World News – United States – TODAY Show’s 2020 Halloween costume reveals the best of Broadway

This year’s celebration is full of all that jazz as the TODAY family pays homage to Broadway by showing that there is no business like show business

Carson Daly was the announcer for Studio 1A’s Broadway Legends lineup in New York City, highlighting the best of the Great White Way in a year the lights went out on Broadway due to the pandemic coronavirus

The star lineup started with Dylan Dreyer and Sheinelle Jones, who decided if you can’t be famous, be infamous

They were dressed as Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart, two of the stars of “Chicago,” Bob Fosse’s legendary 1975 production of celebrity and scandal that became America’s longest-running musical in history. Broadway

Dylan said it took 20 or 30 hours of practice to bring down the choreography, but the ladies pulled it off in style

Craig Melvin then came out to break a leg and break some rhymes like Alexander Hamilton in the role made famous by Lin-Manuel Miranda in « Hamilton », the show about the Founding Father and the American Revolution with an original soundtrack by rap that took Broadway by storm

After Craig let everyone know he wasn’t rejecting his chance to become a Broadway star, he was joined by royalty TODAY, Al Roker, who dressed as King George from « Hamilton »

The musical is close to their hearts, as Al said he felt a chill in his spine when he saw her on its opening night, while Craig and his 6-year-old son, Delano, watched it about 50 times since its release on Disney in July

Al, who is the only Broadway veteran on Team TODAY thanks to his 2018 performance on “Waitress,” feels born to play King George He entered the character fully, refusing to even do so. time at a given moment, leaving the peasants to manage

« Hamilton » star Chris Jackson, who created President George Washington’s role in the musical, said it wasn’t too difficult for Al

“Al, I don’t think you have to work that hard, sir,” Jackson said on TODAY “Take the stage with such a sense of royal nature that you kind of just project”

Craig took it down a notch after Al removed his crown at the third hour of TODAY to show off the traditional 18th century white wig he wore underneath

Jenna Bush Hager felt dashing as Grizabella, one of the feline stars of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s iconic musical « Cats » on the Jellicle tribe and a memorable night all alone in the moonlight

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« I dressed up as a cat almost every year, but it was also my childhood dream, » Jenna said

« They really worked on my meows, » Jenna said « Poppy told me how to whistle if something happened that I don’t really like »

Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb followed Jenna’s time in the sun defying gravity as Elphaba and Glinda from “Wicked,” the smash hit on the unlikely friendship between the witches of Oz before Dorothy grave

“I love the idea that you think someone is bad, but you have to look a little deeper and maybe you will see another side,” Savannah said “Hoda is my girl I’m her Elphaba and she is my Glinda « 

Fearing her kids would « be terrified » by her green face, Savannah got some broom choreography and « Broadway button » tips from the real Broadway Elphaba, « Wicked » star Idina Menzel

« It’s really about learning to harness my own power as a woman and not be afraid of my ferocity, » Menzel said on TODAY

“I’ve never been a pretty person dressed as a princess,” she said “Being Glind the Good Witch is pretty amazing because you imagine this dress on Broadway, you imagine it spinning, you imagine Glinda walking through through it all « 

Assemble the co-anchors TODAY and no wizard is there or will ever drop them

This year’s song and dance celebration comes as Broadway has been hit hard by the pandemic since it closed in mid-March. It will still be some time before the lights come back on, as the trade association Broadway League announced earlier this month that Broadway performances will not return until at least the end of May 2021, well over a year after the shutdown

TODAY was able to put on Friday’s show thanks to the generosity of a host of Broadway productions who loaned many original costumes to the show and also worked with the TODAY staff on everyone’s hair and makeup.

« We just wanted to thank them for getting this job done for a morning, » Hoda said. « We couldn’t be more grateful for what they did for us »

The live theater business was crippled after its highest-grossing season from May 2018 to May 2019, in which it made over $ 1.83 billion, according to the Broadway League Broadway sold for around $ 300 million. dollars in tickets in 2020 before closing, according to CNBC

With the industry struggling, groups like Broadway Cares, The Actors Fund and Artist Relief have rallied to raise funds for those in need on Broadway and in the entertainment industry in general who have lost their way. employment due to pandemic

Friday marked the last super fun Halloween party TODAY, following last year’s selection of dancers from Craig and Al as Will Smith and Carlton Banks to Hoda stayin ‘alive in as John Travolta

Today Broadway Theater, Halloween, Hoda Kotb, Savannah Guthrie, Dylan Dreyer