Tony nominee Andrew Rannells is known to theatre lovers as The Book of Mormon’s original Elder Price, later playing the title role in Hedwig, King George in Hamilton, and, most recently, Whizzer in the fall revival of Falsettos. Rannells is known to small-screen fans as Elijah on Girls. On the March 26 episode of the hit HBO show, Rannells’ two worlds collided as Elijah auditioned for a musical.
But what song would Elijah sing? After batting around ideas, Rannells said to the Girls team, “Why are we even wasting time? I should just sing ‘Let Me Be Your Star’ from the hit show Smash.…Coming from that Broadway world, I know all those people who were on that TV show. It was a show that everybody watched.” Rannells stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon March 29 to reveal a clip.
It was also a full-circle moment for the actor, as Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (who wrote the song) also wrote Hairspray, Rannells’ first job. Moreover, Hairspray’s original Tracy Turnblad, Marissa Jaret Winokur, played the casting director Elijah auditions for.
Rannells had host Fallon cracking up at his story about his actual audition for Broadway’s Lysistrata Jones.