Inside Schmigadoon!’s Broadway Debut: Cast Talks Comedy, Community and Musical Magic

Spring has sprung and Schmigadoon! is set to bloom on Broadway. Performances begin on April 4, with opening night scheduled for April 20. Tony nominee Alex Brightman and Sara Chase star as an urban couple navigating relationship challenges who find themselves trapped in a quaint village populated by townspeople constantly breaking into song. A hilarious and heartfelt tribute to Golden Age musicals, Schmigadoon! is based on the Apple Original series from Universal Television and features a book and Emmy-winning score by Cinco Paul, with direction and choreography from Christopher Gattelli (Death Becomes Her). Broadway.com stopped by a press event for the production to chat with the cast about crossing the bridge to the Nederlander Theatre.

“First of all, I love comedies. I want to laugh. I think it's really good for our collective nervous systems,” says Isabelle McCalla, who plays Schmigadoon’s resident school teacher, Emma Tate. “Who doesn't want to be part of a show that celebrates the industry and what we do and sends it up and makes fun of it and makes people laugh until they cry?”

Speaking on Gattelli, Brightman raves, “I've worked with and seen a lot of director-choreographers do the director-choreography thing. And boy, does he nail both in such volume that I don't think I've ever seen before.” Chase attributes the showman’s directorial deftness to his former life as a musical theater performer. “He's like one of us. He gets the experience. He gets what it's like to be on both sides.”

Avenue Q legend Ann Harada originated the role of Florence Menlove on the television series and will reprise the character on Broadway. “This is the greatest achievement of my life, being able to have done Schmigadoon! in every form. I'm so proud of being involved with this show. I never want to leave.” Harada says she didn’t register the series’ impact until she saw the fan response after the musical had its out-of-town tryout. “So many of them were Schmigadoon! fans that had flown from other countries to come see the show. They love it so much. It really speaks to something that we all want, which is a sense of community.”

Mildred Layton, a pious preacher’s wife who incites moral panic, will be played by Saturday Night Live alum Ana Gasteyer. For Gasteyer, a show of this nature is the perfect vehicle for a performer who occupies both the comedy world and the theater scene. “I'm a pop culture sketch comedian, whatever you want to call it, who also does Broadway. So often in my life, they've been very distinct experiences and people find it confusing that I live in one or the other. Cinco also lives in this kind of venn diagram life,” says Gasteyer, who calls Schmigadoon! an “optimistic parody” executed with unbridled commitment.

Broadway.com’s newly-minted vlogger McKenzie Kurtz is playing the gingham-clad farmer’s daughter Betsy. Asked about what she hopes audiences walk away with after seeing the show, Kurtz says, “I hope they leave holding their loved ones a little tighter. [The show is about] appreciating what you have and appreciating people for who they are and what they bring, and not something they could be.”

Nine-year-old Ayaan Diop, playing Emma Tate’s little brother Carson, has his own directive for prospective theatergoers: “They should come see Schmigadoon! because it's a place full of romance. Of course, I don't watch romance because I'm nine. They should also come to Schmigadoon! because we do have good corn puddin'."

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