Watching a musical requires the relatively simple act of suspending your belief that people might choose to go through life breaking into song and dance now and then. That’s not hard to do when you’re watching a movie. It’d be very hard to do if it happened in real life. At least, that’s the premise of Schmigadoon, in which a couple (Keegan Michael-Key and Cecily Strong) stumble upon a mysterious town that operates on musical theater rules.
Not a bad premise for a show, made much more intriguing by the quality of the cast. In addition to Michael-Key and Strong, we’ve got Fred Armisen, Dove Cameron, Jaime Camil, Kristin Chenoweth, Alan Cumming, Ariana DeBose, Ann Harada, Jane Krakowski, Aaron Tveit and other people who know their way around musical tropes. Strong is also producing, which provides her with a chance to really flex some new non-Saturday Night Live muscles. Also, like any good musical, this one will incorporate some thoughts about true love and saving a marriage, so there’s lots of potential here. We’ll see more when it releases on Apple TV+ on July 16.
