‘Schmigadoon!’ co-creator Cinco Paul satirizes Broadway

This is Fresh Air. I'm TV critic David Beancooley. Earlier this week, the musical Shmigadune opened on Broadway to lots of applause and rave reviews. The New York Times called it a blast, which it is. I saw it in previews last Friday and loved it.

It's also a blast from the past, a warm hearted embrace and spoof of classic Broadway musicals, from Oklahoma and The Sound of Music, to Carousel and The Music Man. The title Schmigadoon is a play on another musical classic, Brigadoon, in which two tourists stumble upon a magical village with its own eccentric inhabitants and rules. In Shmigadoon, the tourists are a loving couple, Josh and Melissa. They're in love, but after a few years of living together, they're also in kind of a rut. Shmigadoon originated in 2021 as a six part miniseries on Apple TV<unk>, co created by Cinco Paul and Kendario.

Cinco Paul, who wrote the music, lyrics, and book for the Broadway version, has reshaped and condensed those six TV episodes into one night of theatre, but has retained all the key songs, characters, and plot twists. The original TV version began when the two doctors, Melissa and Josh, met cute at a hospital vending machine, then jumped into bed. On Broadway, the vending machine turns into a bed. A clever transition that saves time and makes the same point only funnier. Director and choreographer Christopher Gately also choreographed the T V version, so everything I loved about the full ensemble staging of such infectiously giddy numbers as Corn Putin has arrived on Broadway intact.

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