Broadway Casts/"Working Stars" As SNL Hosts/Musical Guests

[Voter]

Posted: 12/28/22 at 3:07pm

Howdy, was thinking, and was wondering, when was the last time a currently "working/in a show" Broadway star or actor was on SNL? Like, in a show and utilizing something like a SNL Host/Musical Guest gig while the show is running would be PR gold. I'd imagine you'd have to take the entire week off of shows to prep the week for the live SNL show if hosting, but if a star or even an entire ensemble was a musical guest, then that'd be different. Just feels like a missed opportunity from a marketing standpoint. Or is this actually logistically impossible?

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 12/28/22 at 3:35pm

It would be PR DIAMOND, but the issue is the dress rehearsal.

I think hosting would be out of the question just because doing such a demanding job during the day all week and then going to perform at night would probably be to much.

But, theoretically, a cast could perform their Saturday night show and then get over to SNL before the show starts at 11:30 to be the musical guest. Most shows get out around 10:30, that's plenty of time to hop in a van and get across to Rock Center. However, SNL always does a dress rehearsal at 8:00, right when their shows are. Shows have understudies who could cover, but many not enough to have two full casts simultaneously. For example, Kimberly Akimbo, a show this would be perfect for, can only cover Kim, Seth, Buddy, either Debra or Pattie, and one of each of the High School boys and girls. That's most of the cast, but they'd be short one HS boy and one girl at either SNL or the show, which really doesn't work for that show.

[bowtie7]

Posted: 12/28/22 at 4:48pm

I believe there were 3 occasions when the current cast of a Broadway show were the musical guest on Saturday Night Live:

1) Most recently David Byrne and the cast of American Utopia were the musical guest. David also appeared in the Airport Sushi sketch.

2) Jennifer Holiday was the musical guest at the height of Dreamgirls popularity. She sang the songs in a concert setting not recreating the staging of show.

3) Most of the cast of the revival of Pirates of Penzance including Linda Ronstadt but not Kevin Kline performed several songs from the show in costume. For the second musical number they performed several Christmas carols (it was the holiday show).

Updated On: 12/28/22 at 04:48 PM