John Stamos is sliding into the golden slippers of King Herod just hours before the curtain comes up on Jesus Christ Superstar at the Hollywood Bowl.
Stamos’ last minute casting comes after Josh Gad announced yesterday that he would no longer occupy the throne on opening night.
“It is with enormous heartbreak that I inform you all that unfortunately, I have contracted a virus known as COVID (remember that little bastard from season one of ‘Earth really sucks right now’?)” Goad wrote in on Instagram.
Stamos is not just a pretty face. Beyond his acting chops, he’s been a musician for decades, most famously playing with the Beach Boys on a regular basis. He also participated in the Broadway revival of Bye Bye Birdie and played Corny Collins in Hairspray at the Bowl in 2011.
“I am grateful for the chance to step into the gold lamé,” wrote Stamos on Instagram. “This is an honor. A dream. And also a little insane because… I just stepped off a plane from @thebeachboys tour in Spain and have less than 24 hours to pull this off.”
King Herod was played by Paul Ainsley in the original 1971 Broadway production and by Josh Mostel in the 1973 film. Alice Cooper rocked the part in NBC’s 2018 live concert version of the musical.
For this weekend’s Bowl show, Cynthia Erivo was cast in the eponymous biblical role back in February, when the staging of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice‘s musical was announced, running Aug. 1-3. Adam Lambert was later cast as Judas, with Milo Manheim and Raúl Esparza also joining the cast as Peter and Pontius Pilate. Phillipa Soo will play Mary Magdalene.
Directed and choreographed by Tony winner Trujillo, the Hollywood Bowl’s Jesus Christ Superstar will be conducted and music-directed by Stephen Oremus (who worked on both the Broadway and film versions of Wicked). The show is being produced in association with Neil Meron and Robert Greenblatt.
