Nick Jonas Relived His Les Miz Days in SNL50's Sprawling New York Musical: Watch
Pete Davidson and John Mulaney anchored the biggest cast yet in a number about NYC through the decades.
The Studio 8H stage could barely hold the sprawling cast of the SNL50 anniversary special's New York Musical, which answered the question, "Is New York dead?"
The number moved through the decades to present its thesis: No, the city that gave birth to Saturday Night Live never dies, it only changes, and each era offers its own unique characters (such as Kristen Wiig as a Times Square green M&M who has seen better days).
Starring John Mulaney as a 1975 hot dog vendor and the sketch's ringmaster, and cast alums Pete Davidson and David Spade as two men who are "both young and the same age," the musical also featured an enormous ensemble that included Broadway legends Nathan Lane and Lin-Manuel Miranda, Nick Jonas, Adam Driver, Paul Rudd and Scarlett Johansson.
It also meshed much of the Season 50 cast with alums like Alex Moffat, Taran Killam, Ana Gasteyer, Maya Rudolph, Kate McKinnon, Sarah Sherman, Will Forte, Jason Sudeikis, Kyle Mooney, Cecily Strong, and Beck Bennett.
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SNL's "New York's 50th Musical" starred Maya Rudolph, Adam Driver, and...everyone
Peddling "heroin and hot dogs" — it was New York City in 1975, after all — Mulaney's hot dog vendor character soon called in the singing versions of the two (Maya Rudolph and Adam Driver), who performed a song about "living in shame" set to the tune of the Fame theme.
The two men shredding on keytar and guitar were original SNL band member Paul Shaffer and G.E. Smith, who led the Saturday Night Live band from 1985-1995 (and was once married to Gilda Radner).
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Nathan Lane sings a very different "Hakuna Matata"
Mulaney then took Davidson and Spade to 1980s New York, where the stock market is booming and "a new diet has been sweeping the city. "Cocaine and some vodka," theater star and original Lion King cast member Nathan Lane began. "What a wonderful phase!"
John Mulaney's New York musicals have paid heavy tribute to Les Misérables in the past, and the 1990s number was a parody of the musical's "Look Down" duet, as a pimp (Jason Sudeikis) and a Times Square Elmo (Will Forte) sang from the audience (hilariously, with Jenna Ortega and Kevin Costner between them).
Kate McKinnon popped up to play 9/11-era Rudolph Giuliani, joined by Lin-Manuel Miranda (who clearly hasn't put away his Hamilton costume since appearing in January 25's cold open) to sing a version of "My Shot." And as Mulaney looked back at NYC's mayors, Scarlett Johannson teamed up with Pau Rudd to sing a Little Shop of Horrors parody about e-bikes running roughshod over the city.
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Former Les Misérables actor Nick Jonas joined SNL50's "One Day More" number
"I mean, if this is what New York is, I'm out," Davidson told Mulaney, who asked, "And where did Spade go, by the way?"
"Oh, uh, he sat back down in the audience," Davidson replied.
"Yeah, I got a feel for it," Spade confirmed from his seat.
"Remember how this city inspired you! Just because the art scene and the music scene are dead, and the city is a bunch of TD banks, and Le Pain Quotidians, you can't just give up! I'm just asking you — nay, all of us here — to still believe in the power of New York."
Cue the return of Kenan Thompson's diner lobster to sing "One Day More," joined by dozens including Nick Jonas, who portrayed Gavroche in Broadway's production of Les Misérables before playing Marius on the West End years later.
Watch "New York's 50th Musical" above, and check out the lyrics below.
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The lyrics to SNL50's New York Musical written by John Mulaney, Colin Jost and Auguste White
[To the tune of "Fame" ]:
Baby, look at me / And tell me what you see
This old city is going to hell
Trash and urine is all you can smell
Living in shame [Shame]
You're gonna get shot in a taxi
You're gonna get stabbed on the train [Again!]
The president told us to drop dead
Baby, remember the shame
Remember, remember, remember, remember
[ To the tune of "Hakuna Matata" ]
What a wonderful phase
Cocaine and some vodka
It's how the Mets win their games
It means no sleepin' for a couple of days
It's a power mix
That shrinks your dicks
Cocaine and some vodkaaaaa
[ In the tune of "Look Down" ]
Look down, look down
You're standing in my grave
Look down, you fool
This city I have served
Pimps like you / Pimps like me
Will never change / Do what you will
Sweep away /I serve a purpose ♪
The scum like you / I swear I do
Know your soul is dead / You know nothing of my life
My duty is to parade / All I did was sell them flesh
The tourists will pose / They will look
Next to me /You poor soul
And maybe also have sex with me?
We'll see how it goes
[ To the tune of "I Dreamed a Dream" ]
I dreamed a dream of times gone by [cough]
When I was high on meth and Skittles
So different than it used to be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now than it used to be
But Giuliani killed the dream I dreamed
[To the tune of "My Shot"]
I AM throwing away my shot
I am throwing away my shot
And yo, I'm just like my city
I'm drunk, corrupt and crazy
And I AM throwing away my shot
Everybody sing Whoa, whoa, whoa
Rise up, election conspiracies gonna rise up
I'll plant the seeds and they'll rise up
He's getting crazy by degrees
Gonna rise up till I get this vote
He'll never wise up
I am throwing away shot
Reputation gonna burn up [my shot]
And yo he's just like the city
But please spare him your pity
And he is throwing away his shot
I am throwing away my shot
[To the tune of "Suddenly Seymour"]
Suddenly e-bikes / They're flying around me
They're up on the sidewalk / But they're faster than cars
Suddenly e-bikes, Suddenly e-bikes
They're trying to kill me
It's like a road bike from Mad Max
Delivering alcohol
[ In the tune of "One Day More" ]
One day more
Another day, another destiny
Still have a horse and carriage
How can it be?
Even though it's full of crime
There's no place else I'd spend my time
One day more / One day more
We would not live another place
Though we cannot afford apartment
One day more / One day more
We will surround you night and day
Our rise to power's merely stuttered
One day more for a solution
How to stop the violent crime
Most cities don't have mole people
Here it happens all the time
One day more
I dreamed a dream that King Kong died
Then I remembered he's in Florida
My place, is here
I fight with you!
Tomorrow we'll discover what our godless city has in store
One more dawn
One more day
One day more!
