Broadway Reviews Theatre Review by Howard Miller - April 20, 2026 Schmigadoon!. Book, music, and lyrics by Cinco Paul. Based on the Apple TV series, "Schmigadoon!," co-created by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio Directed and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli. Scenic design by Scott Pask. Costume design by Linda Cho. Lighting design by Donald Holder. Sound design by Walter Trarbach. Hair and wig design by Tom Watson. Makeup design by Ashley Ryan. Music supervision and arrangements by David Chase. Orchestrations by Doug Besterman and Mike Morris. Music direction by Steven Malone. Music coordination by Michael Aarons and Anja Woods/M-Squared Music. Associate director Bethany Samuelson Pettigrew. Associate Choreographer Lou Castro.
Maybe these are questions to share with a therapist. Until then, there is Schmigadoon!, a delightful theatrical romance spun in song and dance about a couple going through a rough patch who are whisked away to a Broadway fairytale land, where they spend the rest of the evening trying to sort things out. While on a relationship counseling retreat in the Catskills, Josh (Alex Brightman) and Melissa (Sara Chase) wander off and wind up crossing a footbridge that takes them into a magical place in which everyone is constantly singing and dancing to songs that sound suspiciously like familiar echoes of Oklahoma!, Carousel, The Music Man, and other perennial favorites. That's the mystical town of Schmigadoon, musically located in the 1940s/1950s era; visually located closer to the turn of the twentieth century. Melissa is charmed. The musical-averse Josh is appalled. In other places and times, we'd be walking into a Forbidden Broadway production. But lacking a wink-wink satirical bite, it soon becomes clear that we have entered a land of pure homage. We are invited to join this technicolor dreamlike adventure with Josh and Melissa, who learn quickly that they cannot leave Schmigadoon until they find "true love." (Having accomplished its purpose by providing the title, this will be the show's last reference to Brigadoon).
But let me cross a footbridge of my own here and say that Schmigadoon! has found its natural home. It belongs on the stage, free from the confines and two-dimensionality of the small screen. It thrives on being performed before a live audience of musical comedy aficionados. Under the sure hand of director and choreographer Christopher Gattelli, it explodes like an old-fashioned Fourth of July fireworks display, with a candy-colored set design by Scott Pask and a gazillion yards of gingham and calico and satin and lace in every print and color imaginable provided by costume designer Linda Cho. The show's two dozen songs, most, though not all of them, from the TV version, are meant to trigger recollections of classic musicals. You are probably going to be spending at least some of your time working out the music and/or lyrics that inspired them: your own personal game of "Name That Tune." Can you name them in three notes? Betcha can. Corny at times? Yes. Repetitive? Occasionally. Often deliberately so, with Josh on hand to serve as chief naysayer. But here's the thing: every aspect of this show works in a collective spirit so that the production purrs like a well-oiled machine. This includes the 110 percent performances by the high-octane company. Resistance is futile. The two leads shine, but they are amply abetted by the rest of the cast, including Broadway musical vets Brad Oscar and Ann Harada, and, giving an auspicious performance, Ana Gasteyer as Schmigadoon's cantankerous self-appointed keeper of morality, who tears the place apart with a song called "Tribulation," the show's version of "Ya Got Trouble" from The Music Man. Kudos, too, to Isabelle McCalla as a school marm modeled on Marian Paroo, and an adorable scene-stealer, Ayaan Diop, as the Winthrop-like Carson. Melissa says it best: "When you're too emotional to speak, you sing. And when you're too emotional to sing, you dance." To which I would add: if you think you can't sing or dance, then get your fix by joining the audience for Schmigadoon!. Works like a charm!
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