Sheinelle Jones as Velma Kelly and Dylan Dreyer as Roxie Hart from "Chicago."
NBC News’ TODAY / Tyler Essary
The Today show decided to put on a different kind of show Friday morning (Oct. 30), merging Halloween with the Great White Way.
For a tribute to Broadway — which had to go dark mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic and likely won’t return until May 2021 at the earliest — Carson Daly announced a show-stopping lineup of Today show anchors that lit up Studio 1A and celebrated “the stories, scores and songs that move us,” he said in the intro. Several Broadway productions lent the show’s original costumes to the Today staffers and even did their hair and makeup.
Dylan Dreyer and Sheinelle Jones kicked things off with all that jazz as Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart from Chicago, the longest-running American musical in Broadway history. Craig Melvin didn’t throw away his shot to don his best Alexander Hamilton getup, made famous by Lin-Manuel Miranda in Hamilton, who was accompanied by Broadway vet Al Roker (who appeared in Waitress two years ago) dressed as King George.
“I chose King George because I do feel regal,” Roker said.
Jenna Bush Hager was feeling frisky as Grizabella from Cats, while Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb defied gravity as Elphaba and Glinda from Wicked.
“I love the idea that you think that someone is bad but you have to look a little deeper and maybe you’ll see another side. Hoda’s my girl. I’m her Elphaba and she’s my Glinda,” Guthrie said, while noting she learned broom choreography from the original Elphaba Idina Menzel.
“It’s really about learning to harness my own power as a woman and to not be afraid of my ferocity,” Menzel added.
See the best Broadway-inspired looks and their show-stopping performances below.