The coronavirus pandemic may have stopped Broadway’s jazz hands until (at least) May 2021, but Today was able to give it a bailout … for one morning only. On Friday’s de facto Halloween episode, Hoda Kotb, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker, and the rest of Today’s core group of hosts deviated from the news to continue their tradition of flaunting unhinged costumes for the holiday, all of which came directly from the dressing rooms of prominent Broadway productions. While Kotb and Guthrie were able to snag the original costumes of Wicked’s Glinda and Elphaba, Roker secured the jaunty threads of Hamilton’s King George III. (“I’m still wearing some of Jonathan Groff’s sweat,” he not incorrectly joked.) Jenna Bush Hager, even without digital fur technology, gave us Cats PTSD.
“It really means a lot to us to pay tribute to Broadway. That community, as we know, has been hit really, really hard by the pandemic,” Kotb explained when the giggles died down. “Theaters may be closed, but when Broadway heard that we wanted to put on a show, people from all of the different productions came out and turned up. They opened up costume shops that shut down. The competitors even came together to help out.” But if you still thought the hosts wouldn’t find an excuse to perform a marquee-themed song and dance routine, well, you obviously have no idea how Today works.
