highly anticipated production of \u201cJesus Christ Superstar\u201d<\/a> at the Hollywood Bowl, which staged its first night of a three-night run Friday.<\/p>\nGad hinted that maybe \u2014 if he tested negative \u2014 the situation might change. The following day, however, John Stamos announced on social media that his weekend \u201cjust got biblical\u201d and that he was stepping in for Gad in the show. <\/p>\n
On Friday, things got extra dramatic when Gad said that he had tested negative. Fans on his social media clamored to know what that might mean, but he stayed mum until Saturday when he posted a photo of himself in an elaborate gold lam\u00e9 costume with the words, \u201cSee you all Sunday night.\u201d<\/p>\n
A rep for the Los Angeles Philharmonic said that final confirmation that Gad will step onto stage won\u2019t come until noon Sunday.<\/p>\n
Stamos appeared onstage as Herod on Friday night, bringing some comic relief to an electric, deeply emotional show. <\/p>\n
After one of star Cynthia Erivo\u2019s solos, the audience clapped so loud, long and reverently, that tears came to the singer\u2019s eyes \u2014 which only caused the crowd to cheer harder. The moment of symbiotic love lasted for at least 3 minutes, maybe more.<\/p>\n
The Bowl was packed with marquee names, including former Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, Jim Carrey and Ted Neely (who played Jesus in the 1973 film adaptation of the musical). Erivo brought composer Andrew Lloyd Webber onto the stage as a special guest during curtain call.<\/p>\n
Still, Gad fans were many \u2014 you could tell because they held Olaf dolls and wore Olaf jewelry \u2014 and they could be heard expressing their sorrow at the absence of Gad in the crush of the crowd after the show.<\/p>\n
Gad\u2019s addition to the cast, which included Erivo as Jesus, Adam Lambert as Judas and Phillipa Soo as Mary Magdalene, was hailed by fans; and in an interview with The Times during rehearsal, Gad spoke about being beyond excited to perform at the Bowl for the very first time with a stellar cast that he called the Avengers of musical theater.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve wanted to play the Hollywood Bowl forever,\u201d said Gad. \u201cBut I never thought I was good enough to play the Hollywood Bowl,\u201d he added with a self-deprecating smile<\/p>\n
Even though the role of King Herod entails a single song \u2014 a kind of comic interlude that Gad likened to the part of King George in \u201cHamilton\u201d \u2014 Gad showed up at as many rehearsals as possible before he came down with COVID. He just liked sitting on the sidelines, soaking up the scene and the incredible talent on display, he said.<\/p>\n
At a Saturday rehearsal before the show, he filmed numbers on phones for various cast members and cheered his heart out. His sense of excitement was palpable. Now he\u2019ll get one night to give \u201cKing Herod\u2019s Song\u201d his all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aug. 2, 2025 12:28 PM PT It felt like 2022 all over again when Josh Gad took to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":114164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,25377,7823,4537,1888,21603,5208,21026,66308,3793,48264,66309,2961,224,5337,4370,9221,71834,1404],"class_list":{"0":"post-114163","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-cast","11":"tag-covid","12":"tag-crowd","13":"tag-fan","14":"tag-first-night","15":"tag-friday","16":"tag-hollywood-bowl","17":"tag-jesus-christ-superstar","18":"tag-john-stamos","19":"tag-josh-gad","20":"tag-king-herod","21":"tag-la","22":"tag-los-angeles","23":"tag-losangeles","24":"tag-show","25":"tag-stage","26":"tag-star-cynthia-erivo","27":"tag-sunday"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114961727165483761","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}