Abe Friedtanzer
In the second season of the Apple TV+ series Schmigadoon, Melissa (Cecily Strong) and Josh (Keegan Michael-Key) are looking to get back to the magic they found in Schmigadoon, but they end up in an altogether different place: the treacherous world of Schmicago. The series smartly sends up the next era of musicals as its main characters struggle to find happiness in a place where no one seems to be able to get a happy ending.
Awards Radar had the chance to speak with showrunner Cinco Paul and a number of cast members about their experiences in season two.
Paul addressed the advantages of recasting the same actors for the second round of the show:
“Especially between Melissa and Dooley Blight, who she remembers as the mayor, it’s this really bittersweet moment, because she had a real connection with him in the first season, but he doesn’t remember her, and she’s still happy to be with him, and she feels connected. It was really important to me, as soon as I started to think about season two, we bring all of our cast back, and they’re like a repertory theater company. Everybody’s going to play a new character. That was really exciting to the cast too, to get to stretch themselves and show the wide variety of roles they can play.”
Jane Krakowski recalled filming Bobbi’s courtroom scene and how that represented a big change from season one:
“It was obviously incredible when I read it on the page. I was like, wow, okay, thank you, Cinco, for writing all this for me. And then we had some conversations about what special skills I had that we could fill it with. We knew we needed all the bells and whistles to fill the special skills slot of it. It is such a large set. The whole world changed, and it’s so different in season two. Our entire set was like a little cul-de-sac, and all the scenes from season one were actually in those little houses. We actually filmed in the tiny houses that were on that cul-de-sac as the interior, so it was such an intimate small world. And then we got Schmicago.”
Aaron Tveit reflected on being removed from the Schimago world and the effectiveness of the show’s different focuses:
“I liked being the levity. These different worlds were created. We enter in this Schmicago, Cabaret, dark, 1920s speakeasy, dangerous, sexy, and then we are transported to Hair and Superstar. 60s psychedelic, Beatles, Yellow Submarine, everything. And then we have this Victorian world of Sweeney Todd and Annie going on as well. I heard Cinco speak about how he was initially a little nervous about having these three distinct worlds, and he decided, you know what, I’m going to try to make that the strength of the show.”
Dove Cameron spoke about the positive attitude of those involved with the series:
“Everybody who works on this show feels very much that it was created just for them, and we’ve heard a lot of the same things from the fans of the show. They’re like, this show was created just for me. I can’t believe people are making it. I can’t believe Apple is funding it. We all feel the same way, and I also just feel like we’re treading on really hallowed ground, and we do it with so much love. But you always hope that that translates and that it’s felt with as much love as we’re making it. I’m always pleasantly surprised when people really love it and they understand what we’re trying to do.”
Watch the full conversations below, including additional interviews with Tituss Burgess, Ann Harada, and Kristin Chenoweth!
Season two of Schmigadoon is now streaming in its entirety on Apple TV+.
Comments
Loading…