The stage adaptation of the "Schmigadoon!" television series is an absolute delight, surpassing its already amusing source material with a top-flight cast, an expanded score, and an infectious sense of joy. Composer-lyricist-book writer Cinco Paul lovingly spoofs the Golden Age musicals of the 1940s and ’50s, delivering pitch-perfect parodies of iconic numbers from “Oklahoma!,” “Carousel,” “The Music Man,” and others, giving audiences the delicious pleasure of instant recognition.
The story follows Josh Skinner (Alex Brightman) and Melissa Gimble (Sara Chase), a pair of doctors whose relationship has grown stale. While hiking in the woods, they stumble upon a magical town much like the lost travelers of “Brigadoon.” Here, every resident exists as the embodiment of a musical-comedy cliché, bursting into song at the slightest provocation. Josh, however, loathes musicals and stubbornly resists every cue, even when pursued by the aggressively flirtatious Betsy (McKenzie Kurtz), a clear descendant of Ado Annie. Melissa, by contrast, eagerly embraces the fantasy, particularly when she catches the eye of the swaggering carnival barker Danny Bailey (Max Clayton), a thinly veiled riff on Billy Bigelow.
Among the town’s colorful inhabitants are the closeted Mayor Menlove (Brad Oscar) — the name says it all — and his wife Florence (Ann Harada). Maulik Pancholy plays Reverend Layton, who seems to harbor a touching sympathy for the mayor’s predicament, while his domineering wife Mildred (Ana Gasteyer) appoints herself guardian of the town’s morality. Her second-act sendup of “Ya Got Trouble” is one of the evening’s comic high points.
Then there is Doc (Ivan Hernandez), a Captain Von Trapp figure straight out of “The Sound of Music,” who hires Melissa as his nurse, paving the way for a riotously funny parody of “Do-Re-Mi” — this one devoted to explaining human reproduction. Josh, meanwhile, briefly convinces himself that the key to escaping the town may lie with the sweetly wholesome schoolmarm Emma Tate (Isabelle McCalla).
The cast could scarcely be bettered. Though it seems almost criminal to give the powerhouse vocalist Brightman so little actual singing, his deadpan resistance to the town’s relentless cheerfulness makes for a beautifully calibrated comic performance. Chase radiates a realstic initial wariness but succombs chamingly, while Gasteyer nearly steals the show with her thunderously self-righteous Mildred. Oscar and Pancholy lend unexpected poignancy beneath the comedy, and Kurtz and Clayton expertly capture the broad, hearty style of mid-century musical leads.
Christopher Gattelli, who choreographed the television version, handles both staging and choreography here with enormous flair and buoyancy. Scott Pask’s set vividly conjures the candy-colored world of Golden Age Broadway, enhanced by Donald Holder’s glowing lighting and Linda Cho’s witty, character-defining costumes. Walter Trarbach’s sound design, meanwhile, strikes an ideal balance throughout.
Altogether, “Schmigadoon!” emerges as a joyous valentine to the classic American musical — affectionate, clever, and irresistibly entertaining.
(Nederlander Theatre 208 West 41st Street; schmigadoonbroadway.com)
Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman: The cast of “Schmigadoon” Print this post
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