Schmigadoon: Jaime Camil and Ann Harada on the Twists and Turns of Schmicago
Jaime Camil and Ann Harada are back for Schmigadoon! Season 2 in wildly different roles.
Instead of dreamy Doc Lopez, Camil plays cop Sgt. Rivera, lackey of Octavius Kratt. No longer the mayor's demure wife, Florence Menlove, Harada is the hard-bitten Madame Frau.
Camil and Harada have extensive careers on stage and screen, but they clearly had a blast returning to the fantasy musical Schmigaverse.
We caught up with Camil and Harada to discuss what Schmigadoon! means to them, how they approached their characters, and who among their castmates most impresses them.
The delightful pair play off each other well onscreen and off, with occasional teasing but a great sense of fun and mutual respect.
You're both Broadway veterans. Jaime, you were even in Chicago! What's it like revisiting that world, albeit a skewed version?
Camil: Ann is Broadway royalty. I am not.
Harada: Jaime. You've been on Broadway!
Camil: Oh, yes, well, it was nice, of course! I played Billy Flynn, but then Jane Krakowski comes in, and she does her version of Billy Flynn [as Bobby Flanagan], and we all look like we suck! (Harada laughs) Because Jane is just incredible.
One of the joys of anthology shows is that you get to play completely new characters but with the same team. Your characters from Season 2 are total opposites to Schmigadoon! Season 1. Where did you draw your inspiration from?
Harada: In Season 1, I was very sweet. In Season 2, I was not. For me, that's where I live, in the "not." So it was really easy (laughs). I just love that kind of character, that Germanic authoritarian figure.
I took Fraulein Kost from Cabaret, the hard-bitten prostitute, and I married her to Lily Von Shtupp from Blazing Saddles and Frau Blucher from Young Frankenstein. So, they were all living in my head.
Camil: There is no reference for me -- I think Cinco needed a cop! The city needed a cop, and he just wrote a cop. It's not really the era, but maybe a bit of Officer Krupke from West Side Story. My character is just a novelty.
How do you approach playing a character that's so obviously a parody vs. playing it straight?
Harada: The same. I mean, for me. Any time you play anybody, you have to figure out what makes them tick and why you're there. What is your point in the narrative?
So I knew I was supporting Patrick [Page, who plays Octavius Kratt] in his plan for evil. I'm on that team, but I also sympathize with Melissa. It's just trying to find the truth of whatever the character is doing at any particular moment.
And then, if it's a parody, if it's a heightened type of reality, you have to take it even more seriously! (laughs) That's how that works. I don't know why!
Camil: I remember doing Jane The Virgin, and that was the brilliance of that show, too. We lived in a ridiculous universe, but you have to approach it with sincerity.
Mad love for these individuals Oh! And also, we’re all in a wonderful @AppleTV show called #Schmigadoon! Stream it NOW https://t.co/hfUqlUkJ1N / Amor absoluto por estas personas Y, por cierto, estamos tod@s en un show llamado SCHMIGADOON! En @appletvplus pic.twitter.com/QH6iadJFvb
— Jaime Camil (@jaimecamil) April 14, 2023
I love the number that you two do together in Schmigadoon! Season 2 Episode 5.
Harada: Thank you very much!
Camil: It's the best number of the show, you say? (Harada laughs) That is so sweet of you. Thank you!
Harada: It's such a great homage to Promises, Promises.
Yes, it feels unique in that way since that's the only musical number in this season that directly lifts from that show.
Harada: Sadly, it dovetails with the recent passing of Burt Bacharach, but I like to think that he would have enjoyed it.
We've lost so many musical theatre greats in the last few years.
Harada: You're not kidding.
Stephen Sondheim springs to mind.
Harada: I'd like to think Stephen Sondheim would have loved the Sweeney Todd homage!
I think he would have.
Harada: I think he would have, too.
What number or scene from Season 2 was the most fun to film?
Both: So many!
Harada: My favorite number to do, even though I wasn't really in it, was the A Chorus Line montage. Watching those poor dancers go through it over and over again, and Cecily struggling to find her driver's license, made me laugh so much!
I love that whole scene. That particular piece of writing is so right on. It's got so many great inside A Chorus Line jokes.
When Patrick said, "Hire her," I loved being able to say (in Madame Frau voice), "Are you kidding? Did you see her?" (Camil laughs) That was my favorite line in the whole thing.
The cats are temporarily herded at the @AppleTVPlus global press event for #Schmigadoon season 2! The other denizens are out of town working! pic.twitter.com/tWDGgg7Cua
— Ann Harada (@annharada) March 21, 2023
What was your favorite number you weren't in?
Harada: I loved "Bustin' Out!" I loved those girls dancing and tapping!
Camil: I loved "Let's Get Naked" (to Harada) -- what is it?
Harada: "Gotta Get Naked!"
Camil: Yes, and "Bells and Whistles!"
Harada: To see Jane turn out every trick in her book, which is a lot of tricks, is pretty astonishing.
Camil: And doing them all in the same number!
Harada: Right! It was like, "She can do this, she can do this! We'll jam it all in!"
Ann, your career is so impressive, as Jaime was saying earlier, you’re Broadway royalty. You've recently finished Dear World at New York City Center, Into The Woods on Broadway last year, and you fit Schmigadoon! somewhere in there.
What's your secret to longevity in this business? How do you stay so busy and remain so in demand?
Harada: I don't know! I guess because I will do almost anything. I will try almost anything. I haven't gotten pigeonholed in terms of the kinds of things I do. If you have a good idea and throw it at me, and I'm free, I'll probably do it.
I just want to work. I like working, and I like trying different things. So, I would say, being open to stuff, being open to new things. It's important to keep being out there.
And I'd like to think I'm showing a lot of Asian kids that it's possible to have a life on the stage. Diversity's very important. It's important for them to see people [like them].
If you can see it, you can be it. I feel like that's my purpose right now. And I hope that this is also true of Schmigadoon!
Jaime, you have such an extensive fanbase outside of Schmigadoon! What has been their reaction to the show and Doc Lopez?
Camil: They're so lovely and loyal. I feel very blessed because they are there to support me whatever I do.
Maybe Schmigadoon! will help them be more curious about musical theatre. They can Google these numbers -- like "What is this? What's the reference?" But, yes, they are super nice and very supportive.
How do you think they'll react to your final scene in Season 2?
Camil: I think they're going to like it!
Harada: I think they're going to freak out in a really good way.
Camil: A really good way!
Harada: To me, it's like, what is hotter than that? I don't know!
It was a wonderful surprise!
Camil: It was a wonderful homage to an iconic character. It was super fun to do.
Catch Jaime Camil and Ann Harada on Schmigadoon! Season 2, streaming Wednesdays on AppleTV+, with the season finale on May 3!