This January ABC will launch the brand new musical comedy Galavant, and if you’re not planning on watching already, then you seriously need to pencil this brilliant show into your schedule now.

Whether you’ve seen all the ads on TV, or you’ve only seen the single clip of actress Mallory Jansen belting “Galavaaaaaant,” you probably got the hint that Galavant is a musical.

Whether you’re just now hearing of this show or you’ve been looking forward to it for months, it’s a masterpiece you have to check out.

With the brilliant mind of Alan Menken behind the music (the man responsible for classic songs from Beauty and the Beast, Tangled, Little Mermaid, etc.) and exceptionally talented actors that don’t need Glee’s auto-tune or lip-syncing, Galavant is a one-of-a-kind television series that is taking us to new places, and it’s also hysterical. We’re talking ridiculously hysterical — campy and self-aware like Monty Python.

What is it about?

Galavant is set in the middle ages and is about the adventures of a man, yes you guessed it, named Galavant (Joshua Sasse). He’s your stereotypical fairytale hero: Strong, handsome, witty and smart. The show follows Galavant, his squire Sid (Luke Youngblood), and Isabella (Karen David) as he goes to get revenge on the king for kidnapping his true love and marrying her.

Why should I watch?

One thing you’ll notice immediately when you catch the trailer(s) is the show is a very stereotypical fairytale: There’s a knight, a jester, an evil King and his wife, a squire, and yes eventually there will be pirates and wizards. But the amazing thing about Galavant is that it’s constantly self-aware of its stereotypical story, and because of this they make it as campy, ridiculous, and hysterical as possible.

And when the show isn’t making their stereotypes hysterical, it’s taking those stereotypes and flipping them on their head. For instance, the main couple sings a song in the series about how gross love is sometimes, and the realities of being in love instead of the fairytale perfection that always occurs. Additionally there’s a song about how the king and queen hate each other, but also oddly love each other when they’re not hating each other. Basically, it’s perfect.

Along with the main talent, Galavant also managed to pull quite the cast of guest stars, including people like Ricky Gervais, “Weird Al” Yankovic, John Stamos, Anthony Stewart Head, Rutger Hauer, Hugh Bonneville, Sophie McShera, Genevieve Allenbury, and more to be announced later.

We were thrilled to attend a screening of Galavant in Los Angeles last night, and in the two-hour event we not only witnessed the pilot episode, but were also treated to live performances by Menken and the cast, who sang several songs from the show’s eight-episode season.

The cast, along with the guest stars, are all performers who can actually sing. Creator Dan Fogelman even talked about how when casting the main character he wanted to make sure they found someone who is a talented vocalist. At the event, each cast member sang a piece of one of their songs from the series, and each one rocked it.

We’re not sure how the critics are going to take Galavant, but everyone at the event loved it. The show even got a standing ovation from the audience when the actors sang their theme song, which makes sense considering it was written by musical legend Alan Menken. Throughout the night he regaled us with stories about how he started writing a specific song or piece, and it concluded with him performing a medley of his most iconic songs.

Afterwards we spoke briefly with the cast and they were all very excited to be a part of this special show. They spoke about each other in such high regards and hoped everyone would love the show as much as they do.

The cast was so great that they were up for some selfie action, only this time they did it in character!

These selfies greatly and accurately represent the characters on Galavant. From top left to right you have Isabella, the mischievous princess who doesn’t know exactly what to do; Galavant, looking focused and heroic; Madalena (who actually took several selfies), making sure she got her best side; King Richard, who’s not the smartest king and loves to have fun (even if it means killing people to do it); Sid, who’s Galavant’s squire and is the one who has to make sure Galavant gets out of his slump; and of course the Jester, who entertains Madalena with more than just his jokes, if you get our drift.

Galavant‘s first season is eight episodes and will be running two episodes a week for a four-week musical extravaganza on ABC. The show premieres January 4 at 8:00 p.m. eastern.