Kathie Lee Gifford Stars In ‘Today Show’ Musical, Airs On NBC
On December 29, The Today Show unveiled a short musical written by Kathie Lee Gifford. TODAY: The Musical is a song and dance spectacle featuring the show’s cast and crew. And while hosts Matt Lauer and Al Roker make an appearance, the musical stars the Today Show‘s stagehand, Sal Cacciato. In true Broadway fashion, Cacciato plays a props guy with big dreams. He aims to achieve his dreams of appearing in front of the camera with the aid of Kathie Lee’s old cohort, Regis Philbin.
Today Show co-host Savannah Guthrie sang Sal’s praises, tweeting, “Yes! Sal really does work for @TODAYshow and is really that talented! Time for his big break, universe. Hire @CacciatoSal! #TODAYMusical”
The special project was revealed back in August when Kathie Lee announced that the Today Show will be putting on a short musical made by her. The show was supposed to air on December 4, right before NBC’s Peter Pan Live, but delays in the production led to the musical to air a couple of days before the new year. Aside from Lauer and Roker, all of the Today Show hosts participated in the project including the aforementioned Guthrie, Natalie Morales, Willie Geist, Carson Daly, Tamron Hall, Jenna Bush Hager, Hoda Kotb, and Kathie Lee Gifford herself.
Don’t miss it December 4th! “@KathieLGifford: @regis & Sal rehearsing for @TODAYshow musical. Don’t miss it on 12/4! pic.twitter.com/IX4wa4qrDJ”
— Regis Philbin (@regis) November 19, 2014
It’s almost the time you’ve been waiting for! Less than 30 minutes until #TODAYMusical @KathieLGifford @hodakotb pic.twitter.com/l7mjuT1e9j — Kathie Lee and Hoda (@klgandhoda) December 29, 2014
The show opens with the Today Show hosts sitting by the anchor desk, shuffling scripts before bursting into the opening song, “This Is Today.” The hosts were then joined by the crew including hairstylists, make-up artists, producers, and stagehands. The audience is then introduced to the show’s hero, Sal Cacciato, and his chance meeting with Regis Philbin. The musical is filled with in-jokes and kooky subplots including a bit about the director of Today‘s kitchen making a sauce designed to take down Martha Stewart.
Kathie Lee also wrote in some jokes poking fun at frequent rumors about Lauer’s departure from the show that cemented his name in TV history, with potential replacements Daly and Geist saying that they would take over for Lauer.
Watch Kathie Lee Gifford’s @TodayShow musical starring Regis Philbin: http://t.co/axGBqLn23i pic.twitter.com/53dPjJDSIS — Entertainment Weekly (@EW) December 29, 2014
To those unaware, Kathie Lee has a long history with musicals. In the 90s, Gifford started her musical theater career. She contributed some songs to the musical Hats, and she even wrote and produced Under the Bridge, based on the children’s book The Family Under the Bridge.
In 2007, she premiered another one of her plays, Saving Aimee, which was eventually launched on Broadway as Scandalous: The Life and Trials of Aimee Semple McPherson.
[Image via Kathie Lee Gifford Facebook]
