Early in Act 2 of Broadway’s “Schmigadoon!,” theatergoers are treated to “I Thought I Was the Only One,” a delightfully flirty ballad performed by the characters Reverend Layton (Maulik Pancholy) and Mayor Menlove (Brad Oscar) over a shared dessert.

The song is a standout in the stage production ― which won Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score at this year’s Tony Awards ― and on its new cast recording, unveiled last week. And while Broadway has traditionally been a more welcoming space for LGBTQ+ representation than Hollywod, Pancholy and Oscar say they’re honored to be portraying a same-sex romance that isn’t issue-driven in a show with an undeniably heartfelt message.

“We’re in a weird time where there’s a fear that so many of our rights are tenuous and a feeling that we still have to keep showing up when we shouldn’t have to,” Pancholy told HuffPost in an interview. “To get to play a character who is so kind and so loving ― and has a very empowering moment at the end of the show ― is very rewarding.”

Added Oscar: “Both of these men come to discover who they really are and what they really want, and no one is apologetic. I’m just thrilled, overwhelmed, overjoyed and a little bowled over that we’re living in a world where it’s being received so beautifully every night.”

Directed by Christopher Gattelli and co-produced by “Saturday Night Live” creator Lorne Michaels, “Schmigadoon!” is a stage adaptation of the Apple TV+ series of the same name. The comedy follows two New York City doctors, Melissa (Sara Chase) and Josh (Alex Brightman), who set out for a couples’ retreat in the Catskills hoping to patch up their fractured relationship.

After getting lost in a rainstorm, the pair seek refuge in the magical town of Schmigadoon, where inhabitants are perpetually trapped in a Golden Age musical. In keeping with the satirical setting, the show’s songs ― written by Cinco Paul, who co-created the TV series ― are a playful pastiche of “The Music Man” and “The Sound of Music,” among other classic musicals, with a contemporary twist.

At the start of the show, Reverend Layton and Mayor Menlove are married to their wives Mildred Layton (Ana Gasteyer), who happens to be the town’s self-appointed “moral arbiter,” and Florence Menlove (Ann Harada), respectively. Though it’s clear the Laytons and the Menloves aren’t well-suited for one another, both couples are striving “for peace and happiness,” Oscar explained, and that “supersedes their own wants.”

“I have a conversation with [Paul] about religion in the show and how there’s two extremes ― with Reverend Layton representing pure kindness and Mildred Layton representing what happens when the church goes awry,” Pancholy said. “There’s something to be gleaned from the show, but it never sits heavy in it. Hopefully, we’re showing that a spiritual life can actually be about pure love and without judgment.”

He went on to note: “You could be having — as everyone does in the course of five months of working on a show — a crappy day, and the minute the opening number starts, everything starts to disappear.”

Oscar, who grew up in Washington, D.C., has been a mainstay on the New York stage since 1990, having received Tony nominations for his roles in Broadway’s “The Producers” and “Something Rotten!” The actor’s journey with “Schmigadoon!“ began in 2019, when Michaels invited him to do a table read of the TV incarnation.

Though Mayor Menlove ended up being played by Alan Cumming onscreen, Oscar won the role once the stage adaptation of “Schmigadoon!” got underway. Like many of his peers, he believes Broadway is at an inflection point and is grateful to be part of a show that has “been able to stake a claim” at a challenging time for new musicals.

“It’s a constant refrain: ‘Broadway’s always dying.’ Do I feel that more intensely now than ever? Yes, I do,” he said. “People are less willing to take risks on stuff that’s daring and different. If you’d told any of us a year and a half ago that we would win the Tony for Best Musical, we would’ve been like, ‘Really?’ We know this doesn’t happen all the time.”

Pancholy, meanwhile, is beloved by TV audiences for his roles on “30 Rock” and “Weeds,” as well as the animated series “Phineas and Ferb” and “Sanjay and Craig.” Though he’s no stranger to live theater, “Schmigadoon!“ is his first musical.

The Ohio native, who is Indian American, has used his time in between acting projects to establish himself as a middle-grade and young adult author, with books like 2019’s “The Best at It” and next year’s “Will They, Won’t They” spotlighting the lives of young gay Indian men.

Noting that, until recently, readers were “more likely to find an inanimate object as the lead character in a kid’s book than you were to find an LGBTQ+ child of color,” Pancholy believes his intersecting identities continue to inform his work onscreen and onstage, noting: “I feel like I’ve kind of forged this way on my own, because I rarely ever saw people who looked like me in theater, and definitely not in TV or film.”

“I thought the answer was to erase myself ― that if I was going to work, I had to somehow be more straight or more white,” he said. “And that caused a lot of conflict and pain over the years.”

“It’s not lost on me that I’m getting to play Reverend Layton as a gay brown character,” he continued, “because a huge part of what I want to do is make sure people can see themselves in the stories around them.”

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