Focusing on the work. Before they returned to AppleTV+’s Schmigadoon! for season 2, stars Dove Cameron and Aaron Tveit each picked up prestigious accolades — an MTV Video Music Award and a Tony Award, respectively — but the trophies haven’t totally changed their lives.
“The only thing I can say that really changed in my life is now I’m just so much busier,” Cameron, 27, exclusively told Us Weekly.
She and Tveit, 39, were both on the Schmigadoon! season 1 soundtrack, which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. The “Breakfast” singer also picked up several solo honors, including Best New Artist at both the American Music Awards and the VMAs in 2022. The challenge, she says, has been balancing her careers.
“Before I really, really became a musician in real life — and I wasn’t just writing songs in my studio — I was very like, ‘I don’t know why more people don’t do music and film and TV,’ and now I’m like, ‘I understand why nobody does this!’” the Washington native laughed.
Cameron has been working for over a decade, and Schmigadoon! is far from her first musical project, with Hairspray Live! and the Descendants franchise among her TV credits. However, since her song “Boyfriend” dropped in 2022 and went viral on TikTok, her music career has soared.
“It is so difficult because it’s just, like, they’re both full-time commits, and they’re really incongruous with each other,” she told Us. “So it’s definitely been, like, more complexified. But I just feel more myself than ever and very grateful.”
Tveit, who won Best Actor at the 2021 Tony Awards for his role in Moulin Rouge!, added, “It’s wonderful to get that kind of recognition, but I think it solidifies the work that you do and you kind of just get to keep moving on with maybe an inch more confidence in yourself.”
They’re both returning to Schmigadoon! — except it turns out Melissa (Cecily Strong) and Josh (Keegan-Michael Key) can’t go back to the magical place where everyone else seems to live in a classic musical. So now they’re in Schmicago, which adds some murder and mayhem to the magic and music. Schmigadoon! season 2 explores a darker era of musical theater, taking inspiration from Sweeney Todd, Godspell and more, and everyone — except Melissa and Josh — is a new character this year. Tveit, 39, is no longer playing Danny but instead portraying Topher, a hippie á la Hair. Meanwhile, Cameron’s Betsy is gone, and she now plays Jenny, a Chicago-inspired dancer.
“They’re entirely different characters, so it’s just like getting a new assignment,” Cameron told Us. “It’s just like, ‘OK, now go play this game.’ And you’re like, ‘OK! I’m gonna learn the rules!’ It’s really fun. An anthology is such a rare thing, especially with this kind of company, so it’s wonderful.”
Tveit explained, “I think the biggest thing — besides just being somebody completely separate than before — I think this season our characters got to be much more fully-fleshed human beings. We get to go on our own individual journeys as well as kind of service Josh and Melissa’s characters. Like, I think season 1 we were both almost vessels for them to learn and bounce off of, but this [season] we get to do that but also have our own story too. So I think the world of the show is a bit bigger, and it allows us that freedom to kind of have that journey for ourselves as well.”
Schmigadoon! season 2 premiered on AppleTV+ Wednesday, April 5. New episodes drop weekly.
