Michael C. Hall To Star In One-Time-Only Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical
Jan. 22 update: Michael C. Hall—the Golden Globe-winning actor best known for playing Dexter, but who also has a legit stage career—will star in Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical. Watch the TV commercial about the live Broadway musical commercial below. It's weird, man.
Original Jan. 14, 2019 post: This year, the Skittles Super Bowl commercial will take the form of a musical, performed live exactly once, written by a Pulitzer Prize finalist and directed by the Artistic Director of the Soho Rep. theater. This is actually happening. Seriously, you can buy tickets right now.
Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical includes a cast predominantly made up of Broadway vets. Well, them, and a to-be-announced celebrity (Hugh Jackman? Cynthia Erivo? Anna Kendrick?), who will together perform a 30-minute musical written by Will Eno [the aforementioned Pulitzer finalist, for Thom Pain (based on nothing)] and copywriter Nathaniel Lawlor, with music by Drew Gasparini and choreography by Raja Feather Kelly. Sarah Benson directs. Every one of those people is legit (Lawlor in the ad world, the rest in the theater world), so sure, this is a gimmick, but Skittles is, as they say, really committing to the bit.
They're also being pretty cool about it. All of the proceeds from every ticket sold, minus fees and stuff, will be donated to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS; Mars Wrigley Confectionery will also donate $25,000 to the organization, and will match up to another $25K of ticket sales.
The poster has a cat puking a rainbow on it. The Original Broadway Cast recording will be available on Spotify. Tickets start at $32, and the performance will take place on Sunday, February 3 at 1 p.m. at The Town Hall Theater. I can tell you nothing else about Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical, except for the fact that I am very into it. Fingers crossed for Bernadette Peters and/or B.D. Wong.