James Corden took his love of musicals to the street again on Wednesday night for the latest edition of “Crosswalk: The Musical,” the Late Late Show host’s occasional homage to musical theater performed in between green lights on Beverly Boulevard and Genesee Avenue. This time his traffic-dodging crew was joined by actors Josh Gad, Luke Evans and Dan Stevens for a run through some beloved tunes from the upcoming live-action Beauty and the Beast remake.
While Emma Watson couldn’t make the scene, Corden was more than willing to slip into the XXL-sized yellow dress to waltz across the avenue during rush hour. “To be invited by James to perform at the crosswalk outside of CBS — that’s what we call a dream come true,” said Gad, as his co-stars looked stunned by the news that their stage would be an exhaust-choked avenue.
After Corden’s confounding parking lot warm-up acting exercises — including whipping red dodgeballs at Gad to simulate oncoming buses and getting choked out by Evans’ Gaston — the late night host got into character by comparing his take on Belle to Daniel Day-Lewis playing Abraham Lincoln and Meryl Streep performing as Margaret Thatcher. “In many ways, those three will always be regarded as similar, if not the same,” he predicted.
