MY EYES! After watching the musical miniseries Schmigadoon!, I now believe that jazz hands can be weaponised. The US six-parter is executive produced by Lorne Michaels and features Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key as a couple struggling in their relationship who end up in the fantasy town of Schmigadoon! (“Where life’s a musical every day”) – with the snag that you can’t leave unless you’re in love. The cast includes Alan Cumming as a closeted mayor and Kristin Chenoweth as a baddie with Joan Crawford cheekbones, with Jane Krakowski due to appear as the countess later on.
Schmigadoon! (as in Brigadoon) is deadly serious about being a musical: it’s all full-on song-and-dance routines, with rustling petticoats, tipped hats, original music from co-creator Cinco Paul and thematic grand larceny from the likes of The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music. It becomes a teensy-weensy bit tiring (at one point, a leprechaun appears in a puff of green smoke), but it’s all done with a giggle and a gigantic wink. One for those who miss musical theatre and who find RuPaul’s Drag Race not quite camp enough. |
