50 million people are expected to watch the 87th Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, including 3.5 million seeing it in person. That group includes many lovers of Broadway since the parade usually features some current theatre productions among the 30 floats, 52 balloons, 900 clowns, and countless marching bands.
Theatre lovers will have to choose between the NBC and CBS coverage. Among the highlights on NBC:
- A preview of the highly anticipated live production of The Sound of Music airing on December 5th and featuring American Idol winner & country megastar Carrie Underwood. Look for it in the first hour of coverage.
- Numbers from the Broadway musicals Matilda the Musical, Kinky Boots, Pippin, and Motown The Musical.
- Performances by two talented Broadway blondes, Kristin Chenoweth (one of Wicked’s original stars) and Megan Hilty (who always played the same role in Wicked before achieving fame in TV’s Smash).
CBS will also features highlights from three musicals currently playing on Broadway. Those shows are:
- A show that played at Arena Stage twice before debuting on Broadway this fall, A Night with Janis Joplin.
- The slightly updated and highly successful revival of Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella.
- First Date, which also features a Smash alum, Krysta Rodriguez (who appeared on Broadway as an ensemble and understudy in a few shows before playing Wednesday in the original cast of The Addams Family). The other lead star of this charming little musical comedy is Broadway newbie Zachary Levi (former star of TV’s Chuck and currently seen in movie theaters in Thor: The Dark World). First Date will end its run in January, but fans can buy the original cast recording which came out last month.
Live coverage of the parade will air from 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon Thursday morning. Set your DVR if you plan on sleeping late or if you want to fast forward to the theatre segments.
Wherever you are this Thursday, we wish you all Happy Thanksgiving. We’ll see you back in the theatre this weekend.
