As I mentioned last time, 2021 stands to be a golden age for the movie musical. With close to a dozen major releases coming out between now and December, those looking for a new tune to hum will not be in short supply. I’m sure that with the return of live theater also in the near potential future, I will have plenty of material to check out, pressing play and dancing around my living room as I fantasize about the various scenes that could play out. However, there is one area that deserves a bit more credit for chugging along in the shadows. I’m talking about something that you could watch right now and get a nice quick fix for those of you who are melody minded.
I’m talking about TV musicals. No, not the live events that have largely remained dormant (The Grinch notwithstanding). There are series out there that have risen up in recent months and turned the format into something more episodic. Peacock in particular has taken up the mantle with many of their series centering around music in some capacity (Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, Girls5Eva, We Are Lady Parts, and Mr. Corman to name a few). However, if you want to get to the heart of what they’re doing to revive the movie musical, look no further than the delightful Schmigadoon!
As some have already picked up on, Schmigadoon! derives its name from the 1947 musical Brigadoon by the great duo Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. That should be enough to give audiences a sense of what this show is going to tackle. While I’m not familiar with the original show, the choice to make this series deconstruct classic movie musical tropes is a brilliant idea. The times have changed immensely since the days of Lerner & Loewe or even the more popular Rodgers & Hammerstein. The composers who defined The American Songbook for decades may still have a few fun songs, but what exactly are they saying? Can they be fun AND problematic?
The story starts on a couples’ retreat where Keegan-Michael Key and Cecily Strong are trying to rekindle their relationship. At first, nothing seems all that wrong. This is a minor patch-up that most couples need to have at some point. In the real world one day, they go for a hike where they hear church bells – itself an odd sound for being in the woods. The journey leads to a magical transportation to Schmigadoon: a fantastical landscape with gorgeous animated matte paintings and everyone dressed period appropriate. Say the right words and they’ll break into a song about how delicious breakfast is. Even the titular song that welcomes Key and Strong to this world feels reminiscent of the theme for “Oklahoma!”
This is where the heart of the series begins to take form. Everyone in Schmigadoon is earnestly committed to this over-the-top tone, where Broadway stars like Kristen Chenoweth, Alan Cumming, Jane Krakowski, and Aaron Tveit (a.k.a. the only person that’s already won a Tony from last year) among others have accents as big as their heart. From Key and Strong’s standpoint, they are strange. They constantly comment on aspects that confuse them, wondering how anyone could desire to break out into song and dance over the most mundane topics. Given that Key had an endearing turn in The Prom (2020), it’s nice to see him playing a subversive role where he’s eagerly trying to escape this fantasy only to discover that it may be a bit more difficult.
Schmigadoon! isn’t just a fish out of water story meant to mock the theater kids. The fantasy in some ways reflects a disconnect between Key and Strong’s own relationship. What initially seems stable begins to have holes poked in them. They cannot return home without their true love… so why can’t they leave? It’s enough of insecurity that unravels, even finding them unable to agree on whether the song numbers are fun or just downright obnoxious. There’s so much subtext in the humor, and it’s only made better by the fact that creator Barry Sonnenfeld has hired a talented cast that knows how to do choreography. The show is full of genuine spectacle and toe-tapping numbers that perfectly capture a balance of humor and commentary.
It should be noted that while Key and Strong are the central characters, the series takes time to explore tropes through the lens of various supporting characters. There’s Cumming as Mayor Menlove who, as his name suggests, is a closeted homosexual and confides his secrets in Strong about his struggles to find love. There’s a Seven Brides for Seven Brothers parody in Dove Cameron’s Betsy, who befriends Key in a state of childlike innocence. Everyone is looking for love, and the campier the better. Of course, nobody outdoes Chenoweth in the camp department, going so big that she blocks out the sun. With magnificent costume work, everything is pitch perfect, and the desire to find something real in the artifice is itself a nice commentary on musicals as a form of escapism and what that truly means.
While this show doesn’t quite capture the highs of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, there is enough heart to make the six episodes a worthwhile watch. Whereas most shows would just wink at the thought of how silly stagecraft is, Schmigadoon! decides to go further and acknowledge how fun it is. It’s a show that knows how to throw in a loving Carousel number and manage to make it impact the plot. The instrumentation and singing in the song are actually very good. Everyone is putting in the effort that greatly enhances the experience. More than anything, it’s nice to see that Broadway stars have used their unfortunate downtime to create art that speaks to why the arts always should matter and how it’s changed over time. It may not be as exciting as sitting in a theater watching a Lerner & Loewe classic onstage, but it’s close enough.
As I perused various streaming services looking for a new show to watch, I stumbled upon a show that ended up being very similar, albeit targeted to a different type of audience. It may not seem that way at first, but Netflix’s Centaurworld is another TV musical series that deconstructs tropes when an outsider enters a fantastical world that’s full of vibrant animation and brilliantly over the top music. Also, there’s a solid amount of Broadway pedigree in it that elevates any of the cheese into a fine delicatessen.
For me at least, one of the hardest selling points was the animation. It is intentionally created as something surreal, where the characters are cartoonish, where the eyes have giant pupils, the voices squeak with a cutesiness, and it plays into soft girlish styles that honestly seem deranged. It reminded me more of an [adult swim] show or something adjacent like The Midnight Gospel than a kids show, and yet once you dig into it you’ll realize how endearing and clever it is, joining the ranks of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and The Owl House as great modern animated fantasy for the outsider in all of us.
At the center of the story is Horse, a war horse who accidentally is transported to Centaurworld. With the help of an eccentric supporting cast, she must get back to “the real world” where her loving master is waiting for her. It’s a quest story where they follow a rainbow-colored trail, needing to interact with several Shaman to pick up advice and tools on how to advance. Since this is a kids' show, there are moral lessons along the way in which the team must learn to work together and put aside their egos. Of course, there’s some confrontational and gross-out humor attached, adding deviant touches that put it in the camp of shows like Adventure Time where to call them absurd is to do the bare minimum.
Known for Orange is the New Black, lead star Kimiko Glenn is essentially the reason to watch. With a resume that includes a great turn in the musical Waitress, she acts with the exuberance that makes Horse have a false sense of confidence. The constant undermining allows for some great voice acting, where she gets to scream in ways that are authoritative but not always intimidating. Of course, the real reason to watch is for the music that the cast knocks out of the park every time. The songs often have more nuance lyric-wise than Schmigadoon! and have these great animation sequences that add a twinge of personality. Given that Horse has more of a realistic design compared to the Centaurworld cast, it helps to create an interesting, sometimes hallucinatory dissonance that builds to something greater.
Yes, this is a series about the journey, where each episode takes viewers into an interesting new land of wonder. Sometimes it’s merely to deconstruct fantasy tropes while others have genuine character development. Among the supporting cast are Broadway legends like Lea Salonga, Renee Elise Goldsberry, and Brian Stokes Mitchell adding their own eccentric personalities to the mix. While this may come across initially as novelty, the show slowly begins to unveil a deeper emotional core of Horse and her peers. There are personal subplots about doubt and insecurity that become informed by the journey and later the songs. It finds a need to deal with real emotions as Centaurworld tries to determine what it means to be loved and successful and does a decent job of getting there.
Centaurworld is more juvenile at times than Schmigadoon! (there is a whole joke involving glue that is gross) and visually may be a challenge for audiences to get on board with. It definitely appeals more to those who like animated fantasy, willing to accept their animation a little unconventional. Even the various styles inform the internal struggles of the characters, though they may be weird to look at. Still, those who can embrace its eccentric giddiness will find plenty to like – including a fairly strong songbook that plays with cutesy fantasy tones and finds something more complex to explore within them. While it’s also a meta-commentary, it’s less dedicated to breaking down the absurd tropes and just having a good time.
While neither of these series is necessarily reinventing the musical, their place in the modern canon is greatly welcomed and has been a joy to watch. By deconstructing the tropes, each series is better able to understand why we turn to them in hopes of escapism. In a time where the future seems uncertain, there’s nothing like trying to find a song to carry us through the darkness, looking for the light on the other side. Whether it’s trying to find love or self-worth, these shows have you covered. Dive in and enjoy the absurd. Knowing that everyone is having a good time only makes the concluding success all the more rewarding.
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