Warning: This article may contain spoilers about Schmigadoon!
Although relegated too much to a still niche audience within the Apple TV+ portal, the second season of Schmigadoon! it’s one of the newest releases you can’t miss. If the first chapter had conquered with the irreverence of the original story of Josh and Melissa, the return of the unscrupulous comedy has exceeded expectations. The first season was already self-contained in itself, attributing at least one ending to the troubled and unusual journey of the two protagonists in the fictional forties and fifties-style town Schmigadoon. Precisely for this reason, a renewal was not at all obvious, especially a year after the release of the last episode. In fact, the first season was published weekly on Apple TV + starting from June 2021, while the announcement of the return of the TV series was communicated in June 2022.
Well, since last April 5, the unpublished episodes of the second season of Schmigadoon! have been released weekly on Apple Tv+, proposing the return of a story that has become formed that seems made not to tire.
The first season projected us together with the couple in crisis made up of Josh (Keegan-Michael Key) and Melissa (Cecily Strong) within a world in which, to overcome personal adversity and in the relationship, the two doctors must count on an unusual trip. Stuck in the magical town of Schmigadoon until they are able to find their phantom true love, the two have a crazy and ironic experience being ferried over by the exuberant and caricatured locals. Schmigadoon (named after the 1947 musical Brigadoon) is a fictitious village in which everything seems stuck in the Golden Age of American musicals, proposing through the songs, characters and setting what are the typical archetypes of the artistic imagination of reference. With a satirical and parodic tone precisely towards the theatrical production of the period, Schmigadoon! torments the two protagonists between unpublished songs with a 1940s and 1950s sound and exaggerated situations that play so much with the narrative style of the period. The first season had ended with a nice happy ending for the couple of New York doctors, who had finally managed to reunite and return together in the real world. Unfortunately, however, despite the newfound love, the two seem once again afflicted by a reality that is close to them.
After the rhythmic and lively happiness known in Schmigadoon, afflicted by the inability to conceive a child, Josh and Melissa try their luck in pursuit of a better life, an environment in which they can anesthetize their frustration and forget about everything else. Josh and Melissa therefore try to return to the only place where they have truly been at peace: Schmigadoon. But things don’t seem to be going as they should. In an attempt to reach the musical town again, the couple ends up this time in an extremely different non-place. Apparently it is impossible to return to the cheerful Schmigadoon and the city that can accommodate the malaise of the protagonists is Schmicago, much more in line with the tension suffered.
Contrary to Schmigadoon, Schmicago is dark, much more flirtatious and promiscuous. She is made up of sensual, mischievous and bloody characters, much more in line with the tradition of American musicals of the sixties and seventies (with particular reference to the 1975 musical Chicago).
Escaping the monotony of New York, Josh and Melissa arrive at the place that satirically pays homage to the decade of musicals following that of the first season. In this case, to be allowed to leave Schmicago, the two must pursue the happiness of the happy ending. The cast of Schmigadoon! confirmed to be full of sparkling talents who do nothing but contribute positively to the pungent irony of the Apple TV+ TV series. With the addition of a narrator who tells the facts with macabre humor and glacial gaze, played by the eccentric Tituss Burgess, Kristin Chenoweth, Dove Cameron, Jane Krakowski, Jaime Camil, Alan Cumming, Aaron Tveit and even Martin Short are back on stage .
With the second season, Schmigadoon! confirms his unmistakable irreverent and provocative humor that conquers in just six episodes of about thirty minutes.
With his profane humor, Schmigadoon! it is nothing but a magnificent love letter to the theater that uses one of the most accessible and trendy means to make the message even more universal. Both the first and second seasons of the TV series are for everyone, both for the greatest fans and connoisseurs and for those who are more unrelated to this artistic context. Schmigadoon! brings the magic of theater and musicals to the stage with such a contemporary language as to be frightening. It’s not just a tribute to the stage and to those dedicated to it both front and back, it’s a collective dream. Who has never found himself fantasizing about living in one of the many glittering fictional tales? Just as Melissa marked the most important events in her life through her passion for musicals and the visions that marked her the mostSchmigadoon! it is undoubtedly the fruit of those who are truly in love with the genre.
Even with Schmicago’s darker tones, the irreverent comedy does not lose its identity but solidifies it. An enveloping narrative with a fairytale and irreverent flavor, in which two very modern, cynical and rational protagonists can only experience a constant estrangement from the more conservative and atypical stereotyped dynamics of the imaginary of musicals, both theatrical and cinematic. With renewed references to the most famous titles of the genre, Schmigadoon! it is a constant emotional game for the fans and a constant discovery for the uninitiated capable of conquering anyone. Against all expectations, the show also works when it tries to play with an imaginary reference that is apparently very different from that of the first season, passing from the light-hearted, naive and saturated Schmigadoon to the macabre, corrupt and sensual Schmicago. Precisely with the second season, the TV series confirms itself as one of the most captivating comedies of recent years and among the best original Apple TV + productions which, unfortunately, still sins from insufficient notoriety. unjustly snubbed, Schmigadoon! is among the most unscrupulous and fresh genre comedies of recent times which, thanks to cast, creatives, passion and music, manages to return a real self-deprecating homage to a world that in Italy does not yet shine as it should.