by Zach Raffio. @zachraffio.
AppleTV+’s brand new musical series Schmigadoon! premieres today, ushering in a tale that’s sure to entice fans of musical theatre with its zippy musical numbers and stacke cast of Broadway talent. We were going to review the series, but none of us actually have AppleTV+. We did see a passing bus ad for the show the other day, though so uh, here’s our review of that I guess.
The show stars Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key as, I wanna say… backpack aficionados? They had backpacks in the ad. I don’t know what brand.
They stumble upon a magical world called “Schmigadoon! Premieres on AppleTV+ July 16th”. Long name for a town, but hey, it’s a musical. You can’t expect a show like this to always be realistic (or maybe you can? I really have no basis).
We should note that it was raining pretty heavily when we saw the ad, and by that point my hand-me-down ugg boots were completely soaked through, like a towel used to dry the ocean. So, a lot of the notes I scribbled down on my pad after this point got wet and are hard to read. Bare with me.
The ad gave me - I wanna say - “a fin, cindy-colored aesthetic”? Not sure what I’m referring to but I guess the ad featured a fish named Cindy. Like I said, it was raining hard and my ugg boots were disintegrating by the second. I should mention these weren’t real ugg boots, but actually some cotton balls taped to my foot and spray painted brown.
In the background of the poster appeared to be stage and screen icon Alan Cumming, wearing a gorgeous suit with the Supreme logo very poorly placed in the center of it. Like, the logo was wider than the suit and draped off the sides of his arms by quite a lot. A very weird piece of product placement, but I guess that’s the world we live in.
The show appears to take place in the same universe as The Handmaid’s Tale, although that might have just been part of the previous bus ad sticking out from underneath. I deeply hope to be right about that one.
My sopping wet notepad mentions something along the lines of ‘is Arnie Doubles in this?” I don’t know any actor named Arnie Doubles. I know the cast includes Ariana DeBose, though, and she’s great. Keep an eye out for Arnie Doubles.
Finally, I do have to admit that the poster didn’t really hold my attention for very long. Literally, though, because the bus was turning a hard corner just as I was approaching so I only got a quick look. I’m hoping to revisit the poster in more detail soon, ideally at a red light.
In conclusion, Schmigadoon! appears to be a striking, lovingly-made nod to generations of musical theatre, and a healthy dose of summer escapism for theatre fans of all ages.
It also, according to my absolute soup notes, mentions something called a “fur trial”. I don’t know what that is, maybe like a… like court case for rabbits? Feels like a stretch but- oh! Wait! I probably meant “free trial”.
Wait, was that an option?