Cinco Paul reacts to Tony nominations for screen-to-stage 'Schmigadoon!'

Cinco Paul, who created, wrote, and scored the original TV show on Apple TV, is delighted by his Tony nominations for Schmigadoon!.

Schmigadoon, schmiga-do! It must be fate. Schmigadoon! composer-lyricist-bookwriter Cinco Paul got hit with pleasant birthday surprises on Cinco de Mayo (the day he was named for): Tony nominations for Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre and Best Book of a Musical. It’s among the cherries on top for the musical’s Tony nomination for Best Musical, while tying with The Lost Boys in the musical category for 12 Tony nominations this year.

“I just keep thinking about little Cinco at the piano when he was 10 or 11, writing his first song, and then this happening. It's all your wildest dreams come true,” Paul told New York Theatre Guide on the morning of the nominations.

These Tony nominations came as a balm for creatives and fans of Cinco’s musical-comedy television series, streaming on Apple TV, that the stage musical adapts. The stage musical takes its plot recipe from the first season where a retreating couple-in-crisis, Josh Skinner (Alex Brightman) and Melissa Gimble (Sara Chase), are spirited away into the quant, singing town of the titular city (a play on Brigadoon, a 1954 musical fantasy film) populated with singing characters modeled after vintage archetypes of Golden Age musicals like Oklahoma!, Carousel, and The Music Man, just to name a few. For Melissa, the swirling colors, spontaneous melodies, and confection of references are a dreamland. For Josh Skinner, a world where humans burst into song and dance is Hell. But soon, Schmigadoon! will teach these lovers how to mend their passion. In the rave from New York Theatre Guide, reviewer Christian Lewis wrote, “Schmigadoon! recreates the quintessential sights, sounds, and feeling of Golden Age musicals with expert precision.”

Before its Broadway transfer to the Nederlander Theatre, the stage musical premiered at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in 2025. The journey from screen to stage was a delectable picnic, according to Cinco. “The thing that is giving me the most joy is watching with an audience and hearing the laughter, the laughter, the laughter build, and then at the end, people are sniffling and gasping... Ultimately, we get them to feel something – a testament to the power of musical theater.”

Also in the Schmigadoon! picnic basket of nominations are Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for Chase, Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for Ana Gasteyer, Best Direction of a Musical and Best Choreography for Christopher Gattelli (who choreographed the show as well), Best Costume Design of a Musical for Linda Cho, Best Scenic Design of a Musical for Scott Pask, Best Lighting Design of a Musical for Donald Holder, and Best Sound Design of a Musical for Walter Trarbach.

For the Melissa Gimbles and Josh Skinners of the world, Paul welcomes the foot-tappers and even musical skeptics to Schmigadoon!. “I think if you love musicals or don't love musicals... you’ll laugh, you'll cry, you'll tap your foot — you'll want to sing along.”

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Photo credit: Schmigadoon! on Broadway. (Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)