piece walks delicately down the line of spoofing musical theatre for all their nonsensical parameters and writing a valentine to the artform and all the beauty it brings the soul, we get the dueling perspectives from the point of view of both outsiders. Melissa, who loves musicals, knows the rules (“When emotions become too much to talk about, you sing. And when they become too much to sing about, you dance!”) and plays into the game, even improvising her own verse to “Corn Puddin’” as well as contributing to several musical numbers herself. Josh can’t stand musicals and sarcastically points out their annoying contrivances. Both excell.
Chase (The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Great Gadsby) is delightful as she lives out her musical fantasy in the idyllic new town. She takes full advantage of her interim freedom, having an affair with the town “rapscallion”, carny bad boy Danny Bailey (Ryan Vasquez), whose theme song “You Can’t Tame Me” she quickly makes passe, and, despite being a woman, gets an actual job (although only as a very overqualified nurse) with the beguilingly handsome town physician, Doc Lopez. She confidently navigates her place as a modern woman stuck in an old-fashioned town with even more old-fashioned musical ideas, but happily plays the game as she struggles to figure out her future with Josh.
As Josh, typical force of nature Brightman (BCS and Broadway Spamalot, Beetlejuice, The Shark is Broken) is hysterical switching gears and being the voice of reason in a reasonless world, expertly playing against type as the straight man to a cast full of stock musical zanies. Brightman shows us that he is a master comedian in any form of comedy, from manic and zany to sarcasm and deadpan. Brightman is one of the most versatile leading men in theatre today. He gets laughs from dealing with a libidinous and very flexible Betsy McDonough (McKenzie Kurtz), while on the run form her gun-toting father after a clandestine picnic in the park. He even flirts with sweetness when he encounters schoolmarm Emma Tate (Isabelle McCalla) and her speech-impaired little brother–and Schmigadoon town cryer–Carson (an adorable Ayaan Diop).
The all-star Broadway supporting cast, all except for Ann Harada (Avenue Q, 9 to 5, Into the Woods), is completely different from the all-star Broadway supporting cast in the TV series, but of equal star power. As maritally unsatisfied Mayor’s Wife Florence Menlove, Harada shows off her subtle comic expertise delivering a song about her fate with a title that mashes up two period standards from Show Boat and Carousel, “He’s a Queer One, That Man o’ Mine”. Brad Oscar (The Producers, Something Rotten) brings tender humor to his characterization of Harada’s husband, the repressed Mayor, as he comes to grips with his inner feelings in “Somewhere Love is Waiting for You”, a duet full of more double entendres that he shares with Kevin De Aguila (Some Like It Hot, Frozen, Yellow Face) as a gentle and sensitive Reverand with secrets of his own he also keeps from his tea-totaling, overbearing wife Mildred (Emily Skinner).
Isabelle McCalla (BCS Footloose, The Prom, Shucked) is strong and beautiful as the schoolmarm and subject of town gossip Emma Tate. As she begins to fall for Josh when he opens some doors (literally, in his guise as the new town handyman), he gains extra credit for helping break through to her quiet, bullied little brother who she has raised since their parents had passed. She also leads a showstopping classroom tap number (With All Your Heart) backed by a chorus of students (whom Brightman feels necessary to point out, “you know you’re all adults”). Ayaan Diop, in his professional debut, is perfectly sweet as the tongue-tied Carson Tate. Diop is a gifted child actor who legitimately steals the show from his professional costars on many occasion as his confidence builds due to boosts form Josh.
McKenzie Kurtz (The Heart of Rock and Roll, Wicked, Frozen) is great fun as stereotypical farmer’s daughter Betsy McDonough who has a way with a recipe as well as with the men. After her jubilant version of “Corn Puddin’” and peddling her pies as well as her wares at “The Picnic Basket Auction”, she puts the breaks on her first date with Josh, informing him she’s “Not That Kinda Girl”. Turns out she may also not be that old a girl, which when people get the wrong idea, poses a dangerous threat for him with her angry father and his gun.
Ryan Vasquez (The Notebook, Water for Elephants, The Outsiders) is a blast as bravura he-man from the carny world Danny Bailey. But his poor man’s Billy Bigelow doesn’t run the Carousel, just the Tunnel of Love, even if he guarantees in song you’ll “Enjoy the Ride”, which the ladies generally do. He pops up periodically to milk more laughs out of his wannabe roustabout persona, and his impromptu attempts at a “Soliloquy” is as funny as it is outrageous.
Javier Muñoz (Hamilton, In the Heights) as Doc Lopez is charming as Melissa’s rural attempt at new love, even if she has to dial back her knowledge and abilities and take a back seat to him, conforming to the sexist views of small-town musical folks. She gets some great mileage out of her role as the nurse with an impromptu song about the musical Do Re Mis of reproduction to a confused unwed mother and her “sea man” boyfriend, and she herself becomes a willing ingenue of the piece as she allows herself to fall for the handsome doctor in an attempt to find her evasive “true love”.
But the show belongs to Emily Skinner (The Cher Show, Suffs, Side Show) who devours the scenery and everything else in her as the Bible-thumping Wife of a Preacherman, Mildred Layton. The self-appointed town guardian of morality and temperance, she takes big swings with the clever script and hits them all out of the park, especially her second act showstopper “Tribulation”, a rapid-fire patter song that plays as if Eulalie Mackechnie Shinn had been allowed to deliver her own reprise of “Trouble” in The Music Man. Skinner has one of the biggest voices in American Theatre and pushes all the vocal energy of the company in a supporting role that is really a star turn. And she does it all completely different than fellow diva Kristen Chenowith on Apple for a fresh take of the even louder and more over-the-top villainess of the piece.
It would be remiss not to mention a showstopping cameo appearance by Angel Reda as the bombshell Countess Gabrielle von Blerkom, the fiancée whom the lovestruck Doc forgot to mention (who also may or may not be a Nazi). To Melissa’s disbelief (“You show up this late and get a song?!”), she lays down the big 11:00 showstopper “I Always Always Never Get My Man”, a vampy—and very leggy—torch song introduced by perpetual vamp Jake Krakowski in the TV show, which takes its cues from Cole Porter’s iconic “Always True to You, Darling, in My Fashion”.
As usual, the designers of the show all equally leave their marks. Scenic Designer Scott Pask creates a soft-opening prologue of Josh and Melissa’s meet-cute at the hospital vending machine that contrasts the massive scope of his main set full of bright colors featuring an old-fashioned period hand-painted backdrop of colorful small town staple buildings—the school, the church, the farms and Victorian mini-mansions—as well as some fly-in greenery for the forests outside the border of the magical bridge. Everything else is managed with precision ease of bringing on furniture elements that suggest enough of the settings to make it all flow. Lighting Designer Jen Schriever illuminates everything with strong, saturated, colorful daylight contrasted with shadows and nightfall in the forest.
Costume Designer Linda Cho does an exceptional job of adapting all the already-perfect TV costumes for the stage, with more embellishment and more detail to make everything read better, and make bigger statements, from stage. She adopts the palettes and looks from the TV series and makes them way more visually persuading for the new medium. Haley Parcher’s Sound Design is, as expected, flawless and clear, as we are usually spoiled with for all other houses by the Kennedy Center.
Musical Director Steven Malone does a perfect job executing Doug Besterman & Mike Morris’ orchestrations to give the perfect salute to all the big-time old-fashioned, golden-era showstoppers we’re hearing underneath what we’re hearing. There’s just the right touches of the aforementioned “Trouble”, “Always True to You….”, as well as an unexpected “Do Re Mi” , a very obvious hint of “Shall We Dance”, for those who know, and the title song from Oklahoma. All the orchestrations and arrangements are true to the genre, or at least revivals of them, that the score feels as genuine as if it came directly from the era it lovingly exploits.
Yet again, the Kennedy center has hired a director whose vision is perfectly in sync with the mission of their show. Christopher Gattelli (Death Becomes Her, The Cher Show, Newsies, Altar Boyz) knows exactly what he’s doing as Director and Choreographer. Having served as Choreographer of the Apple series, he has a firm grasp on the look, feel, and style of the show, and executes it perfectly. He trusts the material, both the original sources and the spoofs of them, and blends them into a loving dual-level joke. He capably walks Paul’s line of simultaneous spoof and valentine, and somehow embraces mindless entertainment that is likewise also smart on the verge of brilliant. Also, by blowing it up for stage, he profits from the material returning to the very source it is paying tribute. While there are definitely adequate screen musicals of all these classics that can be interpreted through the TV spoofs, the return to the live stage to salute them as they were originally envisioned multiplies the success of all his hard work. While musical theatre today tends to edge into many other territories–more weighty to pretentious pieces that deal with tragedy, politics, and may other “message” topics on every -ism there is out there–here, to borrow another classic musical moment, is a chance to start at the very beginning—a very good place to start for this viciously funny salute to the gentle, more innocent, and genuinely funny roots of theatrical humor that is so much appreciated right now. It just feels good to laugh. And, aside, to resurrect a debate from a former review, Gattelli manages to tell the story of an entire television series in the same amount of time it took another acclaimed, high-profile director to tell Act one of his story…
Broadway post-Covid is faltering and I can envision a place for this doting throwback to simpler times going far beyond the Kennedy Center. This would make a very welcome transfer and I can only imagine the reception it deserves to receive in New York, with the benefit of it being a new piece, not a revival. But that’s down the road. In the meantime, my only regret is that I can’t come back next week and see Schmicago!, the even better received and arguably even more clever season 2 of the series—which, if all goes well, could be the first-ever Broadway musical sequel that equals or improves on the original (remember Bring Back Birdie? Annie 2? The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public? And stop it, Grease 2 people, you know you’re wrong too). And who knows, if this fantastic glorious love-fest of all things musical gets enough attention, maybe Apple or a rival network will come to their senses and grab up the sadly canceled season 3: Into the Schmoods and all the humor the 80s musicals could mine. The Kennedy Center has latched onto something with great growth potential here. If you can’t get down there this week and cross that bridge before it’s gone forever, something tells me you will have future chances. And, Kennedy Center, if that mischevous little Leprechan is a cryptic sign of anything more, there could be a pot of gold somewhere at the end of this musical journey for you too. Much thanks and praise again for a job masterfully well done.
Now, back to Schmicago!2026? Just a thought……
Photos courtesy of Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes with one intermission.
Schmigadoon! currently plays through February 9, 2025, at the Eisenhower Theatre at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2700 F Street NW, Washington DC 20566. For tickets, call the box office at 202.467.4600 or purchase online