Schmigadoon! Stars Reveal Their Most Inspiring Co-Stars

For the ambitious Apple TV+ series Schmigadoon!, the series had to enlist not only seasoned musical performers to help authentically replicate the tone of a ’40s musical, but also feature actors not normally associated with such roles to help establish the somewhat satirical nature of the concept. Stars Dove Cameron and Aaron Tveit, for example, have a number of diverse projects on their resumes, yet are no strangers to embracing everything that comes with the heightened nature of a musical, even ones whose styles largely haven’t been seen in decades. The pair recently expressed how they were inspired by the rest of the cast in the series. Schmigadoon! premieres on Apple TV+ on July 16th.

“I was probably the most inspired by Alan [Cumming] because he does this crazy thing where he just is seamless in his performance,” Cameron detailed to ComicBook.com. “I just remember watching him do the auction and being like, ‘How are you so funny and real and grounded?’ He’s a legend for a reason, right? Obviously, Kristen [Chenoweth], who I’ve worked with, luckily, many times, but I guess my two most unexpected personal connections were [Keegan-Michael Key] and Alan. Those were the two guys I walked away from the project being like, ‘Wow, you’re actually going to be my friend for life.’ Everybody was inspiring, though. Cecily [Strong] is a comic genius, it’s hard to choose.”

Tveit added, “Everyone was just so wonderful to be around. The thing that struck me the most, and I hope the audience has the same experience, Keegan’s character spends the whole time saying how much he hates musicals and how he doesn’t want to be there … for him to put himself out there, he’s kind of ‘not a singer,’ although he sings great, for him to put himself out there that way, I thought it was just wonderful.”

Schmigadoon!, a parody of iconic Golden Age musicals, stars Strong and Key as a couple on a backpacking trip designed to reinvigorate their relationship who discover a magical town living in a 1940s musical. They then learn that they can’t leave until they find “true love.” The first season also stars Ariana DeBose, Fred Armisen, Jaime Camil, Jane Krakowski, and Ann Harada. Martin Short guest stars.

Given the importance of the series’ production design, musical numbers, dance sequences, and overall tone, it could have been a risky endeavor to take on, but both stars shared how they knew from early on how successful it would be and how quick they were to enlist.

“We heard about it and we were like, ‘We have to be involved, please don’t go to anyone else with this,’” Tveit shared of his first reaction to the project. “The people at the helm, with [director] Barry [Sonnenfeld] and [writer] Cinco [Paul] and [Lorne Michaels’] company and, of course, Cecily and Keegan, the incredible cast that they assembled, you really look for those opportunities to wade in that water with those kinds of people. I was all in and hopeful that it worked out. So glad that they wanted me to be a part of it.”

Cameron echoed, “I was thinking this the other day, I think it’s very rare these days that things are crafted with such love and joy and earnestness and heart and also intentionality. I remember reading the script and seeing who they assembled and you could just tell, even before they had started working on it, I was just like, ‘Whoever is running this, they are doing this with so much care and love and they’re doing it for the right reasons in the right ways.’ And that’s just something you want to be a part of as a performer, not only was the lineup incredible, but the script was laugh-out-loud funny and the combination of things seemed too good to pass up.”

Schmigadoon! premieres on Apple TV+ on July 16th.

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