She may be a Tony Award winner, an Emmy winner, the Glinda in “Wicked,” and, frankly, Broadway royalty, but Kristin Chenoweth hadn’t done it all. When she got the offer to star in Apple TV+’s “Schmigadoon!” she was intrigued but was concerned about shooting in Vancouver months before the vaccine for COVID was available yet. She was hesitant. But when her old “Pushing Daisies” buddy, director Barry Sonnenfeld, told her he would shoot her character’s big musical number in one take, it piqued her curiosity.
Created by Cinco Paul, “Schmigadoon!” follows a disgruntled married couple (Cecily Strong, Keegan-Michael Key) who take a wrong turn on a hike in the woods. They end up in a bizarre town called Schmigadoon, where everything looks like a movie musical set. The residents are dressed like extras from “The Music Man,” and everyone seems to break into song at the most inopportune moments. Chenoweth plays Mildred Layton, a preacher’s wife who is skeptical of these outsiders coming into her picture-perfect town. In the number “Tribulation,” Mildred makes her case in the town square that changes need to happen and the two outsiders are the problem.
As he promised, Sonnenfeld shot it in one magic shot, but COVID made production incredibly difficult. Chenoweth had just three rehearsals. Two with the cast and chorus and one with the camera person. And then she waited for two weeks while Sonnenfeld shot other members through their scenes.
“I’m ready to go. Now I got to wait. But I understand that where we work, we have to work around schedules. Plus, COVID,” Chenoweth says. “Remember, this was pre-vax. So we had the cones on like we’d been spayed or neutered, and I just thought, ‘O.K., Kristin, go shopping, go to the museum, go to the aquarium, Kristin, write.’ I did a lot of writing during that time. I’m a singer; I did lots of other rehearsals for other things. So, I kept myself very, very busy because if I’d had just been there, I might have just jumped off a cliff. You know? Really. That being said, I also was frustrated because I wanted to go watch everybody do their thing. And I couldn’t, I couldn’t watch Jane [Krakowski] and Cecily. I couldn’t watch Alan [Cumming]. And couldn’t go because of the COVID rules.”
Over the course of our interview, Chenoweth goes in-depth about the difficulty of her three rehearsals for the one-take shot, why they probably landed it on the first take, why there aren’t more musical series on television, and much, much more.
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The Playlist: I will admit, I am a member of the cult of “Schmigadoon.” I love the show. I know this project came your way during the early days of the pandemic. What made you want to jump on board?
Kristin Chenoweth: The year before, I had been offered to do a reading of it, and I couldn’t because I needed to do some family time. But I read it then. And I thought, “This is really funny, and it’s not making fun of what I love. It’s laughing with everybody.” It came back around. I was not going to lie. I was very nervous. Barry Sonnenfeld called me with Cinco Paul, our writer, and said, “You have to play this part. You have to do it.” I’m like, “Pandemic, a foreign country. I’ve got a dog. I can’t; I don’t think I can.” And he said, “I’m going to shoot your number in one.” I said, “O.K, I’ll be there. When do I show up? I’m coming.” So he knows how to bait me, Sonnenfeld. So I thought, “Challenge, being safe. They’re going to test us. We’re going to stay in our bubbles.” And I just thought, “I’m still looking to be, I want to be challenged.”
When I talked to Cinco a few months ago, he told me that you had said that this was one of the hardest things you’d ever done in your career. And I was sort of shocked because you’ve done full three-hour-long musicals where you’re on stage for almost the entire production. What was the challenge in this that was so difficult?
To shoot a television at a 16-page wordy song in one shot when there’s a chorus and you’re moving and you don’t have any rehearsal time because you’re in COVID. I rehearsed three times. So, in rehearsals for a show, we have months. [For this,] I’m in there with a cone on my head, working with lots of people and trusting them. They’re trusting me. I mean, I’m all over that whole set. I’m riding on a cart, I’m getting on a thing. I’m being lifted, and I’m very aware of injury. And if you’re going to do it in one [take], I don’t want you to be there all day trying to get one shot. So, I’m going to come in with the damn thing learned. And I did, and we did it three times.
Which is also what he said. And I think he said the first one is the one that’s in the show.
It is.
I often hear for one-take content in either film or television; it’s usually the first one that works the best.
Yes.
Is it because when you do the second and third, you’ve got it, so you relax. What do you think it is?
I think it’s that. I think you’re so dead-on right with that. Like, when I worked with Sean Hayes, we were about the same. We come in, and the more we rehearse comedy, the less funny it gets. Also, the second and third times, there might have been a little bobble here and there with somebody else. See, there were so many people in it. But man, can you believe there wasn’t a mistake? I mean, I had my own little fun like I just went like held up Bible upside down for my own pleasure because I wanted to say because Donald Trump had done it. And I just did little things like that for my own pleasure for her as a character. But we did it. We just nailed it, and I thought, “S**t, I can get on a plane now. I can go home.”
I’ve watched the number a bunch of times, but I just caught a really fun moment. When Mildred is at the door and she’s saying, “No, no, I won’t do it.” She turns around. And she finally says, “Yes.” And the crowd gets excited. And then you do a little smile. It’s not a big smirk. It’s a little one to acknowledge, “O.K. I’m I know what I’m doing.” Is that a wink to them or a wink to the viewer?
Both. The line is, “O.K., I’ll do it.” And Cecily Strong calls me once a week and just goes, “O.K. I’ll do it.” But it’s a wink to both because the truth is she wants that. This is when film with music theater is so fun. It’s a very, very fine line. Like if I had gone just a little bit over, it would’ve been a hat on a hat. And that’s where you trust your director too. But yeah. I’m glad you caught that. Also, when they lifted me, I did like a Jesus on the cross, but I did things like that just for my own … There’s this Nazi salute in there as well. It’s a second. It’s like I did it, and I go. And Barry Sonnenfeld was like, “Oh my God, I don’t know. I don’t know.” I said, “Yes. Yes, yes. Please.”
It’s one thing to rehearse with all the actors. But when you get on set for the first time, just because the camera person and the director think it’s going to work means it will.
Right. What if the camera guy trips, moving backward fast?
And then you have to come up with something without screwing up the rest of the shot. How close was it, or were there a lot of changes in those three rehearsals because of that?
The first two rehearsals were me, the choreographer, and the cast. And I’m like, “If we’re going to do it in one, we got to.” Because then my third rehearsal, I needed to be a rehearsal with a camera operator. And so camera A and I danced. We danced and he’s got to be on it too. And to his credit, he did it. And he didn’t make one mistake. So, the third rehearsal was me, Chris, the camera operator, and the camera and the chorus; we were just so prepared. I looked at Jim. I said, “Now, listen, You better be careful because I move.” And we did it for him once, and he made notes, and then we did it. And then that was the third rehearsal. And then I waited two weeks till I got to shoot it.
Wait, you didn’t even do it the next day; you waited two weeks after your last rehearsal?
They had to shoot other people out. So yeah, I had to wait.
And you didn’t rehearse it before then?
I did it on my own. I rehearsed in my hotel room. Yeah. I went on the set. I went on the set a couple of times by myself just to do it.
O.K. So, I think from any human being’s perspective, that’s even more impressive because everyone in that thing had two weeks off. If it was like at 48 hours or something, I’d get it but two weeks! That’s crazy.
Sonnenfeld and I are like this. And I said, “How can you do this to me?” I mean, I’m like at the gate, like a horse, ready go, hear the gunshot now I’m ready to go. Now I got to wait. But I understand that where we work, we have to work around schedules. Plus COVID. Remember, this was pre-vax. So we had the cones on like we’d been spayed or neutered, and I just thought, “O.K., Kristin, go shopping, go to the museum, go to the aquarium, Kristin, write.” I did a lot of writing during that time. I’m a singer; I did lots of other rehearsals for other things. So, I kept myself very, very busy because if I’d had just been there, I might have just jumped off a cliff. You know? Really. That being said, I also was frustrated because I wanted to go watch everybody do their thing. And I couldn’t, I couldn’t go watch Jane [Krakowski] and Cecily. I couldn’t go watch Alan [Cumming]. And couldn’t go because of the COVID rules.
When you finally got to watch the show, was there one other number that most impressed you?
I’m always going to be impressed with Aaron Tveit. He was the character. And I mean, he’s music theater to me perfectly. And I just thought, he got the pants right, the outfit right, and the swoon and just everything. And when I say you’re white carnival trash. And he led her. I loved watching him on film. I loved it. I loved everybody. Who am I not going to love? Alan Cumming, He’s like my brother. Watching him is like water in a desert. And then you have Cecily and Keegan leading the thing with the heart of it. We couldn’t be wackadoos if they were not as wonderful as they were
I thought it was so good. Have you heard anything about a season two? Maybe you haven’t. Oh, maybe you have.
I may.*
I talked to Ariana maybe two months ago; she really wanted to do it, but didn’t know. On another subject, it’s so rare that there even is any sort of musical show on television like this at all. As someone who lives and breathes this world, why do you think that is? Why aren’t more Broadway creators who can direct pitching this sort of content?
That’s a great question. And one, one that I’m going to be very careful here. I think that Cinco has both worlds, music theater and [film/television with] “Despicable Me.” So, he’s the perfect person to write it. Barry Sonnenfeld is the perfect person to direct it because he does comedy well, but…When I did “Pushing Daisies” with him, for example, any time we used music, it was, “Remember Kristin, monologue. He hates musical theater.” I’m like, “Don’t say that in front of me again.” And by the way, I can, because he is like my big brother. But it’s important that they continue to write for people who do this because I think what’s happened, if I may, in the past, it there have been a variety of shows that have been tried that have failed because they do not cast people who do it. I’m sorry. Now I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but everybody on this cast, that’s what they do.
*“Schmigadoon!” was renewed for a second season following this interview.
“Schmigadoon!” is available on Apple TV+ worldwide.
