| Some "Schmigadoon!" lyrics are positively Sondheimian | |
| Posted by: TheBroadwayMaven (DavidBenkof@gmail.com) 07:49 am EDT 05/11/23 | |
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| From today's Broadway Maven Weekly Blast: If you’re a musical theater fan, and you’re not watching Schmigadoon!, please head directly to Apple TV+ and enjoy the first two seasons of this spoof on musical theater conventions. You won’t regret it. The second season of the show, set in the 1960s and 1970s world of Broadway, is dubbed Schmicago. It’s particularly good, in part because of its well-polished lyrics. Here are my favorite three songs from the second season: • “Kaput” (Episode 1) This take-off of Cabaret’s “Mein Herr” has the catchiest tune of the show, with a strong beat and suggestive dance moves and lyrics. I love that it has an appropriate German title, just like the original. Twice “Kaput” plays with misleading, sexually evocative rhymes. My favorite: Once I took a lover up in Munich Who made my prior beau look like a eunuch Soon we were making romance ‘round the clock But soon, alas, I tired of his cock…amamie talk Sung by “Jenny Banks” (Dove Cameron), a Sally Bowles character, the song even has a playful nod to Cabaret: “We had a fine affair, but please get out of ‘mein’ hair.” • “Doorway to Where” (Episode 2) This aspirational song is performed from a jail cell by Topher (Aaron Tveit), a hippie type with a mess of hair who appears to be a combination of Pippin, the Jesus character from Godspell, and Berger from Hair. The song itself, though, is a close parody of “Corner of the Sky” from Pippin. The first notable thing about “Doorway to Where” is its nonsensical title, like many others in musical theater. One example occurs elsewhere in Schmicago, when Topher sings “Sour Macaroon” to parody the equally bizarre phrase “Jaded Mandarin” from Jesus Christ Superstar. The song has several examples of alliteration and internal rhyme, and ends in a high note, just like the song from Pippin it imitates. The lyrics themselves are a fun parody of Pippin’s analogies like “rivers belong where they can ramble” and “eagles belong where they can fly.” Topher’s version? “All our socks go in a drawer” and “spiders eat their young.” • “The Worst Brats in Town” (Episode 3) Probably the best song in the show, here the show’s creator and songwriter Cinco Paul gets positively Sondheimian. “Worst Brats” is performed first by Kristin Chenoweth (playing a combination of Miss Hannigan from Annie and Mrs. Lovett from Sweeney Todd, with a touch of Oliver!) and then Alan Cumming as a Sweeney Todd character. The song has many triple and quadruple rhymes with plenty of alliteration and clever turns of phrase. Here are two fun ones: If by any chance you’re searchin’ For an urchin I’ve got your merchan- dise right here and I confess it’s mostly filler from the miller Not much to grill or bake or fry Wonder why, it’s my supply The meat they mete out’s tough and dry But the rich man truly will pay for his sins And this time Dooley will be the one who wins For there’s a debt that has yet to be repaid So my course is set for the blood and the blade. |
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