Melissa and Josh have discovered real love… however are they glad? That’s the query hanging over their heads in Schmigadoon!‘s Season 2 premiere, which picks up after a substantial time leap and exhibits Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key‘s characters discovering it quite troublesome to readjust to life in the actual world.
“They undergo all these milestones in life — they’re married, they purchase a home in Connecticut, they’re profitable of their careers — however there are difficulties that you just inevitably face,” Sturdy tells TVLine. “These construct up, and also you lose confidence.”
Alas, Melissa and Josh are in one thing of a rut and determined to flee it. In addition they have a hankering for some corn pudding.
“They know they’ve Schmigadoon, which is that this magic place,” Sturdy says. “It’s a fast repair,” if not a everlasting repair, they usually determine to return. However they shortly uncover you “can by no means return,” and as a substitute wind up in Schmicago, a grittier city impressed by Nineteen Sixties and ’70s musicals, together with Cabaret, Chicago, Hair and Sweeney Todd, simply to call just a few. Schmicago is populated by acquainted faces — fellow returnees embody Ariana DeBose, Dove Cameron, Jaime Camil, Kristin Chenoweth, Alan Cumming, Ann Harada, Jane Krakowski and Aaron Tveit — however nobody is enjoying the identical character they inhabited in Season 1. And in one other twist that units Season 2 other than Season 1, it’s Josh, not Melissa, who’s fast to embrace their new environment. However his tune adjustments comparatively quick, when he’s out of the blue the prime suspect in a muuuurder.
“It’s a impolite awakening for Josh as a result of he thinks he’s going to take pleasure in this place,” Key tells us. “He’s the one who has to persuade Melissa, ‘Let’s simply keep for a day, perhaps we’ll have enjoyable,’ after which he winds up in jail, on demise row.”
So, what different adjustments are in retailer for Schmigadoon! Season 2? Preserve scrolling to see what collection co-creator Cinco Paul has to say in regards to the musical satire’s six-episode encore…
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TIGHTER PACING
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Apple TV+ When Apple first greenlit Schmigadoon! Season 1, the order was for eight episodes. It was ultimately pared down to 6, however not earlier than eight scripts had been written. Alas, viewers may need felt a rush to the finish line the primary time round.
However with Season 2, Paul knew that he was working with a six-episode order from the get-go. Consequently, “this has a plot that strikes like a machine,” he tells TVLine. “Season 1 was somewhat looser, extra romcom-y. This is a bit more Sweeney Todd-esque, so you actually must plot it fastidiously. The primary couple weeks within the writers’ room, that’s all we have been doing — determining that this results in this, and this results in that.”
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THE USE OF A NARRATOR
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Apple TV+ Season 2 installs Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt‘s Tituss Burgess because the narrator — a job impressed by The Main Participant from 1972’s Pippin. Early on, Melissa cracks that ’60s and ’70s musicals relied on a narrator in lieu of story, “which is perhaps somewhat bit unfair,” Paul says, “though a whole lot of the exhibits in that period do have story issues.” However Burgess’ function, he says, is “invaluable,” and retains the story from veering off observe.
“His commentary on the characters and the alternatives they make is at all times humorous, and anytime he seems on to the digital camera, I simply love it,” the EP provides. “I assume you could possibly say I got here round to the worth of a narrator that will help you transfer by means of issues. It’s somewhat little bit of a crutch, however in the event you use it proper, it’s very efficient.”
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SUPPORTING CAST TAKES CENTER STAGE
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Apple TV+ Whereas Cecily Sturdy and/or Keegan-Michael Key have been in nearly each scene in Season 1, Season 2 has total storylines the place Melissa and Josh are barely current. That was certainly one of Paul’s objectives with this sophomore effort — to flesh out secondary and tertiary characters and make them really feel like they might exist even when Melissa and Josh are usually not interacting with them.
“The [musicals] obtained extra advanced and the characters obtained extra actual in ’60s and ’70s, so it behooved us to do the identical factor with our characters,” he says. “We actually needed the characters to be actual, and their trauma to be actual, and their struggles to be actual. We didn’t need them to be cutout characters, and positively not one of the actors needed that both, so it was actually vital that they might stand on their very own.
“A query I had early on was, ‘Will the viewers go alongside for a scene that’s simply between Dove Cameron’s character and Aaron Tveit’s character? Will they go alongside for that trip?’” So as to obtain this, Paul set a rule for any such scene: “It was vital that [any action] be one thing that Josh and Melissa made occur,” he explains. “In the event that they have been the drive behind [something happening between two of our supporting characters], then it was tremendous to go away from them for a short time and see what they’ve unleashed on this world.”
What follows is a breakdown of who every returning forged member is enjoying in Season 2…
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ARIANA DEBOSE
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Apple TV+ SEASON 1 ROLE: Emma Tate (impressed by The Music Man‘s Marian Paroo)
SEASON 2 ROLE: Emcee (impressed by Cabaret‘s Emcee)
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DOVE CAMERON
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Apple TV+ SEASON 1 ROLE: Betsy McDonough (impressed by Oklahoma!‘s Ado Annie)
SEASON 2 ROLE: Jenny Banks (impressed by Cabaret‘s Sally Bowles)
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JAIME CAMIL
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Apple TV+ SEASON 1 ROLE: Jorge Lopez (impressed by The Sound of Music‘s Captain von Trapp)
SEASON 2 ROLE: Sergeant Rivera
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KRISTIN CHENOWETH
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Apple TV+ SEASON 1 ROLE: Mildred Layton (impressed by The Music Man‘s Mrs. Shinn)
SEASON 2 ROLE: Miss Caldwell (impressed by Sweeney Todd‘s Mrs. Lovett and Annie‘s Miss Hannigan)
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ALAN CUMMING
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Apple TV+ SEASON 1 ROLE: Aloysius Menlove
SEASON 2 ROLE: Dooley Flint (impressed by Sweeney Todd‘s title character)
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ANN HARADA
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Apple TV+ SEASON 1 ROLE: Florence Menlove
SEASON 2 ROLE: Madam Frau (impressed by Cabaret‘s Fräulein Schneider)
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JANE KRAKOWSKI
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Apple TV+ SEASON 1 ROLE: Gabriele Von Blerkom aka “Blerky” (impressed by The Sound of Music‘s Baroness)
SEASON 2 ROLE: Bobby Flanagan (impressed by Chicago‘s Billy Flynn)
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AARON TVEIT
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Apple TV+ SEASON 1 ROLE: Danny Bailey (impressed by Carousel‘s Billy Bigelow)
SEASON 2 ROLE: Topher (impressed by the principle characters in Pippin, Godspell and Hair)
Schmigadoon! Season 2 premieres Wednesday, April 5 on Apple TV+.
