Saturday, November 9, 2024

Cecily Strong Will Miss the First Month of New “SNL” Season Doing Play in Los Angeles

Share

Cecily Strong, one of the most popular members of the “Saturday Night Live” troupe, will miss the first month of the new season this fall.

Strong will instead star in Jane Wagner and Lily Tomlin’s “The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe” in Los Angeles. This is the same production from New York that took place last winter.

Last year, the “SNL” season began on October 2nd with four shows in a row. Strong’s run in “The Search” is set for September 21st through October 23rd. It could extend if successful, although the one thing in “SNL”‘s favor is that L.A. is not a theater town. A four week run is considered a triumph.

It’s strange that the theater run was scheduled to overlap with “SNL” and not when the show is on hiatus. Strong is much needed right now on the comedy show since several of its performers left in June after long runs including Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant. Strong, when she does return, would be the show’s leading lady without question.

On the plus side, I saw Strong in “The Search” in New York and she was terrific. She was the first ever performer that Wagner and Tomlin ever allowed do the one woman show other than Tomlin. So of course Strong, who is likely in her last year at “SNL,” wants to show off for her L.A. friends and industry types.

But who will play Judge Jeannine Pirro guzzling her box of wine?

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

Read more

In Other News