Schmigadoon is a new comedy show coming to Apple TV+ this July and it takes its inspiration from the world of musicals.

Executive produced by Lorne Michaels, it stars Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key, as Melissa and Josh, a couple on a backpacking trip discover a magical town called Schmigadoon which is in a Golden Age musical.

When they try to leave the town where everyone keeps bursting into song, they discover that they’re trapped there, and can not leave until they find true love. The show is inspired by the 1947 Broadway musical Brigadoon which sees two Americans discover a Scottish town which only appears out of the mist once every hundred years.

The cast includes Fred Armisen, Dove Cameron, Jaime Camil, Kristin Chenoweth, Alan Cumming, Ariana DeBose, Ann Harada, Jane Krakowski, and Aaron Tveit.

Alan Cumming, who plays the town’s mayor, recently spoke to OUTinPerth about the upcoming show.

“It’s such a hoot. It was, it was the first thing I did in during the pandemic. And it’s a six part series, and it’s sort of a homage and a parody of 1950s Hollywood movies, musicals. And it was in such a gas!” Cumming said.

“It was such fun, and it’s really biting and hilarious. I play the me Mayor of Schmigadoon and it’s full of people you know, like Kristin Chenoweth and Jane Krakowski and Fred Armisen and Keegan Michael Key and Cecily Strong as the couple. Martin Short appears as a leprechaun at one point, is so nuts, I really really like it.”

While people might assume Broadway musicals might be something Cumming would be an expert in given his success in the musical Cabaret, he shares that he’s not well versed in the history of the artform at all.

“I’m not a big musical aficionado. Everyone thinks I am, but I’m not. It was funny, I learned a lot about musicals we were parodying, and paying homage to, certain tropes and certain musicals,  so I learned quite a lot about Hollywood musicals from doing that.” Cumming said.

Cumming is currently in Australia for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and is set to tour the nation with his show Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age. 

Take a look at the trailer for Schmigadoon.  

OIP Staff

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