Plus, take a ride through his complex feelings about Carousel.
Schmigadoon!feels like a musical theater lover’s fever dream.
The problem is, once there, they can’t leave until they find true love.
Aaron Tveit and Cecily Strong in ‘Schmigadoon!'.Apple TV+
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What inspired this?
It probably came from seeingBrigadoon.
Two people off hiking and then something crazy happens to them.
And then I was having a meeting with Broadway Video, [SNLcreator] Lorne Michaels’ company.
They mentioned, “We’re really interested in something that might be a musical.”
And it was really switching and saying, “Well, let’s not make it two friends.
Let’s make it a couple and they’re stuck until they find true love.”
That was really what unlocked it for me.
How did writing a musical compare to the writing you’ve done in the past?
But then it also was a challenge to spot the songs.
Where are the songs going to go?
There was a lot of playing through the scores on the piano and listening to the songs.
There’s just certain songs that I love so much for musicals.
So, I wanted a Frank Loesser gospel number in there somewhere.
Loving, “You Got Trouble” fromMusic Man, and wanting to do something like that.
It was kind of like, “What are my favorite musical theater songs?
What would be fun to place inSchmigadoonsomewhere?”
What was your gateway musical theater drug?
But she also playedSouth Pacificall the time,Guys and Dollsall the time.
Those three, I heard a lot when I was really little, and I just loved them.
She would buy the new ones when they came out.
I have very vivid memories ofAnniewhen we first opened it up and played it, andPippin.
I grew up in Phoenix, Ariz., so I didn’t see live musicals for a long time.
But it was listening to the cast recordings.
Schmigadoonreally is a small-town musical.
It’sMusic Man, it’sOklahoma,and it’sCarousel.
All the Rodgers Hammerstein musicals are in there.
There’s a bit ofCarouselfor sure, with Danny Bailey’s character.
And there’s quite a nod toSound of Musiclater on in the series.
I also got a chance to do a Cole Porter song with Jane Krakowski.
There’s a little Irving Berlin in there fromAnnie Get Your Gun.
There’s no realCamelotreference, sadly.
So, I really wanted people who could sing live.
I wanted people who could do it and had done it eight performances a week.
These are Tony winners and they can really deliver.
Cecily was the first to sign on very early.
We wrote the show with her in mind.
I mean, was Patti LuPone busy?
The crazy thing is that we got everybody we wanted because sadly, Broadway was shut down.
People were very available as a result of that.
Did theaters being dark make the entire process more resonant?
All of those things?
We all felt like we were on a mission in a way.
You’re racing against this pandemic and you feel like you’re being chased by it.
This is our tribute to them.
It was really a tribute to and an appreciation for how much musicals have meant to all of us.
Where did all those pieces come from and how did you decide what you wanted to put in there?
Our production designer really captured the vision that I had for this.
I really wanted it to feel like we were on a sound stage the whole time.
Artificial, but beautiful, were the buzzwords we had for this.
Let’s do a tunnel of love.
That’ll stand in for our carousel.
It was just trying to find, “What are the iconic looks?”
That was a big moment for me.
It’s a weird name, right?
The book is kind of a mess nowadays
Oh, it’s horrible.
It should not be produced anymore.
So as a result of that, it’s just never been one that I’ve known.
But the score is just phenomenal and it’s beautiful.
There are many nods to it, some pretty overt, in our show.
Musicals are delightful, they’re romantic, they’re also problematic, and sometimes just dumb.
Schmigadoonis out now on Apple TV+.
