Will Smith guested on The Late Late Show With James Corden for a musical bit. No, it wasn’t carpool karaoke — Smith entertained other drivers by featuring in a “Crosswalk: The Musical” segment.
“Crosswalk: The Musical” is a recurring segment on Corden’s show where the cast of popular musicals performs a version of their songs standing in the middle of traffic. It’s certainly a little bit dangerous, but also fun. Corden kicks off the sketch by showing up in his best blue face paint and genie costume. He has to assure his fellow singers and dancers that they’re not doing Avatar or Blue Man Group, but when Aladdin cast members Mena Massoud and Naomi Scott show up, everybody catches on.
But when Will Smith joins the party, Corden’s role changes. He’s dismayed to find out that Smith thinks he’d be a better Abu, and the sketch gets a lot of laughs from Corden trying to make Abu a three-dimensional antihero character while wearing a monkey costume.
Once all the casting tussles are sorted, the gang performs “Friend Like Me” (complete with pyrotechnics), “Prince Ali,” and “A Whole New World.” The whole thing is incredibly elaborate, featuring dozens of backup dancers, fake elephants (!!), and of course, the novelty of seeing Will Smith singing and dancing in the middle of Beverly Boulevard.
Check out the “Crosswalk: The Musical” segment above.
