‘Schmigadoon!’: Kristin Chenoweth & Alan Cumming Preview Finale, Look Back on Decades of Friendship
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[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Schmigadoon! Season 2 Episodes 1-5.]
Alan Cumming and Kristin Chenoweth have been chums for years. They first worked together on The Wonderful World of Disney’s Annie, released in 1999, in which they played criminal couple Rooster and Lily St. Regis opposite Kathy Bates‘ Miss Hannigan. Twenty-four years later, they’re sharing the screen once more as Dooley Blight and Miss Codwell in Schmigadoon! Season 2 — two characters not intended to be an extension of Rooster and Lily, but are nonetheless.
Dooley and Miss Codwell are Season 2’s take on Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. As the manager of Schmicago’s orphanage (named for Sweeney creator Stephen Sondheim), there’s a lot of Miss Hannigan baked into Chenoweth’s character. Unfortunately, Chenoweth’s character and her butcher boyfriend also want to bake orphans into pies.
Schmigadoon! packs as many Broadway references into its six-episode seasons as it can. Creator Cinco Paul and his writers room are so good at this, some of the characters are even slight nods to the resumes of other cast members (whether intended or not). In the theater world, Cumming is best known for his Tony-winning performance as the Emcee in the 1990s revival of Cabaret. Ariana DeBose takes on that character in Season 2. Chenoweth, best known as Wicked‘s original Glinda (we spoke days after the first images of Ariana Grande on the set of the film came out), starred in the 2010 revival of Promises, Promises alongside Sean Hayes. The Burt Bacharach musical is referenced in the Season 2 Episode 5 duet between Ann Harada and Jaime Camil.
TV Insider had the chance to chat with these Tony-winning Broadway legends ahead of the Schmigadoon! Season 2 finale, dropping Wednesday, May 3 on Apple TV+. Here’s how that conversation went.
I love that you two are paired together as Dooley Blight and Miss Codwell. You two have been friends for years; you’re paired up this season. Did you spend a lot of time together between scenes on set?
Kristin Chenoweth: I mean, whenever I could find him. [Laughs] The set was so big, and our trailers were…
Alan Cumming: We had trailers next to each other this time, didn’t we? Once we moved.
KC: Yes, we did. We did. I could hear you singing. I’m sure you could hear me singing. I’m sure I could hear you flush the toilet.
AC: I knew more about your bowel movements than you.
KC: [Laughs]
AC: It’s funny; this time was slightly different. My dates were all squashed into a month because I had to go and do something else.
KC: Me too.
AC: Yeah, we were both squished. That’s right. So, actually Ariana, I didn’t see, which was a very different experience, but we were together a lot obviously, because of most of our stuff was together.
I feel like Schmigadoon is any theater person’s “dream come true” kind of show because it’s everybody’s favorite musicals wrapped into one big parody that’s also a celebration. I love it so much.
KC: Same.
AC: Yeah, I think that’s the thing about it. It’s a parody and an homage at the same time, which is a really difficult line to tread. But I think Cinco is so great. He’s managed to do that with both series. They’re really sort of beautiful homages as well as it being kind of satirical too.
Your characters provide the ties to Annie, Sweeney Todd, and a little Oliver this season. Did filming this season bring back any fond memories of filming Annie from 1999? That’s my personal favorite Annie, if I do say so myself.
KC: We love to hear that, Kelli. Yes. Alan, I don’t think we ever really discussed it, did we? But it’s like, you know, when we’re together, time never passes. Don’t you think, Alan?
AC: Totally. I feel like we’ve just got such an ease with each other, having known each other for so long. And I love the memes that are going around that says, you know, “how it started, how it’s going,” and it’s got us as Rooster and Lily, and then as Dooley and Codwell. They’re so hilarious.
KC: I actually love those.
AC: It’s like the cracked version of our former selves.
KC: [Laughs] I remember a time when we were the babies. I’m not saying we’re decrepit, I’m just saying…
AC: It’s hilarious that the children stay the same age, and we just get more cranky.
KC: What’s gonna be next for us? Like, what’s gonna happen now? You know what I mean?
AC: It’ll be like “Cocoon: The Musical,” but with lots of children.
KC: As long as I can play Jessica Tandy’s part, I’m good.
AC: [Laughs] Totally.
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Does Schmigadoon! Season 2 feel like a full-circle moment for you two since there’s so much Rooster and Lily baked into these characters?
AC: Yeah, definitely. And like, finally, we have a semi-sex scene, which was hilarious and weird at the same time. But yeah, very much so. I like the fact that people are enjoying the show but also enjoying like the sort of meta aspect of us playing these parts and having done these kinds of numbers a thousand years ago.
KC: I think too; like I said, just getting to be with him again and laugh. God, you know, we weren’t there for a while, but we had to pack so much in, so it was like lots of concentrated work. And getting to now watch it back and say we did that — we’ve hosted the Tony’s together. I full-on see us doing more together, whether he likes it or not.
AC: We’ve done so much things together! The Good Wife and we did that George Lucas film.
KC: Strange Magic, right?
AC: Yeah, Strange Magic.
KC: And now people are like, “Oh, we would love to see you as Lovett and Sweeney.”
AC: Yes, yes. We’ve got that.
KC: And we’re like, “We just did it.” We’ll find something great to do together, and who knows what Season 3 will bring from Schmigadoon?
I’m so looking forward to Season 3 [should it be renewed] because the next era that could be covered could be even more Andrew Lloyd Webber, all like the ’80s musicals. I’m just envisioning “Schmats,” you know?
AC: Ha!
KC: [Laughs] I’d love to float up in a tire.
I love Ariana DeBose in the Emcee role in Season 2, but Alan, was there ever talk of you playing the Kratt Klubb Emcee given your Cabaret history?
AC: No, and I wouldn’t have done it anyway. I think that would’ve not been appropriate. I feel it’s a funny thing in America: when you’ve done something and it goes well, everybody wants you to keep doing it. Sometimes you just need to say, “I’ve done it. I’m moving on. I’m not gonna do this anymore.” People don’t quite seem to understand it. Like when I did Cabaret again five, six years ago, whenever it was, people were like, “Will you do it again in another 16 years?” And I said, “I’ll be 66. That would be so weird to be in a harness with my tits out at age 66.” [Laughs] Sometimes, you have to let things go.
I also have always said that I think that role is a role that can be anything. You can do anything you want with it. It’s like a cipher. It’s not even a real character. The fact that Ariana’s doing it, and what she does with it, is completely what I think should be done with that role. It shouldn’t just be a copy of what I did. I think that’s a really good message to put out to the world.
KC: And it takes somebody wise enough to be able to say what he just said. Ten years ago, I wanted to do the Emcee in Cabaret. John Kander would’ve done it, but a lot of people were nervous at the thought of that. I’m so glad how far we’ve come, Alan. Like, what you just said now seems absolutely fine. And it should be. It’s a classless, ageless, genderless role.
AC: It is. Absolutely. You can do anything with it.
KC: But when I wanted to do it 10 years ago, it was like, “No, the purists would be upset.”
AC: They wouldn’t accept it, probably. They wouldn’t be able to be open to it.
KC: No. And so, it’s happening at the right time and on television.
AC: And you only have to do it once. Ha, ha.
A lot has changed in the last 10 years in TV and theatrical landscapes. I don’t know if you saw it, but yesterday it was announced that Mason Alexander Park will play the Emcee in the West End Cabaret next. I think that’s great casting.
AC: I did see that!
KC: Oh, that’s great! I wouldn’t want to step in anybody’s shoes, to be honest with you. There’s Alan Cumming in there. I’m sorry; I know he’s on the phone, but I would say that anyways.
AC: I can hear you. I’m right here.
KC: Hehe.
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To talk about your “Good Enough to Eat” number in Episode 4, can you take me behind the scenes of rehearsals and filming? It wasn’t a one-shot number like “Tribulation” in Season 1, but it was a pretty big production.
AC: We did it bit by bit over a number of days, and it was such a hoot to do. I think Chris Catelli, the choreographer, is so brilliant and clever. He doesn’t make you feel nervous about having to do lots of dancing. And he had all those kids; he’s great with kids. It was a huge number, but it went really smoothly, and I think that’s a lot to do with him.
KC: For sure. Alan and I were cracking up because, obviously, we were working with these cute little kids, right? But do you remember that one little kid, Alan, that was like, we had this whole spread out on the table of food, and they knew they were gonna get to have some treats at the end of the shoot. Maybe not the food that was on the table, but you know, some food. And this one little kid had been snacking all day, and they kept getting onto him like, “No, don’t do that. End of the day!” And finally, it came time to get food. It was all this sweet stuff, and he goes, “I’m sorry, I’m gluten-free.”
AC: Ha! That’s right. [Laughs]
KC: He was, like, 6. And I’m like, dude, you’ve been eating it all day. It’s so funny. They were so cute. I mean, really, the fact that Alan and I got out alive with those kids, that they noticed us, is great.
AC: And also, it’s just hilarious when you’re doing something that is so wrong. You know, we’re talking about killing them and making them into pies, and yet they’re just so excited and smiling away and loving to be there. We were just laughing at the absurdity of the situation. It’s so ridiculous.
KC: So ridiculous. And the lyrics that Cinco wrote — genius.
Even just props are references to other musicals. Kristin, I noticed you holding a broom at the end of “Tribulation” in Season 1. It got me really excited.
KC: Not even kidding that I did that on purpose. [Laughs]
Melissa, Josh, Dooley, and Miss Codwell strike a deal in Episode 5 to exchange Kratt for the orphans. What can you tease about how your character’s stories will come to a close in the Episode 6 finale?
AC: A lot of explosions. Things turn out pretty well. Let’s leave it at that.
KC: It turns out pretty well for Codwell and Sweeney/Dooley.
AC: They branch into another form of retail.
KC: Yes, they’ve always got ideas, so they keep going.
They’re hustlers, for sure.
KC: Yes.
Schmigadoon!, Season 2 Finale, Wednesday, May 3, Apple TV+
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