You can’t stop the beat!
Since James Corden had the stars of Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns on The Late Late Show Tuesday, he decided to make the most of Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s talents by condensing 22 movie musicals into one long greatest hits medley. “Anyone who watches this show knows how much I love musicals,” he told the audience. “So tonight, we’ll be doing a ‘Roll Call’ celebrating some of the greatest movie musicals of all time as fast as we can—in one take.”
Before the performance began, Corden asked, “Are we ready for this?”
While Miranda said he was “born ready,” Blunt told the host, “Not at all!”
From there, the trio launched into a Cabaret number, followed by songs from Chicago, La La Land, Beauty and the Beast, Guys and Dolls, Evita, Singin’ in the Rain, Mary Poppins Returns, The Muppet Movie, The Wizard of Oz, Hairspray, Dreamgirls, Annie, Fiddler on the Roof, Into the Woods, Little Shop of Horrors, Les Misérables, Moulin Rouge, Once, Fame, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Mamma Mia. (Keep your eyes peeled for an iconic cameo about five minutes into the video.)
Things took an awkward turn when they got to Into the Woods, where Blunt and Corden reprised their roles from Rob Marshall’s 2014 film and Miranda inserted himself into the scene.
“Lin-Manuel, what are you doing?” Corden asked. “We talked about this.”
“But I love Into the Woods,” the actor explained. “I thought you were kidding.”
“It’s literally us in the movie. The song is called ‘It Takes Two.’ One, two,” the late-night host reminded him, pointing to himself and Blunt. “So sorry. You’re going to have to sit this one out.”
Undeterred, Miranda quoted Hamilton and said, “I am not throwing away my shot!”
“He went there,” Corden said, while Blunt called the move “embarrassing.”
Eventually, they relented and let him play…the woods.
Watch the actors’ entire musical medley to see a special number from Mary Poppins Returns.