Sally Bowles, is that you?
Schmigadoon!‘s Season 2 premiere sees Melissa and Josh venture into the world of Schmicago, a mishmash of 1960s and ’70s musicals. Dove Cameron, who in Season 1 played Betty, a character inspired by Oklahoma!‘s Ado Annie — is reintroduced as Jenny Banks, an amalgamation of Cabaret‘s Sally Bowles and Chicago‘s Velma Kelly.
The new role immediately asks more of Cameron, who is tasked with the most elaborate song-and-dance number we see in Wednesday’s double-episode premiere: “Kaput,” a solo vocal effort that involves a fair share of, well… let’s call it chair-ography.
“I was terrified,” Cameron tells TVLine about her Cabaret-inspired performance. “I was really, really terrified… I am historically not a dancer. I’m a mover. I can pick up, like, a nice line. If they need me to point at something really slowly and nicely, I’m so good at that. But I was nervous, you know? Because I grew up looking at these women — obviously, we have [the influence of] Liza [Minnelli], the whole scenery of Chicago and [Bob] Fosse… I was just, like, ‘You want me to do that? You must be joking. There’s no way!’ But I think by the time we got there, I felt pretty comfortable.” She credits “incredible” series choreographer Chris Gattelli for knowing “how to bring out people’s strengths, and when to push.”
And as difficult as it was, “it was really a dream to play a character who gets to be kind of… in her body, and sexually empowered,” Cameron says. “I never really get to play characters like that. And to have my glamour Cabaret moment was really, really fun.”
What did you think of Cameron’s performance in the Season 2 opener? Grade the first two episodes via the following poll, then sound off in Comments.
