Critics Mostly Wild About Schmigadoon!
The first season of the Apple TV+ cult series has been turned into a Broadway musical, which opened this past week on Broadway to mostly strong reviews. Does this set it up for a Tony award?
By Robert Nesti
Schmigadoon! opened on April 20 at the Nederlander Theatre. It is scheduled to run through September 6. It has a book, music and lyrics by Cinco Paul, adapted from his Apple TV+ series. It is directed and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli. For more information, visit it’s website:
Whether or not the largely positive critical response for Schmigadoon is going to propel to box office success has yet to be seen. And while the Tony Award nominations are revealed until May 8, but recently the Outer Circle Critics nominated it for eight awards: Best New Musical (against Two Strangers and The Lost Boys);Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Musical, Sara Chase; Outstanding Feature Performer in a Broadway Musical, Max Clayton; Outstanding Book of a Musical, Cinco Paul; Outstanding Choreograghy, Christopher Gattelli; Outstanding Orchestrations, Doug Besterman and Mike Morris; Outstanding Scenic Design, Scott Pask; and Outstanding Costume Design, Linda Cho.
The show was created by Cinco Paul as a loving send-up of Golden Age musicals that first appeared on AppleTV+ in 2021 in six episodes. It featured a starry cast of Broadway talent: Kristin Chenoweth, Alan Cumming, Ariana DeBose, Jane Krakowski, Martin Short, Aaron Tvett, Dove Cameron, and Ann Harada as citizens of the magical town of Schmigadoon that a pair of New Yorkers (Keegan-Michael Kay and Cecily Strong) wander into. In the town, everyone acts like they’re in a musical-comedy from the musical theater’s golden age (1943 – 1967) and sing songs that are parodies of tunes from Oklahoma!, Carousel, The Music Man, The Sound of Music, Finian’s Rainbow, and Brigadoon. A second season, Schmicago, parodied shows from the late-1960s to the late 1970s, including Sweeney Todd, Chicago, Pippin, Cabaret, Annie and Hair. The second season aired on Apple+TV in 2023, and featured most of the same cast.
As it turns out, there weren’t enough television viewers with the musical theater gene to support the show because AppleTV+ canceled despite Paul having completed a six-episode season that parodied musicals from the 1980s and 1990s, including Into The Woods, Les Miz, Cats, and Wicked.
In the Broadway version Paul condenses the show’s first season into a two-hour-plus musical. Sara Chase (Melissa) and Alex Brightman (Josh) play doctors enroute to a couples’ retreat who find themselves stuck in Shmigadoon. The Broadway version adds four numbers to Paul’s score, Christopher Gattelli, who choreographed the tv show, both choreographs and directs the stage version; and its ensemble cast includes Ana Gasteye, Ann Harada (reprising her tv role), Brad Oscar, Isabelle McCalla, Ivan Hernandez, Maulik Pancholy,Max Clayton, and McKenzie Kurtz.
Social media was largely positive, but the criticism fell under generational lines with older audience loving it for it being a love-letter to older musicals, with younger audiences finding this approach glazes over the more serious issues that recent revivals, such as Daniel Fisk’s dark Oklahoma! explore.
The notices below are arranged from most positive to most mixed.
Adam Feldman · Time Out New York ★★★★
Feldman awarded four stars and called the show a giddy love letter to old-school musical comedy, praising its catchy melodies, clever lyrics, and big joyous production numbers. He noted that under the protective cover of parody, the show delivers real pleasures — the affection for classic musical theater may not be unconditional, but the enjoyment is genuine. He also singled out director-choreographer Christopher Gattelli’s ability to showcase triple-threat performers and praised the duet “Enjoy the Ride” as a particular highlight.
Naveen Kumar · Variety
Kumar described the show as “all but irresistible” and praised leads Sara Chase and Alex Brightman for grounding the show amid the surrounding hijinks. He characterized Chase as a warm, wry powerhouse and Brightman as showing impressive range by going straight-faced as the sourpuss. Kumar also noted that creator Cinco Paul performs a dexterous trick — poking fun at the form’s tropes while keeping an unmistakably affectionate hand — and that the show’s concept of a portal through which to escape reality feels especially apt at this cultural moment.
Elisabeth Vincentelli · The New York Times
Vincentelli praised Gattelli’s direction as excelling in big ensemble numbers like “Corn Puddin’” (an Emmy winner in 2022) and “Cross That Bridge,” while also highlighting his skill at showcasing triple-threat performers who move fluidly among acting, singing, and dancing. She found particular pleasure in Isabelle McCalla’s performance and called the duet “Enjoy the Ride” a giddy highlight, noting that a possible wink to Bob Fosse was the elective cherry on an already delicious sundae.
Charles Isherwood · The Wall Street Journal
Isherwood acknowledged that the show cannot field the starry television cast — which included Kristin Chenoweth, Alan Cumming, and Ariana DeBose — but found the stage ensemble impeccable. He praised Gattelli’s nimbly paced direction and splashy, old-school choreography, and concluded that although the central joke is recycled repeatedly (more noticeable in full-length form than in the original half-hour episodes), the show celebrates the musicals it evokes with as much spirited conviction as it lampoons them. Parody, he wrote, is in this case the sincerest form of flattery.
Bob Verini · New York Stage Review ★★★★★
Verini delivered the most enthusiastic notice of the batch, awarding five stars and calling the show a joyous musical gift package that has arrived at precisely the right historical moment. He argued that Golden Age Broadway was fueled above all by hope — the belief that America could be better — and that those same values now leaven this show in an era when such optimism feels in short supply. He singled out Chase and Brightman as the MVPs of the all-star ensemble, with Chase coming fully into her own and Brightman serving as the dry, droll eye of the storm the show needs.
Kobi Kassal · Theatrely
Kassal called it the best new musical of the season, a loving tribute to the Golden Age of musical theatre that is equal parts heart and laughter. He praised Scott Pask’s hand-painted sets — noting with evident relief the absence of LED screens — and described the choreography as among the finest seen in seasons. He found it nearly criminal that Alex Brightman, in a role that forbids singing, cannot put his vocal gifts on display, but argued the loss is repaid tenfold by his comedy chops. He also praised Sara Chase’s voice and impish sensibility, writing that he wants her on Broadway every season.
Patrick Gomez · Entertainment Weekly
Gomez, who came to the show without having seen the Apple TV+ series, found it fully accessible and enjoyable. He noted that while the story elements were instantly familiar from decades of enjoying classic musicals, the jokes and songs felt fresh. He reported that the audience’s reaction indicated the show works powerfully for devotees of the TV series as well: the mere appearance of the Schmigadoon town sign and the utterance of the words ‘corn puddin’’ sent viewers into rapturous laughter and applause. The show also includes four new musical numbers alongside the series’ Grammy-nominated score.
Thom Geier · CultureSauce ★★★★
Geier awarded four stars and called the show a must for musical mavens, writing that they should climb any mountain, never walk alone, and rock the boat to get themselves a seat. He praised the creative team for embracing what made the Apple TV+ series charming, noting that creator Cinco Paul skillfully condensed the first season while maintaining its rainbow-bright appeal. He highlighted Ana Gasteyer’s comic chops as undimmed since her SNL days, found the candy-colored sets and Linda Cho’s costumes fully transporting, and concluded that the show is a bright, pleasant diversion — precisely what audiences need at this moment.
Christian Lewis · New York Theatre Guide
Lewis praised the show as a pure delight for any fan of musical theatre, calling it impossible not to get swept up in the joy and comedy for both characters and audience alike. He highlighted the production’s strong comedic ensemble, beautiful old-school sets, and high-energy choreography, and described the show as a thoughtful, well-done, and hilarious tribute to the Golden Age of Broadway. He noted the show is a fairly faithful adaptation of the Apple TV+ series, condensed and featuring an almost entirely new cast, with the pastiche of characters drawn from shows including South Pacific, Guys and Dolls, and Oklahoma!
Jonathan Mandell · New York Theater
Mandell offered a measured assessment, noting that the stage show retains Cinco Paul’s songs, characters, plot, most of the dialogue verbatim, and much of Gattelli’s original choreography — making it largely the same as watching the TV series, only on a bigger stage. He found the production more overwhelming than the episodic format, where allusions arrived once a week in thirty-minute doses from big Broadway stars. He praised Ana Gasteyer’s rousing takedown of Meredith Willson’s “Ya Got Trouble” as “Tribulation in Schmigadoon,” and ultimately concluded that while it may not have needed to be brought to the stage, he was glad it was.
Jesse Hassenger · The Guardian ★★★
Hassenger gave a three-star mixed review, acknowledging that newcomers to the material may receive the show as an uncomplicated good time — an affectionate send-up of shows still performed at high schools everywhere. But he noted that even unfamiliar audiences may anticipate certain jokes and turns, arguing that at this point revelations of chaste queerness in Golden Age satire have become something close to a genre convention themselves. He credited the cast and production values while suggesting that the show’s pleasures are front-loaded, and that some of the jokes recycle their central premise more than the half-hour TV format allowed audiences to notice.
Chris Jones · The New York Daily News
Jones’ review was enthusiastic about the craft but critical of the show’s structural choices. He argued that the Broadway production would have been better advised to condense Season 1 and move to the darker, more cynical Season 2 material after intermission — when the TV show took on musicals of the 1970s and 80s — rather than stretching the single-season joke across the full running time. He found that Gattelli and the company would have had all kinds of fun with darker material, and that the central Act 1 gag felt somewhat stretched beyond its natural thickness in the two-and-a-half-hour stage version.
Billy McEntee · The Brooklyn Rail / 1 Minute Critic
McEntee, Theater Editor of the Brooklyn Rail, offered the most critical of the broadly positive reviews, calling Schmigadoon! a charming love letter that packs less punch than its foreparents. He praised Scott Pask’s perfectly pastel scenic design and found the cast in evident good spirits, but argued that Paul’s score and book offer little ingenuity — citing a thesis-positing line about life being messy as representative of the show’s limited dramatic depth. He concluded that audience members who came to see their favorite TV show come to life appeared overjoyed, but that the show is a visit you enjoy rather than an experience that changes you.
Staff · Deadline Hollywood
Deadline’s review was split between genuine admiration for the cast and reservations about the material. The reviewer praised Ana Gasteyer effusively, arguing that her comedy chops are undimmed from her SNL days and calling her “Tribulation in Schmigadoon” delivery flawless, while noting that if Paul ever writes a stage sequel she needs a “Last Midnight”-equivalent showstopper. But the review was more critical of the show’s overall approach, arguing that the parodies can read as mean-spirited and that the removal of the mixed-race central relationship from the TV series — which gave the show additional dramatic substance — leaves the stage version lighter than it might have been.