Forget ‘The Traitors,’ Alan Cumming’s 2-Season Apple TV Flop Demands a Weekend Binge
Erin Konrad's love for everything entertainment dates back to elementary school when she became obsessed with classic Hollywood musicals. When she's not catching up on all her favorite television shows, she's advising her friends and family on what they should binge watch next.
She has her Bachelor's degree in Journalism and a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. Creating content for Collider gives her the opportunity to combine her writing skills with her passion for television and movies. She spends her free time trying to beat her personal record of reading 137 books in a year and cuddling with her dog, Gracie.
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Alan Cumming is one of the most versatile actors ever. He began as a Tony-winning stage actor and won the hearts of every millennial in films like the Spy Kids trilogy, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, and Spice World. He then switched to television, where his role as shark lawyer, Eli Gold, on The Good Wife netted him three Emmy nominations. The role that Cumming is perhaps most known for right now is his hosting duties over on The Traitors, a show which has landed him six Emmy wins. Cumming might be crushing his over-the-top Shakespearean-like leadership, complete with a stunning array of colorful costumes, but there's one other binge-worthy project that never got to flourish properly that he shines in.
What Is 'Schmigadoon!' About?
Schmigadoon! first premiered on Apple TV back in 2021. The parody musical comedy, created by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, is an inventive take on the musical art form. The first season, consisting of just six episodes, pays tribute to the Golden Age of musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. With a focus on Brigadoon, and nods to Oklahoma, South Pacific, and Carousel, the show follows two New York-based doctors named Melissa (Cecily Strong) and Josh (Keegan-Michael Key). They decide to go backpacking to try and fix their relationship problems, but on their trip, they discover the mystical town of Schmigadoon. The kooky village seems to exist in some ephemeral past, and there are all kinds of stereotypical, yet hilarious characters who have the tendency to break out into elaborate song and dance musical numbers. Melissa and Josh realize that they can't leave the town until they find true love and break the spell. The second season of Schmigadoon! tackles an entirely different era of musicals. Released in 2023, the six-episode season is aptly named Schmicago, and features parodies of musicals from the 1960s and 1970s, like Chicago, Cabaret, and Sweeney Todd.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which Broadway Musical Soundtrack Is Your Life Story? Hamilton · Wicked · Les Misérables · Rent
Answer eight quick questions and we will tell you which cast recording is secretly about you. Four of the biggest shows ever staged, four completely different people at the centre of them, and all four made it onto a cinema screen.
🖋️Hamilton(2015)
💚Wicked(2003)
🚩Les Misérables(1985)
🕯️Rent(1996)
01
What were you like at school? Pick the one that sounds most like you.
02
What drives you most? One answer only.
03
What is your friendship group like? Pick the closest answer.
04
Pick a film for tonight. No wrong answers here.
05
What do you belt out in the car? Windows up, nobody listening.
06
How do you handle money? Be honest.
07
What do you do when the boss is wrong? Pick the closest answer.
08
What do you want your life to add up to? Last one. This is the one that decides it.
Overture, Curtain, Lights Your Show Is…
Every one of these four started as a cast recording people played until the disc wore out, and every one of them eventually turned into a film. Here is yours, what it says about you, and the case for it being the best of the four.
Hamilton
You work like the clock is against you, because in your head it always is. Hamilton is three hours about a man who cannot stop producing, cannot stop arguing and cannot leave a single thing alone, and you recognised yourself in it immediately.
- You are the most ambitious person in most rooms and you are slightly embarrassed about how much you like that.
- It won eleven Tony Awards in 2016 and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama the same year.
- Disney paid a reported seventy-five million for the filmed stage version and put it out in 2020 instead of in cinemas.
- Your flaw is the one the show spends its second half on, which is not knowing when to stop writing.
Wicked
People made up their minds about you early and they were wrong. Wicked takes the most famous villain in American children's fiction and asks what the story looks like from her side, which is a question you have asked about yourself more than once.
- You are an acquired taste and the people who get you would go to war for you.
- Jon M. Chu's first film was nominated for ten Academy Awards in 2025 and won two.
- Wicked: For Good opened to a hundred and fifty million dollars in 2025 and was then shut out of the Oscars entirely.
- Your risk is spending so long being underestimated that you start enjoying it.
Les Misérables
You cannot walk past something unfair. Les Mis is a show about a man who spends his entire life trying to make one wrong right, and about everybody around him deciding what they are prepared to lose for other people.
- You are the one who speaks up, and you have paid for it more than once.
- The original London reviews were terrible and it is now the longest-running musical in West End history.
- Tom Hooper shot the 2012 film with the cast singing live on set, and Anne Hathaway won Best Supporting Actress for it.
- Your weakness is taking on so much of other people's weight that nobody carries yours.
Rent
You are not interested in saving it all for later. Rent is a year in the life of people with no money, no plan and a very clear sense that the time they have is the only thing they genuinely own.
- Your friends are your family, and you would rather be broke among them than comfortable without them.
- Jonathan Larson died suddenly the night before the first preview and never saw what the show became.
- It won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony for Best Musical in 1996, and his story became tick, tick… BOOM! in 2021.
- Your flaw is that living entirely for now leaves somebody else to deal with later.
Alan Cumming Steals the Show in the Fabulous 'Schmigadoon!'
Schmigadoon! is a completely unique show because it's so brilliantly written. There are plenty of fun storylines, and some of the plots that you might already love from these traditional musicals get turned on their heads in a delightfully tongue-in-cheek way. These homages to past memorable musicals are a tad irreverent, but they also focus on the elements that made these shows so popular in the first place. The series is truly at its best during the big-budget musical numbers that are sprinkled throughout each episode. With songs in Season 1 like 'Corn Puddin,' which landed the series an Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, "You Can't Tame Me," "I Always, Always, Never Get My Man," and Kristin Chenoweth's showstopping performance of "Tribulation," Schmigadoon! definitely features catchy, toe-tapping music that will have you wanting to sing along.
Both seasons of Schmigadoon! offer a completely stellar cast of performers. Key and Strong are grounded anchors in this fantastical world, but there are a plethora of other talented actors including Chenoweth, Fred Armisen, Dove Cameron, Aaron Tveit, Ariana DeBose, Jane Krakowski, and Martin Short. Despite this stacked cast, Cumming is a true standout. In Season 1, he portrays the mayor of Schmigadoon, a closeted gay man named Aloysius Menlove who sings the amusing "Somewhere Love Is Waiting For You." Season 2 offers Cumming the chance to chew on even more scenery in an altogether different role as Dooley Blight, a Sweeney Todd rip-off. Through several dark, yet hilarious songs, Cumming manages to make the character even more memorable. He never fails to land each comedic beat, and his beautiful baritone nails every song he takes on.
Although the show was a hit with reviewers, Schmigadoon! was disappointingly cancelled after Season 2 and never seemed to gain the traction with audiences that it needed. In an interesting twist, the show has found new life in a stage musical also written by Paul that debuted on Broadway in April. The show won four Tony Awards this year, proving that the magic of Schmigadoon was transferable from screen to stage. Cumming definitely has his dance card full right now, with his recent role in the miniseries, Tip Toe, as well as his continued participation in the massive hit that is The Traitors, but Schmigadoon! is still certainly worth checking out to get another glimpse of Cumming's immense talents.
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