SCHMIGADOON! Reviews- Page 2
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#25
Posted: 4/21/26 at 5:39am
Wayman_Wong said: "Since 2000, there have been shows that have won Best Musical, even though they didn't have Tony-eligible original scores: ''Contact,'' ''Jersey Boys'' and ''Moulin Rouge!''"
Once as well; Since most of the songs were lifted from the original film, it didn’t have enough new material to qualify for Best Score.
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#26
Posted: 4/21/26 at 5:43am
Ensemble1698878795 said: "EDSOSLO858 said: "It's pretty much the equivalent of a jukebox musical, with all but a few pre-existing songs.
Best Musical is most likely going to TWO STRANGERS, and there's a lot of industry love behind it."
Not from what I hear. The industry love is def not at the box office."
Or could Two Strangers follow a similar trajectory to Gentleman's Guide where that show spent months and months struggling until it won the Tony?
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#27
Posted: 4/21/26 at 5:46am
quizking101 said: "Ensemble1698878795 said: "Meh doth not a best musical win make."
2010 Tony Award winner MEMPHIS would like a word…"
As would 2024 Tony winner The Outsiders...
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/14/04
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#28
Posted: 4/21/26 at 6:42am
Jeffrey Karasarides said: "Wayman_Wong said: "Since 2000, there have been shows that have won Best Musical, even though they didn't have Tony-eligible original scores: ''Contact,'' ''Jersey Boys'' and ''Moulin Rouge!''"
Onceas well; Since most of the songs were lifted from the original film, it didn’t have enough new material to qualify for Best Score."
That’s not what a jukebox musical is. A jukebox musical is a stage musical that has a score comprising pre-existing songs that were not written to be part of a musical in any format. They’re often built around the song catalog of a single recording artist (e.g., Mamma Mia, Jersey Boys, American Idiot) or a specific era, genre, or style (e.g., &Juliet, Moulin Rouge). A stage adaptation of a musical movie or TV show that uses the pre-existing songs from that musical (e.g., Lion King, Once, Newsies, Schmigadoon!) is not considered a jukebox musical, regardless of whether it’s eligible for best score.
Are we all clear now?
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#29
Posted: 4/21/26 at 7:01am
MezzA101 said: "‘Schmigadoon!’ Review: Oh, What a Beautiful Sendup
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/theater/schmigadoon-review-brightman-broadway.html?unlocked_article_code=1.clA.KvyN.EACepFtQO9fe&smid=nytcore-android-share"
I don’t recall a NY Times review citing as many previous credits of cast members. It’s a welcome addition IMHO (if a bit inside baseball).
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#30
Posted: 4/21/26 at 7:09am
Hoping these reviews will not only extend this run (and warrant a cast recording....) but also renew interest in the planned season 3 - 'Into the Schwoods!'
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#31
Posted: 4/21/26 at 7:22am
Rentaholic2 said: "I feel somewhat vindicated - when this was announced, people on the board were tripping over themselves to say how badly it was going to bomb, and I said I could see it being a sleeper hit. With these reviews and the positive word of mouth I've been hearing, I wouldn't be surprised if this turns into a hit and takes Best Musical."
Maybe. Or it could wind up like Shucked, which was in the same theater, and whose trajectory it seems to be replicating so far.
BWW's review roundup calculated Shucked's average rating to 71.1%.
Schmigadoon got 74.4%
Shucked had 12 positive, 3 mixed, 0 negative on DidTheyLikeIt.
Schmigadoon has 11 positive, 4 mixed, 1 negative.
Schmigadoon only has one full week of sales for comparison, but it's comparable to Shucked's. (The latter did a better job filling the houses and was sold out early on, but it had a cheap ticket promotion in its early weeks to build word of mouth.)
If it had gotten much better reviews I could see it breaking out. With these, it could still very much go either way.
(It's also not that far off from Boop's 71.3% and 10 positive/4 mixed/2 negative and we saw how that went.)
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#32
Posted: 4/21/26 at 8:20am
EDSOSLO858 said: "It's pretty much the equivalent of a jukebox musical, with all but a few pre-existing songs.
Best musical is most likely going to TWO STRANGERS, and there's a lot of industry love behind it."
Oh, darling. No. ... No.
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SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#33
Posted: 4/21/26 at 8:32am
Congratulations to everyone involved in Schmigadoon. The TV show was excellent and clearly translated to the Broadway stage. Could this win Best Musical? We'll see how reviews shake out for The Lost Boys. Two Strangers could still win. Titanique is a wildcard, but I don't see it taking the top prize against newer new musicals if that makes sense.
Schmigadoon stands out for being the most classic sounding musical in a very modern sounding season.
Chorus Member Joined: 3/13/25
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#34
Posted: 4/21/26 at 9:47am
I, for one, would be happy to see this take Best Musical.
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#35
Posted: 4/21/26 at 10:03am
They used to always say that shows that would tour well had a bit of an edge in regards to Best Musical. Is that still a thing? I can see Tony voters fresh off of MHE feeling like another small, ultimately 2-character piece, is not the vibe… it's time to crown a big, traditional, fun show. I think Shmig checks a lot of boxes and might win by default in a weak season.
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#36
Posted: 4/21/26 at 10:32am
SkidRow82 said: "They used to always say that shows that would tour well had a bit of an edge in regards to Best Musical. Is that still a thing?"
It was revealed about a decade ago that the "road vote" only makes up about 10% of the voting bloc. Thus, we've lately been seeing scenarios such as...
Once winning over Newsies
Gentleman's Guide winning over Aladdin and Beautiful
Fun Home winning over An American in Paris and Something Rotten!
The Band's Visit winning over Frozen and Mean Girls
A Strange Loop winning over MJ and Six
Kimberly Akimbo winning over & Juliet, Shucked, and Some Like It Hot
To a majority voters, they're probably thinking "that crowd-pleasing hit is gonna do just fine. It doesn't need the Tony."
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#37
Posted: 4/21/26 at 11:17am
Rentaholic2 said: "That’s not what a jukebox musical is."
Jeffrey didn't say that Once was a jukebox musical. He was simply adding to Wayman's list of shows that have won Best Musical this century without having an original, Tony-eligible score. Hope that's clear now. 
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#38
Posted: 4/21/26 at 11:21am
75 on Broadway Scorecard, recommended.
"Critics find this stage adaptation of the Apple TV+ series a charming, well-crafted love letter to Golden Age musicals that mostly delights fans, though some note it struggles to escape feeling derivative and overly niche."
https://broadwayscorecard.com/show/schmigadoon
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/14/04
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#39
Posted: 4/21/26 at 11:30am
kdogg36 said: "Rentaholic2 said: "That’s not what a jukebox musical is."
Jeffrey didn't say thatOncewas a jukebox musical. He was simply adding to Wayman's list of shows that have won Best Musical this century without having an original, Tony-eligible score. Hope that's clear now."
Ah, thank you! Well hopefully my explanation was helpful for others on this thread who don't seem to know what a jukebox musical is.
Featured Actor Joined: 4/8/08
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#40
Posted: 4/21/26 at 11:35am
Schmigadoon wins in a walk.
To those who’ve been citing other examples of quieter or smaller-scale winners (Fun Home, Kimberly Akimbo, The Band’s Visit, Once) I’d only say those were generally all far more ecstatically reviewed shows than any of the offerings this year. If Strangers Carrying a Cake had gotten the reviews Maybe Happy Ending did, or Titanique the reviews that Oh Mary got, we’d have a different race.
Barring The Lost Boys pulling the critical upset of the decade (it can happen- Will Rogers Follies coming from behind to beat Miss Saigon and The Secret Garden, and at the same theater as The Lost Boys), this is now Schmigadoon’s to lose for two main reasons: its overall the best reviewed new musical of the year, and the voters en masse - not the road block, not the New Yorkers, but a majority of everyone - are generally not going to be keen on giving Best Musical to a chamber piece that’s essentially a two-character show two straight years in a row.
It may benefit from being in a slow year, but regardless that’s what will swing the vote in its favor- at a time when musicals are still struggling, a win for a big splashy old-fashioned show (not unlike my Will Rogers example) is good for Broadway, good for the business, and rightly or wrongly will be perceived as essential for the health of the art form.
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/14/04
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#41
Posted: 4/21/26 at 11:37am
MemorableUserName said: "Rentaholic2 said: "I feel somewhat vindicated - when this was announced, people on the board were tripping over themselves to say how badly it was going to bomb, and I said I could see it being a sleeper hit. With these reviews and the positive word of mouth I've been hearing, I wouldn't be surprised if this turns into a hit and takes Best Musical."
Maybe. Or it could wind up like Shucked, which was in the same theater, and whose trajectory it seems to be replicating so far.
BWW's review roundup calculated Shucked's average ratingto 71.1%.
Schmigadoon got 74.4%
Shucked had 12 positive, 3 mixed, 0 negative on DidTheyLikeIt.
Schmigadoon has 11 positive, 4 mixed, 1 negative.
Schmigadoon only has one full week of sales for comparison, but it's comparable to Shucked's. (The latter did a better job filling the houses and was sold out early on, but it had a cheap ticket promotion in its early weeks to build word of mouth.)
If it had gotten much better reviews I could see it breaking out. With these, it could still very much go either way.
(It's also not that far off from Boop's 71.3% and 10 positive/4 mixed/2 negative and we saw how that went.)"
You may be right in terms of whether it becomes a hot ticket. Though in terms of its Tony chances, I wouldn't compare it to Shucked and Boop, both of which were up against a clear frontrunner for Best Musical (Kimberly Akimbo and MHE), unlike Schmigadoon!
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#42
Posted: 4/21/26 at 11:50am
Kimbo said: "Schmigadoon wins in a walk.
This is now Schmigadoon’s to lose for two main reasons: its overall the best reviewed new musical of the year, and the voters en masse - not the road block, not the New Yorkers, but a majority of everyone - are generally not going to be keen on giving Best Musical to a chamber piece that’s essentially a two-character show two straight years in a row.
Then again, if Two Strangers does win, it'd be a scenario where voters likely don't care. They're just at the end of the day voting for what they liked most.
It may benefit from being in a slow year, but regardless that’s what will swing the vote in its favor- at a time when musicals are still struggling, a win for a big splashy old-fashioned show (not unlike my Will Rogers example) is good for Broadway, good for the business, and rightly or wrongly will be perceived as essential for the health of the art form."
While plausible, there may still be people within the industry who'd prefer to champion originality more than an IP-driven musical. Shortly after the 2018 Tonys, Michael Riedel wrote in the New York Post: "Broadway thumbed its nose at Tina Fey and touristy musicals Sunday night by showering The Band’s Visit, a lovely, human show, with 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
Its sweep of the Tonys is a sharp rebuke to the family-friendly franchise shows that are gobbling up Broadway.
Broadway is in danger of becoming a theme park, but Tony voters staged a revolution Sunday night, saying, in effect: No more shows based on famous movies or cartoons. Bring back smart, sophisticated shows for New Yorkers, not Iowans."
https://nypost.com/2018/06/11/the-bands-visit-bucks-trend-by-sweeping-tony-awards/
Featured Actor Joined: 4/8/08
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#43
Posted: 4/21/26 at 12:44pm
Jeffrey Karasarides said: "Kimbo said: "Schmigadoon wins in a walk.
This is now Schmigadoon’s to lose for two main reasons: its overall the best reviewed new musical of the year, and the voters en masse - not the road block, not the New Yorkers, but a majority of everyone - are generally not going to be keen on giving Best Musical to a chamber piece that’s essentially a two-character show two straight years in a row.
Then again, if Two Strangers does win, it'd be a scenario where voters likely don't care. They're just at the end of the day voting for what they liked most.
It may benefit from being in a slow year, but regardless that’s what will swing the vote in its favor- at a time when musicals are still struggling, a win for a big splashy old-fashioned show (not unlike my Will Rogers example) is good for Broadway, good for the business, and rightly or wrongly will be perceived as essential for the health of the art form."
While plausible, there may still be people within the industry who'd prefer to champion originality more than an IP-driven musical. Shortly after the 2018 Tonys, Michael Riedel wrote in the New York Post: "Broadway thumbed its nose at Tina Fey and touristy musicals Sunday night by showering The Band’s Visit,a lovely, human show, with 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
Its sweep of the Tonys is a sharp rebuke to the family-friendly franchise shows that are gobbling up Broadway.
Broadway is in danger of becoming a theme park, but Tony voters staged a revolution Sunday night, saying, in effect: No more shows based on famous movies or cartoons. Bring back smart, sophisticated shows for New Yorkers, not Iowans."
https://nypost.com/2018/06/11/the-bands-visit-bucks-trend-by-sweeping-tony-awards/"
An example that sort of proves my point; The Band’s Visit was more enthusiastically reviewed than Mean Girls (much like Schmigadoon was overall more positively received than any of the other shows so far this year).
Further, I remember thinking back then, Band’s Visit was no more original than Mean Girls, having been based on a hugely successful Israeli film (it swept the Israeli version of the Oscars, the Ophies, winning 8); it wasn’t the IP over here that Mean Girls was, but it had still been released in the U.S. and was very well-regarded. Schmigadoon is an interesting comparison in this respect, because while many are aware of the source material, it’s a cult TV show that’s not only less well-known than The Lost Boys or Titanic, it actually had a lower volume of viewers than even the TV version of Smash.
If originality wins points then sure, Two Strangers is the most original - and obviously if it were to win, the primary explanation would be that voters voted for what they liked most. I’m simply arguing there are other factors at play, as there always are- that all else being roughly equal, when it comes time for people to cast a vote, for some in the industry the optics of a big splashy old-fashioned show winning will trump the optics of a two-hander winning two years in a row.
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#44
Posted: 4/21/26 at 1:33pm
Then again, we did see The Outsiders overcome a mixed critical reaction to still win Best Musical just two years ago. I think what we should keep an eye out for is what other categories could Schmigadoon! and/or Two Strangers win.
Both will likely be going head-to-head for Best Book. If Schmigadoon! takes Best Musical, then it would have to win there. Although Jim Barne & Kit Buchan could benefit in that category for writing a completely original story. Two Strangers is pretty much the frontrunner for Best Score by default. If the latter wins both categories, then Schmigdoon! would have to win directing and/or choreography. Yet Christopher Gattelli is gonna have tough competition from Cats in both places.
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#45
Posted: 4/21/26 at 1:38pm
Rentaholic2 said: "
You may be right in terms of whether it becomes a hot ticket. Though in terms of its Tony chances, I wouldn't compare it toShucked and Boop, both of which were up against a clear frontrunner for Best Musical (Kimberly Akimbo and MHE), unlike Schmigadoon!"
Yeah, I was just thinking/talking about whether it actually becomes a hit at the box office. Awards are a popularity contest, and in a year without an overwhelming favorite in terms of quality, this probably has more going for it that seemingly would make it the popular choice (homegrown product, large cast of local faves, etc.)
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/14/04
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#46
Posted: 4/21/26 at 2:17pm
Jeffrey Karasarides said: "While plausible, there may still be people within the industry who'd prefer to champion originality more than an IP-driven musical."
I'm not sure people really think of this as an IP-driven musical, though. The show was never popular enough to have developed the built-in fanbase that we associate with IP-driven musicals. It's a musical based on a pre-existing story just like most musicals are.
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#47
Posted: 4/21/26 at 3:05pm
Kaleigh Cronin, who plays Helen Pitt as well as understudying Mildred and Melissa, announced that she’s pregnant!
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#48
Posted: 4/21/26 at 3:35pm
A show can win the Tony for Best Book and Best Score ... and still lose Best Musical.
''Into the Woods,'' anyone? Also, ''Ragtime,'' ''Parade,'' ''Urinetown,'' ''The Drowsy Chaperone'' and ''Suffs.''
SCHMIGADOON! Reviews#49
Posted: 4/21/26 at 4:44pm
Wayman_Wong said: "A show can win the Tony for Best Book and Best Score ... and still lose Best Musical.
''Into the Woods,'' anyone? Also, ''Ragtime,'' ''Parade,'' ''Urinetown,''''The Drowsy Chaperone'' and' 'Suffs.''"
As I alluded to earlier, if Schmigadoon! were to lose Best Book, but still win Best Musical, it would need to take a major above the line category to go with it. In fact, when the New York Times mentioned in their 2024 Tony voter survey that The Outsiders was ahead in Best Musical, I settled on that in my final predictions. I also predicted it would take Book to go with it as I knew it would seem odd for a Best Musical winner to not take home any major above the line awards. Fosse was the last show to pull that off way back in 1999. In the end, The Outsiders did win a major above the line award to suggest its Best Musical prize, just not the one I expected.
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