News / Published 2026-11-01

Gracie Abrams Plays Juliet, Then Romeo, on SNL’s Halloween Show

Gracie Abrams sang two songs on Saturday Night Live’s Oct. 31 Halloween episode dressed as both leads of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, opening behind an aquarium and returning in armor sleeves.

A flat vector illustration of an empty late-night studio stage: deep burgundy side drapes, a bare wooden stage lip, one microphone stand at centre and a single warm spotlight pool. Geometric shapes only, no people, no faces, no costumes on figures, no flags, no logos and no readable text.
Conceptual editorial illustration; not a photograph of the people or event described.

THE SHORT VERSION

  • Gracie Abrams performed twice on Saturday Night Live’s Oct. 31 Halloween episode, dressed as both leads of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, Billboard and Deadline report.
  • Billboard reports that she opened “Hit the Wall” from behind an aquarium, a nod to the film’s fish-tank meeting scene, and returned in Leonardo DiCaprio’s Hawaiian shirt and armor sleeves for “Here You Come, There You Go.”
  • Billboard places the appearance after the July 17 release of Daughter from Hell, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and lists a tour that opens Dec. 2 in Denver.

Two costumes from one 1996 film

Gracie Abrams spent both of her Saturday Night Live songs on Halloween in costumes taken from Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. Billboard reports that she dressed as both leads from the 1996 film across her performances on the Oct. 31 broadcast. Deadline, filing at 10:23 p.m. that night, calls the segment “a 2-for-1 costume special” and describes her, dressed as the film’s “doomed lovers,” serenading the Studio 8H audience in what it calls “the ultra-stylized adaptation of William Shakespeare’s tragedy.” Billboard’s headline compresses the change into a single line, from Juliet to Romeo.

The episode carried one first and one repeat. Deadline reports that it was Inde Navarrette’s hosting debut, and Billboard notes that Abrams was back as musical guest for the second time, after a December 2024 appearance on an episode hosted by Chris Rock. Neither report says who chose the outfits, whether the film’s rights holders were consulted, or how much of the wardrobe was built rather than pulled from an archive. Billboard treats the two looks as one idea carried across the night; Deadline treats them as two performances that happen to share a source.

The first song began behind an aquarium

For “Hit the Wall,” the lead single from her third album, Daughter from Hell, Abrams wore the angel costume Claire Danes wears in the film. Billboard reports that she opened the song from behind an aquarium, a nod to the movie’s “fish-tank meeting scene.” Deadline has the same costume and the same staging without the explanation, saying only that she began the number from behind the tank. Neither report describes the tank itself, or says whether it held water.

Billboard ties the song to its own chart record. It reports that “Hit the Wall” reached the Hot 100 and No. 45 on the Billboard Global 200, and that Abrams has said the single “set the tone for everything that followed.” On the writing session she told the outlet, “I just remember it being done,” and described the room as almost trance-like. Neither chart figure appears in Deadline’s account, which stays with the staging and the clothes. Billboard gives no release date for the single.

The second song swapped Juliet for Romeo

Abrams came back later in the episode for “Here You Come, There You Go,” a track from the album’s deluxe edition. Billboard describes the look as Leonardo DiCaprio’s Hawaiian shirt paired with the metal sleeves from his knight’s armor. Deadline calls the shirt a “tropical button-down shirt” and the arm pieces “the metal sleeves from his suit of armor”: the same object under two names. The two papers describe one garment in two registers, the film’s wardrobe on one side and the shirt itself on the other.

The accounts agree on the sleeves and split on the shirt, one paper treating it as a costume piece and the other as holiday wear. Neither says how long the change took, where the clothes came from, or whether Abrams kept anything afterwards. Neither carries a word from Luhrmann, from DiCaprio or from Danes about the borrowings. Both pieces stop at the description. Neither describes a photograph or a clip of either look.

The album year behind the booking

Billboard frames the appearance as the close of the biggest commercial year of Abrams’ career. Daughter from Hell came out July 17 through Interscope and was produced with Aaron Dessner; it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 124,000 equivalent album units, her first chart-topper on the all-genre list. Her 2024 album, The Secret of Us, peaked at No. 2. Deadline gives none of those figures and identifies the record only as her third studio album. Billboard prints the first-week units and the chart peak, and no later total.

The same outlet reports that her highest-charting song remains “That’s So True,” the deluxe-edition track from The Secret of Us that reached No. 6 on the Hot 100 and became her first top 10 there. Billboard supplies that comparison; Deadline does not mention the earlier album at all. It is the last chart fact in either report.

A December tour, and no word on the costumes

Billboard reports that Abrams takes the album on the road next month. Her Look at My Life Tour opens Dec. 2 in Denver and runs into May 2027, with four nights at London’s O2 Arena. Those dates are the only scheduling information in either report; neither outlet says what the setlist will hold, or whether the film costumes travel with the show. Denver is the only city either outlet names.

Neither report covers the broadcast beyond the two songs. There is no overnight rating, no review of the episode, and no statement from NBC or from the show’s producers. Deadline’s item runs five paragraphs and stops at the hosting debut; Billboard spends its second half on the album and the tour, and returns to the costumes only in its headline. Deadline’s is the shorter of the two by a wide margin.

What neither account settles

The reason for the outfits is the largest gap. Neither outlet quotes Abrams on the choice, and neither says whether the film’s 1996 release, its soundtrack or an anniversary had anything to do with the timing. Halloween is the only explanation on offer, and both reports supply it by framing the episode rather than by stating anything. Deadline never returns to the outfits after the second number, and Billboard records no fitting, no rehearsal and no stylist.

What is confirmed is narrower: two performances on an Oct. 31 broadcast, two costumes traced to one film, the chart figures Billboard prints and the tour dates it lists. Everything else is missing from both, including the wardrobe’s origin, the film’s side of the story and the ratings. The rest of the story sits with the people who made the episode, and both reports end where the broadcast does. Related coverage on this site includes the Ghosts Halloween special, Noah Kahan’s 2027 tour, My Chemical Romance’s album plans and the Nicki Minaj press secretary story.

Sources & reporting limits

  1. Gracie Abrams Goes From Juliet to Romeo During ‘SNL’ Halloween Performances — Billboard
  2. Gracie Abrams Channels Baz Luhrmann's 'Romeo + Juliet' For 'SNL' Halloween Performance — Deadline
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