SCHMIGADOON! to play Kennedy Center- Page 3

[SingingEachtoEach]

Posted: 1/31/25 at 11:37pm

I didn't look precisely but I'd say a little more than 2.5 hours.

I thought it was fun, the pacing was a little funky in the beginning but it smoothed out after that.  The performers were all fantastic.

[SeenEnough2Judge]

Posted: 2/1/25 at 6:58am

It was about 2hrs and 40 mins with intermission. The audience was wild for it. However if I am being honest, it is almost word for word, beat for beat, the TV show just transposed on stage. The costumes were even the exact same as they wore in the TV show. I found myself bored by the first act, because it felt like no new choices were made. I liked the second act much better than the first act. I actually really liked Isabella McCalla, Ryan Vasquez, Kevin Del Aguila and McKenzie Kurtz. And the audience roared for Ann Harada. They do absolutely nothing new with the material, but it was charming. I can also see it evolving into something fresher over time. 

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 2/1/25 at 10:38am

SeenEnough2Judge said: "They do absolutely nothing new with the material, but it was charming. I can also see it evolving into something fresher over time."

I wish I could see the show because of this comment. Because as much as I have heard about the translation of Smash to the stage, it sounds like it has tried tons of new things to the point where it’s not necessarily the show we saw on NBC and it’s lost in a sea of different that doesn’t necessarily compare to its predecessor. I can’t attest to it until I see it, but of the two musical series to stage, I’d love to see Schmigadoon more. But that’s just my two cents that no one cares about but me. hahaha

 

Updated On: 2/1/25 at 10:38 AM

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 2/3/25 at 3:01pm

Still processing my thoughts but i did not like this. I found it to be an absolute mess. Sara Chase was charming, but most material fell flat. Most of the audience around me wanted to know how much they loved it/know the show, but the material didn’t reflect that whatsoever 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 2/3/25 at 3:21pm

Yeah, I'd wondered about this:

https://www.vulture.com/article/theater-review-schmigadoon-onstage-at-the-kennedy-center.html

"Yet, for all its savvy reinvention of show tunes, the production’s handling of race strikes a discordant note. The TV series knowingly engaged with the way musicals of the ’40s and ’50s marginalized or caricatured characters of color without giving in to what the historian E.P. Thompson called “the enormous condescension of posterity.” And although it’s still engaged with the subject — the songs “Somewhere Love Is Waiting for You,” “He’s a Queer One, That Man of Mine,” and “I Thought I Was the Only One” sidle up to rather than soft-shoe away from prickly topics — the subtle self-awareness has been diminished for the stage. To state the obvious: Casting a white actor as Josh diminishes the opportunities for the show to probe these problems. Lines from the TV series about “color-blind casting” and “miscegenation” have vanished, as has Mildred Layton’s testy observation that Josh and Melissa make an “exotic couple.” Gone, too, is a scene in which Josh trades confidences with Emma Tate, the Black schoolmarm, about the “menace” Mrs. Layton. When Keegan-Michael Key’s character says to Emma, “So she’s got a problem with you, too … Yeah, that lines up,” there’s a flash in her anthracite eyes, as if he’s picked at a scab she never knew she had; no such tête-à-tête transpires in the Kennedy Center version (which, unlike the show, keeps the schoolroom set sparse, with no Abraham Lincoln portrait). On TV, when Josh presents Carson (Ayaan Diop), the lisping toddler town crier and Emma’s ward, with a kazoo he tells the boy: “When I was in school to be a doctor … there wasn’t anybody like me in my whole group. And to tell the truth, it got pretty lonely sometimes.” In the musical, the sentiment is genericized into: “The other kids made fun of me when I was your age too.”"

[MezzA101]

Posted: 2/3/25 at 4:17pm

An Affectionate Golden Age Schpoof in ‘Schmigadoon!’

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/03/theater/schmigadoon-review-kennedy-center.html?unlocked_article_code=1.uE4.iqAI.wvYCHyG6u45l

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 2/3/25 at 4:38pm

Since I can't fly cross-country for this, would someone mind spoiling the plotline they've added back in for Danny Bailey that Cinco Paul keeps talking about in interviews? 

[Menken Fan]

Posted: 2/8/25 at 1:25pm

ChairinMain said: "Since I can't fly cross-country for this, would someone mind spoiling the plotline they've added back in for Danny Bailey that Cinco Paul keeps talking about in interviews?"

Saw this twice this week and loved it. The musical follows the first season of the TV series very closely.  It has been edited to be shorter, dialogue has been trimmed, locations have been consolidated, but every song from the season is included. New music has been added, including a new song for Betsy at the picnic with Josh ("Not That Kinda Gal") and a new song for Mayor Menlove and Reverend Layton over rhubarb squares ("I Thought I Was The Only One"), plus some minor lyric changes, new scene transition songs and reprises. The plot very closely follows the TV series with one major difference…

Spoiler…

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

In this version, Danny Bailey (who is clearly based on Billy Bigelow from Carousel) dies from an accidental self-stabbing, while he is attempting to rob Doc Lopez to provide for Melissa’s nonexistent unborn child. Of course, this perfectly aligns with the original musical that is being referenced.

 

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 2/8/25 at 1:36pm

There's also that cute "Picnic Basket Auction" ditty that's very "Clambake" from Carousel right before that whole scene. haha. Entertainment Weekly released the sitzprobe video of it as a sneak peek, I believe.

[BoringBoredBoard40]

Posted: 2/8/25 at 4:56pm

I really want to understand the decision to change Josh from black to white. Wasn't the point of Josh being a person of color to explore some of the racial issues with other shows? 

[FolliesCabaret]

Posted: 2/8/25 at 5:56pm

BoringBoredBoard40 said: "I really want to understand the decision to change Josh from black to white. Wasn't the point of Josh being a person of color to explore some of the racial issues with othershows?"

Should've been Nicholas Christopher.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/8/25 at 6:05pm

Maybe i just needed something silly and fun but I had a great time at this today. 

[Kad]

Posted: 2/8/25 at 6:21pm

I always thought the racial elements of the first season of Schmigadoon were rather surface level and beside the point. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/8/25 at 7:36pm

And Brightman was perfect for this. It was like the role was written for him.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 2/9/25 at 6:36am

Menken Fan said:

Spoiler…

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

In this version, Danny Bailey (who is clearly based on Billy Bigelow from Carousel) dies from an accidental self-stabbing, while he is attempting to rob Doc Lopez to provide for Melissa’s nonexistent unborn child. Of course, thisperfectly aligns with the original musical that is being referenced.

"

Well aligns with the censored FILM version you mean (which might have been the point.)

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/9/25 at 11:47am