Billy Crystal opened the 2026 Hollywood Bowl season Saturday night with a set of jokes aimed at President Donald Trump and the recent Los Angeles mayoral race, drawing enthusiastic crowd responses throughout.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Crystal served as host for the opening night performance titled "The Best of Broadway." Performers included Halle Bailey and Tony Award winners Darren Criss, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Lea Salonga. The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Wilkins, accompanied the stars, joined by members from the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles and the California State University, Fullerton University Singers.
Crystal opened with a direct shot at the current political climate.
"Welcome to the 2026 opening night of the Hollywood Bowl," he told the crowd. "I haven't heard excitement like that since they took Trump's name off the Kennedy Center. Unbelievable."
He followed with a joke about the recent Los Angeles vote-counting process. The city had spent nearly a week determining that Spencer Pratt would not advance to the fall mayoral runoff election.
"Everything's slow here. That's how we count our mail-in ballots — very slow. Right before I came out, they had the final results of the governor race, and Gray Davis is going to be in," Crystal said, referencing the former California governor who was recalled in October 2003 and replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
He also addressed the evening's Broadway theme by connecting it to Trump's recent UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House.
"Tonight's theme is the best of Broadway," Crystal said. "It was either this or holding a UFC match here, and we decided that we would be classy and respectful." When the crowd reacted to the UFC reference, Crystal responded, "I know. We'll get through it."
The musical performances spanned a wide range of Broadway productions. Criss sang "Something's Coming" from West Side Story and "The Music of the Night" from The Phantom of the Opera, and performed a duet with Salonga on "Suddenly Seymour" from Little Shop of Horrors. Bailey performed "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid, a song she previously recorded for Disney's 2023 live-action version of the film, and "Home" from The Wiz.
Goldsberry performed "Satisfied," the same number she originated in the Broadway production of Hamilton. Salonga sang "Defying Gravity" from Wicked, and Stokes Mitchell performed "Wheels of a Dream" from Ragtime, a production in which he appeared during its debut run.
