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The Top 10 Gutenberg! The musical celebrity cameos
From Patti LuPone to Hillary Clinton, the most surprising guests played the role of “famous Broadway producer.”
Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad in Gutenberg! The musical!
Matthew Murphy
Gutenberg! The musical may have made headlines as the long-awaited reunion of Book of Mormon co-stars Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad. But in recent months, there's been a stir over how many celebrities the show has been able to convince to make cameo appearances.
As the Broadway run of Gutenberg! The musical ends on January 28th. We look back at some of the celebrities who made cameo appearances across the stage at the James Earl Jones Theater.
Written by Anthony King and Scott Brown, the musical stars Tony nominees Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells as Bud and Doug, two amateur theater makers who wrote a show about Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press. They put their money together and rented a space in hopes of finding a Broadway producer to put their show in the Main Stem. Since they had spent all their money on the venue, they were unable to hire actors and so had to play all the roles themselves. Yellow trucker caps with the characters' names on the top help the audience keep track of who is who.
Stop reading now if you want to avoid spoilers.
Every night of the three-month run of Gutenberg! a “famous Broadway producer” happened to be in the audience. This famous Broadway producer (wearing a yellow hat that said “Producer”) was usually played by another celebrity, and it was always a surprise to audiences as to who it might be. There were Tony-winning musical theater stars like Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, comedians like Amy Sedaris (or so we think… there was a mustache involved), and even politicians like Senator Chuck Schumer.
Josh Gad revealed on Instagram that although he and co-star Andrew Rannells appeared surprised on stage when the celebrity guest identified himself, they were actually rehearsing before the show.
READ: Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells are ready to make you laugh with Gutenberg! The musical!
Below we have selected the top 10 prominent guest appearances from Gutenberg! The rankings were based on wow factor, taking into account accessibility, performance, inside jokes and total fun.
Billy Crystal, the eternal comedian, had us laughing as he took a few liberties with his producer's script. He referred to Bud and Doug as “Bert and Ernie,” gave Gad a note about his devil's tongue, and declared that the show was “mediocre” instead of “fantastic.”
The Vogue editor-in-chief is an avid theater fanatic and a fun-loving gal and has been walking the red carpets of Broadway opening nights for a long time. So it was only a matter of time before she came straight to the stage. (And really, the titular producer isn't all that far-fetched; her daughter Bee Shaffer is a real Broadway producer.) But of course with Anne Hathaway at Wintour's side as an assistant, a nod to the film The Devil Wears Prada. was too much for us to resist.
We will never not love Lin-Manuel Miranda. That's just how it is. Listen to the audience as this producer took the stage.
We thought we'd never see Patti LuPone on a Broadway stage again after she gave up her Equity card in 2022. So you Gutenberg! Cameo was a pleasant surprise (and luckily she didn't have to tell anyone to turn off their phone).
6. “Strange Al” Yankovic
An unlikely guest, but a perfect fit, was parody pop artist “Weird Al” Yankovic. Wearing his signature Hawaiian shirt and a trucker hat perched on his long locks, the comedian accompanied his Broadway contract presentation with maniacal laughter and some particularly heartfelt hugs.
They had to, right? His last name is Guttenberg. Not only did 1980s film star Steve Guttenberg (“Police Academy,” “Three Men and a Baby,” “Cocoon”) appear as a producer one night early in the series, Rannells and Gad also had fun making a few to shoot other videos with him.
You don't just have one comedy legend, you have two! Martin Short and Steve Martin, the leads of the Hulu comedy-mystery series “Only Murders in the Building,” dropped by with a contract in hand. We're sure you can tell by now that this section is a script, with the same few lines assigned to the producer character.
Of course, there are some actors who add a touch of improvisation, but Short had us laughing when he called for his delivery (and you can read this interview with the show's musician, Marco Paguia, to learn how they do it came to this exuberant moment).
He's Max Bialystock, the famed Broadway producer — or rather, the Tony Award-winning actor who played him, Nathan Lane. “I had the same feeling when I saw Cats,” Lane says spontaneously as he offers Bud and Doug their Broadway contact. Then as he leaves he tells the audience: “See you all at Sardi.” We'll get to that, Mr. Bialystock.
1. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton brought the audience to its feet when she took the stage recently to present the boys with their Broadway contract. A long-time theater fan, Secretary Clinton is actually taking on the title of producer this year, but for the new Shaina Taub musical Suffs.
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