CULTURE

Inside a Zoom Gala with Anne Hathaway, Kit Harington, and the ‘Outer Banks’ Kids

The Academy Award-winning actress performed “Wig in a Box” from “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” revisiting her Broadway past.

by Maxine Wally

May 15, 2020

Robert DeNiro, Anne Hathaway, Kit Harington, and Jamie Foxx showed up in an unlikely place on Thursday night: they all made video appearances at a fundraiser for the Los Angeles-based organization Chrysalis’s “Night In” event, which was hosted on YouTube.

Jamie Foxx

Chrysalis, a nonprofit that provides homeless and low-income individuals with resources and support to find and keep employment, also enlisted Zach Braff and Jeff Ross to host. Dylan Minnette from 13 Reasons Why and The New Girl’s Max Greenfield performed and served as presenters as well.

Robert DeNiro

This is, of course, lockdown. While under normal circumstances, the talent would show up to a gala for petit filets and live auctions wearing gowns and tuxes, they instead recorded videos at home. (This was no less exciting, however, since it gave the 500-or-so viewers glimpses of the interiors of their houses. Harington’s place featured a pastel color scheme, and DeNiro’s living room had a cozy bookshelf and mantle motif, like that of a cabin in the woods.)

Harington, along with Eddie Redmayne and the entire cast of Netflix’s latest teen concoction Outer Banks, put themselves up for auction. Whoever won the bid (which started at $900), would be treated to a private 20-minute long Zoom call with their celeb of choice.

Kit Harington

“Where you can just roundly abuse me about the end of Game of Thrones,” Harington said, standing in front of his coral couch, yellow lamp, and baby blue wall. “I’ll just sit there and take it. I’m your virtual punching bag.”

But the highlight of the evening was inarguably Anne Hathaway’s performance, a highly produced rendering of “Wig in a Box” from Hedwig and the Angry Inch. With it, Hathaway solidified her lasting status as a supreme theater kid. (She starred in Children and Art in 2005, Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night in 2009, and most recently, the off-Broadway production Grounded.)

Anne Hathaway and her band.

She first appeared at a piano, playing the opening notes to “Wig in a Box” and singing along, her AirPods firmly in place. Hathaway then had various wigs superimposed onto her head like an Instagram filter. She sang and spoke directly to the crowd in true Broadway fashion. Members of her band flashed on the screen, as did other folks wearing candy-colored wigs. When she belted the lyrics, “Suddenly, I’m Miss Farrah Fawcett from TV,” a blonde, feathered-out hairdo appeared. And for her finale, Anne Hathaway appeared in full David Bowie costume, lightning bolt makeup, blue wig, and all.

Hathaway as Bowie.

“Suddenly I’m this punk rock star of stage and screen,” she screamed, thrashing around. “And I’m never turning back.”

It’s unclear whether Anne Hathaway has ever gotten into a performance the way she did last night. Could this be a hint that the Academy Award-winning actress intends on returning to the stage when it’s safe to go to plays again? Perhaps it’s more appropriate to assume that she’s just as bored as we are in quarantine, and had time to get creative.