I loved the first season of Schmigadoon! on Apple TV+. While I was hoping for a second season, I wasn’t sure how they could come up with a way to do it. Not only did they come up with a clever concept – but the year has been hilarious, which they've subtitled, Schmicago. The joke of the first season is that Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key get lost in a Brigadoon-like misty forest and come upon the town of Schmigadoon -- which is a like a happy musical from the Golden Age. And the couple can leave until they find true love. The second series has come up with a way to get them looking again for Schmigadoon, in short, they're missing the colorful cheeriness in their lives. What they find instead is Schmicago -- which is like the next, darker period of musicals. The same actors play the residents, but in different roles. (Part of the fun is Strong and Key recognizing people, but eventually realizing, "Oh, right, this time you're...") All the songs are written by Cinco Paul, who co-created the series with Ken Daurio -- who together wrote such films as the Despicable Me series, The Lorax, Horton Hears a Who, and The Santa Claus 2. The songs have been tremendous this year, as at high a level as last year. If I was forced to compare the seasons, it might be that, as pure songs, they were slightly better the first year, and as comic parodies might in the second year. Even incorporating parody in the choreography. Several songs has stood out from even that high standard. Last week and this week, two particular songs stood out for being Stephen Sondheim/Sweeney Todd parodies that were so clever and great -- as was a song that was largely a parody of “Razzle-Dazzle” from Chicago, but which actually had four parodies built in it. However, this week they had a big production number that might be my favorite. It was a parody that combined Sweeney Todd and Annie. I'll post it below. If you are watching the series, but haven't gotten to this week's yet -- or are planning to watch -- this is a good point to stop reading. But otherwise, here's a brief set-up. Kristen Chenoweth plays a 'Miss Hannigan' type of character from Annie, and Alan Cumming is a 'Sweeney Todd'-like character. They're angry misfits who have been fixed up by Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key. And the match seems to work, as the outcast couple warm to each other. Strong and Key are thrilled at their good deed. What happens though, after Chenoweth invites Cumming in for a nightcap, is that they begin to air their complaints -- she hates the orphans she's in charge of, and his butcher shop is failing because meat distribution has been bottled up by the town syndicate. So...yes, they go there. Which leads to the song. Actually it's two songs mashed together. The first part is a parody of "Have a Little Priest" from Sweeney Todd -- and it's a lot of fun (especially a pastrami joke) -- but then after a minute, the second part kicks in, a big Annie-type cheery, rambunctious, extravaganza production number that's...well, it's just a total hoot on every level -- music, lyrics, choreography, even props. "Good Enough to Eat." Two suggestions: The first is to click on the icon to make this full screen, because the production number is great fun and full of details. The other is that if you're having trouble with all the lyrics -- since a lot of the words go fast, and Kristen Chenoweth is using a thick Cockney accent -- you can click the "CC" button at the bottom for Close Captioning. (That said, I think the translation -- which otherwise is accurate -- gets the very last line wrong, which is spoken. I'm pretty sure they say, "Eat, darn ya, eat!" which parodies the final line from a song in Annie, "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile," that goes 'Smile, darn ya, smile!')
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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