We’re now entrenched in the musical theater of the ’60s and ’70s, albeit with the same faces from Schmigadoon occupying new roles. The bucolic setting, barn-raising choreography, and erstwhile cheeriness of Schmigadoon has been replaced by bowler hats, Fosse fingers, and murder. Instead, they arrive at Schmicago, where people are again spontaneously breaking out into song while dressed in iconic costumes from famous Broadway shows-only this time, everything seems darker. They think: Shouldn’t we be happier? So they head back to the forest in an attempt to find Schmigadoon and the solution to their problems. Their careers are at a monotonous standstill. It also acutely revealed how music and art can shepherd us towards the best, most inclusive versions of ourselves.Īfter reconnecting through the magic of Schmigadoon and pledging a fresh start back in the real world, Melissa and Josh find themselves in another rut. The show managed to both be nostalgic and lovingly subvert the problematic themes and blindspots (especially when it comes to diversity and gender) of those productions that have become a part of Americana. (In one number, Melissa educates the town’s young women on sexual health, in a tune reminiscent of The Sound of Music’s “Do-Re-Mi.”) Cameron was playing a version of Ado Annie, DeBose a Marian the Librarian, and Tveitt a Billy Bigelow, each performing songs inspired by those classic musicals-and having their lives thrown into a tailspin by the “woke” norms of the modern-day interlopers.
Only, the townspeople weren’t performing this was their reality. With their petticoats, parasols, and plastered smiles, the town’s population seemed like entertainers at a theme park meant to recreate the spirit of the Golden Age musicals from the ’40s and ’50s, like Oklahoma!, Carousel, and, of course, Brigadoon. They nervously crossed it into the oversaturated, brightly-lit rolling hills of Schmigadoon. After weathering both a literal and metaphorical emotional storm while on an outdoor retreat meant to reconnect them, they stumbled upon a moss-lined cobblestone bridge. Melissa (Strong) and Josh (Key) were a couple whose relationship had lost its spark.
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