The first episode of Central Park opens with the kind of grand, lavish production number that would be perfectly at home in a major Broadway production. Sung by co-creator and star Josh Gad as street musician Birdie, the song is a declaration of purpose for the delightfully wholesome show, an ode to New York City’s famed park and the people who keep it running. The first four episodes of the 10-episode season continue that feel-good tone, as they chronicle the everyday lives of park manager Owen Tillerman (voiced by Leslie Odom Jr.), his journalist wife Paige (Kathryn Hahn) and his kids Molly (Kristen Bell) and Cole (Tituss Burgess).
Birdie serves as the show’s narrator as well as an occasional sounding board for the main characters, and his enthusiasm for the park and for Owen’s family is infectious. Co-creator Loren Bouchard has spent 10 seasons depicting the quirky, loving family of Bob’s Burgers, and with Central Park, he comes up with another group of oddballs who care deeply about each other and about the family business of providing joy and comfort to the public (the Tillermans live on the park grounds in a house that resembles a castle). Central Park was originally developed for Fox before being picked up by Apple TV+, and it would make a perfect companion for Bob’s Burgers.
That opening song is not an anomaly: Central Park is a full-on musical, packing as many original songs (usually between two and four) into its episodes of 25 minutes or so as Crazy Ex-Girlfriend featured in episodes twice that long. Like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Central Park demonstrates a deep love for Broadway traditions from its creative team (longtime Bob’s Burgers writer-producer Nora Smith created the show along with Bouchard and Gad), and at least in the first four episodes, the songs stick mostly to established stage-musical styles, although there are detours into hip-hop and even a tiny bit of EDM. With Hamilton stars Odom and Daveed Diggs as part of the cast, there’s a good chance that the music will get a little more adventurous as the season goes on.
Even if it doesn’t, though, Central Park is still a joy to watch, with a main storyline right out of a classic Hollywood musical. Misanthropic rich layabout Bitsy Brandenham (Stanley Tucci) has set her sights on destroying the park after her beloved dog Champagne spends a day lost there. She’s determined to put up condos and chain restaurants in its place, and she sets about using her vast resources to make it happen. Central Park is more serialized than the Fox shows it resembles, then, but there are still episodic subplots that keep the pacing lively.
Owen deals with little crises at the park each day, while Paige is trying to transition from fluff pieces into reporting hard news. Molly escapes into a fantasy world while drawing superhero comics (which come to life in black-and-white interludes that resemble comics panels) and trying not to embarrass herself in front of her crush. The slightly younger Cole doesn’t pine for a crush -- instead, he misses Champagne, whom he tried to hide when the dog was left alone in the park. Whatever the characters are dealing with, they sing about it in big, heartfelt, catchy production numbers.
After the opening statement of purpose, the first episode also features a classic “I want” number from the main characters, and the show’s creative team expertly weaves together multiple subplots into songs that cover the motivations and plans of several characters at once. There are the kinds of reprises and callbacks that mark a great stage or screen musical, and Bouchard and his collaborators come up with them in every episode.
From Frozen veterans Gad and Bell to Hamilton’s Odom and Diggs (as Bitsy’s bitter, scheming female assistant) to Broadway star Burgess, the cast of Central Park is filled with actors who can really sing, bringing the musical chops needed to make the original songs shine. Although the animation style closely resembles Bob’s Burgers (and the overall bright Fox TV aesthetic), there’s enough scope and grandeur to make the musical numbers feel like major productions. It’s not hard to imagine some of these songs wowing live audiences on stage, although the creators take full advantage of the limitless possibilities of animation.
The voice work is just as good when the characters aren’t singing, and Central Park is full of the silly, idiosyncratic humor that Bouchard has brought to his previous work. Although it moved from broadcast to streaming, Central Park is still largely family-friendly, with no swearing, minimal risqué references, and only minor cartoon mishaps. The creators aren’t above resorting to the occasional fart joke, but the humor is mostly character-based, and the characters are all endearing and fun to watch (even the proudly evil Bitsy). Apple TV+ has struggled to find a breakout show, and while Central Park might only reach the same niche theater-nerd audience that followed Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, it’s still easily the streaming service’s best show to date.
Starring the voices of Leslie Odom Jr., Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Bell, Tituss Burgess, Josh Gad, Stanley Tucci and Daveed Diggs, the first two episodes of the 10-episode first season of Central Park premiere May 29 on Apple TV+. Subsequent new episodes arrive each Friday.