When you think about Broadway, it's easy to picture the big hits—those iconic shows that run for years, even decades. But then there’s a unique category of musicals that only come around once a year. And it is this annual tradition that makes Christmas musicals so special. They're not just a way to celebrate the holiday season—they tap into that universal feeling of nostalgia, warmth, and tradition. These shows bring people together in a way that few others can, offering an escape into a world of joy, wonder, and yes, a little bit of holiday magic. Whether it’s through music, story, or the sheer spectacle, Christmas on Broadway has a way of making the season feel even more magical.
But as we all know, the holiday season itself is full of contradictions—joy and melancholy, memories both cherished and bittersweet—and theater is able to capture that complexity in a way other mediums can’t. Now this episode isn’t gonna try to cover every Christmas show that’s ever graced a Broadway stage—that would be a never-ending podcast for sure. Instead, I’m focusing on a selection of standouts that have made their mark in New York and beyond.
From the big, iconic productions that have defined the Christmas season to lesser-known gems that still manage to capture the spirit of the holidays, we’re going to look at the shows that not only helped define what Christmas can mean on Broadway but also why they remain so beloved long after the final curtain falls.
Welcome to a special bonus episode of Closing Night, where we dive into famous and forgotten Christmas shows that made their way to Broadway. I'm your host Patrick Oliver Jones and I’ll be guiding us through both traditional and contemporary favorites of the holiday season and their journey to closing night.
If there’s one story that has become nearly synonymous with Christmas—on stage, screen, and beyond—it’s A Christmas Carol. The Charles Dickens timeless tale of redemption, generosity, and the true spirit of the season has been adapted countless times. It’s a tale that seems tailor-made for the stage, offering powerful characters, emotional transformations, and a little bit of holiday magic, and Broadway has its own unique history with the story—but not as long a history as you might think.
Because while the story has been told in many ways, only a few adaptations have actually made their way to the Broadway stage. So, let’s take a look at how this beloved Christmas classic found its way under the spotlight—and the unique twists each production brought to this cherished story.
Let’s start with the 1981 musical version. This adaptation came from an unlikely but impressive pairing: Michel Legrand, the Oscar-winning composer best known for The Thomas Crown Affair and Barbra Streisand’s Yentl, joined forces with Sheldon Harnick, the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning librettist with his longtime partner Jerry Bock on musicals like Fiddler on the Roof and She Loves Me. Together, Harnick and Legrand reimagined Ebenezer Scrooge’s journey, with Richard Kiley starring in the lead role. Kiley, of course, was famous for playing Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha, but he’d been searching for years to break free of that association and find a new Broadway vehicle to call his own. Transforming from the idealistic dreamer tilting at windmills to the miserly Scrooge was certainly a bold pivot. The production toured nationally with Gary Beach as Fred, starting in Wilmington, Delaware, in November and December of 1981. The goal was to bring it to Broadway the following Christmas, but that never came to be, leaving this adaptation as an intriguing “what if” in the annals of theater history.
Later in the 1980s, A Christmas Carol took a minimalist turn with Patrick Stewart’s one-man stage adaptation. Fresh off his rise to fame as Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Stewart debuted his version in England in 1988 before bringing it to Broadway three years later. And unless IBDB has a secret adaptation I’ve missed, this was actually the first Christmas Carol I could find to appear on Broadway! Shocking, right? It surprised me. But Stewart’s mesmerizing performance returned to Broadway three more times over the years. And if you’re curious about this version, I did a whole Closing Night episode about it last Christmas, so be sure to give that a listen.
Now, let’s fast-forward to 1994, and we come upon another musical version, this time from two creators better known for their work with other collaborators. Alan Menken, famous for his groundbreaking partnership with Howard Ashman on Disney classics, teamed up with Lynn Ahrens, one half of the celebrated Ahrens-Flaherty duo (Ragtime, Once on This Island). Together, they crafted a musical adaptation that played annually at the Theater at Madison Square Garden from 1994 to 2003. While it didn’t technically play on Broadway, it drew plenty of Broadway talent to play Scrooge, including Terrence Mann, Tim Curry, F. Murray Abraham, Roger Daltrey, and Roddy McDowall, appearing in his final stage role in 1997. Other notable performers included Ben Vereen, Emily Skinner, Ken Page, and Christopher Sieber. After ten holiday seasons at MSG, this production was adapted into television special in 2004 starring Kelsey Grammer, with a star-studded cast that featured Jason Alexander, Jane Krakowski, and Jesse L. Martin, among others.
In 2017, A Christmas Carol returned to its roots in a play by Jack Thorne, featuring original music and traditional carols. This adaptation debuted at The Old Vic in London, where it’s become an annual tradition. What set this production apart was its immersive design: the theater was reconfigured into the round, with audience members seated onstage and performers weaving through the crowd, even handing out mince pies and satsumas before the show began. When the production transferred to Broadway in 2019, starring Campbell Scott as Scrooge and LaChanze and Andrea Martin as the spirits of Christmas Present and Past, it took on a more traditional proscenium staging. Still, it retained its haunting beauty and innovative spirit, earning five Tony Awards, including one for Best Original Score—an unusual achievement for a play. But what made it truly unique was that the other four nominees were also plays, but after a shortened season due to Covid, it made sense to give the award to a score all about Christmas togetherness and redemption.
The most recent Christmas Carol adaptation came in 2022, when Jefferson Mays brought his own one-man version to Broadway. Directed by Michael Arden, this adaptation was first created as a streaming film in 2020 before making its way to the stage. Mays, a master of transformation in other shows like I Am My Own Wife and A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, brought that same artistry to this production as he portrayed over 50 roles with astonishing precision. The script, co-adapted by Arden, Mays, and his wife Susan Lyons, closely resembled the style of show that Dickens himself used in his public readings, blending narration with dialogue to create a seamless and captivating storytelling experience. I was lucky enough to catch this production and watching Mays perform was nothing short of mesmerizing—his ability to individualize each character, from the Cratchits to the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, was amazing. And though Danny Gardner made a brief, wordless appearance as The Spectre, the weight of the production rested entirely on Mays’ shoulders. And by the curtain call, he seemed both utterly spent and profoundly fulfilled as if, like Scrooge, he had undergone his own transformation.
As we've seen, A Christmas Carol has had no shortage of adaptations, from the stage to the screen and back again, each reimagining this timeless tale. But Dickens wasn’t the only one to tell the story of a man discovering his own worth through supernatural intervention.
Years after Sheldon Harnick worked on A Christmas Carol, he turned his attention to another iconic Christmas story and partnered with composer Joe Raposo to adapt the 1946 Frank Capra film It’s a Wonderful Life into a stage musical. Their version closely followed the original plot, set in 1945, about a suicidal man whose guardian angel reveals how profoundly he has touched the lives of those around him.
The source material for the film came from a short story by Philip Van Doren Stern called The Greatest Gift. Stern began writing it in 1939, and after years of being unable to find a publisher, he decided to print 200 copies of the story in 21-page booklets to send out as Christmas gifts in 1943. One of those booklets eventually landed in the hands of RKO Pictures producer David Hempstead, who purchased the rights for $10,000 in April 1944, and showed it to actor Cary Grant, who became interested in playing the lead role. Later that year, Stern finally found a publisher and a couple of magazines that printed his story to the masses. Meanwhile, RKO was working on adaptations but couldn’t land on anything promising, so they ended up selling the rights to Frank Capra’s production company, Liberty Films, which finally came up with It’s a Wonderful Life. The film was actually a financial loss for the studio when it came out, even though it went on to earn five Oscar nominations and would later be crowned the number-one Christmas movie of all time by Entertainment Weekly and many others. With such a beloved legacy, it was almost inevitable that this story would eventually make its way to the stage, but it took some time.
As I mentioned earlier Harnick was best known for his work with composer Jerry Bock and their musicals like Fiorello!—only the third musical to ever win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Raposo, on the other hand, was famous for his work in television. He created songs on Sesame Street like "C is for Cookie" for the Cookie Monster and “Bein’ Green” for Kermit the Frog as well as the theme song for Three’s Company and other sitcoms. Now, Harnick and Raposo had collaborated before on a musical version of Alice in Wonderland in 1975, but their work in adapting It’s a Wonderful Life stretched over two decades. And just as they finished the book for their musical, simply called A Wonderful Life, complications arose regarding the rights to the story.
You see, Stern had renewed the copyright to The Greatest Gift in 1971, but the film entered the public domain in 1974 due to a missed renewal, creating confusion over adaptation rights. And so after some challenges and delays, A Wonderful Life finally premiered in 1986 at the University of Michigan. Tragically however, Raposo passed away in 1989 of lymphoma at the age of 51, and never got to see the show’s future development as Harnick himself continued to work on the show.
And in 1990, it received a staged reading at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey. While the musical captured the essence of the film, it also took notable liberties. For instance, Mr. Gower, the grieving pharmacist, was no longer in the show; Mr. Potter wasn’t bound to a wheelchair; George saves his brother Harry from being hit by a truck rather than from drowning in icy water; and Clarence stops George from jumping in front of a train instead of leaping off a bridge.
I bounced around several regional theaters for years until 2005, when the show finally made it to Broadway, kind of. A Wonderful Life was presented as a one-night-only benefit presentation for the Actors' Fund of America at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre on December 12th. Directed by Carl Andress and choreographed by Denis Jones, the benefit performance featured Brian Stokes Mitchell as George Bailey and David Hyde Pierce as Clarence, alongside a stellar cast that included Judy Kuhn, Karen Ziemba, Marc Kudisch, Phylicia Rashad, and Chuck Cooper. I had the privilege of being in the audience that night, watching as these performers brought Bedford Falls to life in a production where actors had scripts in hand for the scenes but then set them aside for the big song-and-dance musical numbers.
A year later, A Wonderful Life was back at the Paper Mill Playhouse, but this time as a fully staged production. However, just like his A Christmas Carol musical, Harnick’s A Wonderful Life never secured a permanent spot on Broadway but continues to find a home in regional theaters, alongside other lesser-known efforts to turn the story into a stage production.
But one notable adaptation involves none other than Paul McCartney. Yeah, the legendary Beatle embarked on his first-ever stage musical at the age of 74. It all started when British theater producer Bill Kenwright acquired the rights to It’s a Wonderful Life in 2016 and approached McCartney to compose the score. McCartney had honestly never considered writing a musical, but two years later, McCartney sent him the first song, and the project took off.
In 2019, it was officially announced that McCartney was writing music and lyrics, and Lee Hall, author of Billy Elliot and screenwriter for the Elton John biopic Rocketman, would help with lyrics and create the show’s book. A writer from the New York Post actually listened to the demo tracks and wrote an article about what he thought:
“The songwriter segues easily into the musical theater style, while still giving his diehard fans that soulful McCartney sound. Every time a Beatle sings, an angel gets his wings. On the CD, the singer performs every role from George Bailey to Mr. Potter and even tries his hand at acting. The more than 10 finished songs sound like a bona fide lost Beatles album, with one spectacular number’s rousing ending bringing to mind the Na Na Na Na Na’s of ‘Hey Jude.’”
So whatever happened to it? Well, the producer was planning to come to Broadway in the winter of 2020. So as you can guess a certain pandemic scuttled those plans, and as of now, there’s no word on when—or if—it will return.
So while some Christmas shows evolve from novellas and short stories, more and more Broadway musicals are based on Christmas films. And after the break we’ll explore some classic examples.
In 1939, Irving Berlin began working on a musical revue called Happy Holiday, creating songs to celebrate various holidays throughout the year. By 1941, the idea shifted gears when Berlin met with film director Mark Sandrich, who suggested turning it into a movie. The result was the 1942 film Holiday Inn, starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, about a singer who retires to a Connecticut farm and turns it into an inn that opens exclusively on holidays. Of all the songs Berlin wrote for the film, one rose above the rest: “White Christmas.” It became a defining moment in the movie, won the Academy Award for Best Song in 1943, and cemented its place in holiday music history.
Seventy years later, the idea of bringing Holiday Inn to the stage finally gained traction at Universal Stage Productions. And by 2014, a musical adaptation came together, directed by Gordon Greenberg, who co-wrote the book with Chad Hodge, and Denis Jones handling choreography. The show premiered at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut with Noah Racey as Ted (the Fred Astaire role), Patti Murin as Linda, Susan Mosher as Louise, and Tally Sessions as Jim (in the role played by Bing Crosby). After the initial run was extended, Gavin Lee, best known for Mary Poppins, replaced Racey as Ted.
Alongside Berlin standards like “Blue Skies” and “Easter Parade,” the musical also included lesser-known gems, such as “Love Leads to Marriage” that was written for an unproduced Berlin musical from the 1950s. Changes were also made to the material itself, including cutting songs like the one about Washington’s Birthday and removing the minstrel performance of “Abraham,” notorious for its use of blackface in the film.
This Goodspeed production also marked a milestone: it was the final show under Michael Price’s 46-year tenure as executive director of Goodspeed Musicals. During his leadership, the theater had been the birthplace of major musicals like Man of La Mancha, Annie, and Shenandoah.
Just six months after that Connecticut debut, Holiday Inn traveled to The Muny in St. Louis, with much of the original cast returning alongside new additions like Nancy Opel, Colin Donnell, and Holly Ann Butler. Now, having performed at both venues myself, I can tell you that Goodspeed and The Muny couldn’t be more different. Goodspeed’s vintage indoor theater seats fewer than 400 people and has a 29-foot-wide stage, while The Muny’s outdoor amphitheater seats 11,000 with a massive 120-foot stage. The differences in scale alone transform each of these venues into a unique experience for both the cast and the audience.
A year later, Holiday Inn made its Broadway debut at Studio 54 in October 2016, produced by the Roundabout Theatre Company. Greenberg and Jones returned, with a new cast led by Tony winner Bryce Pinkham and High School Musical star Corbin Bleu. Songs like “Love Leads to Marriage” were swapped for other Berlin classics, but the dazzling choreography remained a standout.
Variety praised the production as “a first-class stage redo…turning this shaky fixer-upper into prime property” Deadline called it “an endorphin assault…inducing warm-bath pleasure like no other show since 42nd Street. The dancing is spectacular, the singing sublime, the visuals are ingenious.” But of course, the New York Times couldn’t resist being a little Grinchy, describing the show as “polished and pleasant. But a great gift to the theater season…it’s not. More like a prematurely hung Christmas stocking smelling faintly of mothballs.” Nonetheless, Denis Jones’ choreography earned Tony and Drama Desk nominations with Jones crediting much of the show’s success to the cast. And when it came to Corbin Bleu, he told Playbill, “The guy’s got amazing feet…I had no idea. We met a few months ago, and he brought his tap shoes along. I just won the lotto.”
Holiday Inn closed on January 15, 2017, but unlike some holiday musicals, it hasn’t been revived for subsequent Christmas seasons. Up next, we’ll talk about another musical that’s become a staple of the Christmas season…
Irving Berlin’s iconic song “White Christmas” may have first appeared in Holiday Inn, but it was in the 1954 film White Christmas that it truly became a holiday classic. Entertainment Weekly even ranks it as the 14th best Christmas movie of all time. The original plan had been to reunite Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, but Astaire became ill and was replaced by Donald O’Connor. However, O’Connor soon became sick as well, and for a while, it seemed like the movie might not happen. That’s when Danny Kaye, who happened to be between films at the time, stepped in to save the day.
The plot of White Christmas follows two World War II veterans who have become Broadway performers. They decide to help their former military commander, who has turned into an innkeeper. The film went on to become the top money maker of 1954, but like the movie Holiday Inn, it would take many years before White Christmas found its way to the stage.
The first attempt at a stage adaptation came in 2000 with a production at The Muny in St. Louis, starring Karen Mason, Lauren Kennedy, and Lee Roy Reams. However, the project didn’t move forward after that initial run. In 2001, it was announced that a revised version of White Christmas would open in London at the Savoy Theatre in October. Unfortunately, there were a number of issues during the summer months, and the production was ultimately canceled. Things finally came together for a 2004 mounting of the musical in San Francisco, with rewrites and revisions by playwright David Ives and producer Paul Blake. This version starred Brian D'Arcy James, Meredith Patterson, and Jeffry Denman, with direction by the legendary Walter Bobbie and choreography by the equally lauded Randy Skinner.
The musical featured 25 Irving Berlin songs, including familiar hits like “Sisters” and “I Love a Piano,” as well as beloved Christmas classics such as “Happy Holidays,” “Count Your Blessings,” and, of course, the iconic title song.
The musical made its way to the U.K. in 2006, and two years later it arrived on Broadway for a limited engagement at the Marquis Theatre. Previews began on November 14, 2008, and the show ran through January 4, 2009. Bobbie and Skinner returned as director and choreographer, and the cast included Stephen Bogardus, Kerry O'Malley, Jeffry Denman, and Meredith Patterson.
Despite box office success, the Broadway production didn’t win over all the critics. Charles Isherwood of The New York Times described the show as “as fresh and appealing as a roll of Necco wafers found in a mothballed Christmas stocking.” Nevertheless, the production earned two 2009 Tony Award nominations: one for Best Choreography (Randy Skinner) and another for Best Orchestrations (Larry Blank)—which led to its return to the Marquis Theatre for another limited engagement the following holiday season, officially opening November 22nd and running through January 3, 2010. I had the chance to see it during this second run, and Bobbie’s direction and Skinner choreography brought me all the warmth and energy of the movie. The cast I got to see featured James Clow as Bob, Mara Davi as Judy, Melissa Errico as Betty, Tony Yazbeck as Phil, and David Ogden Stiers as General Waverly.
There’s been talk of bringing the show back for another run during Christmas, but that has yet to happen. Although regional theaters across the country regularly make shows like Holiday Inn and White Christmas part of their end of year presentations, those are vintage movies updated for today’s audiences. After the break, we’ll look at more contemporary movies that made their mark on Broadway.
Since its release in 1983, A Christmas Story has become a holiday classic. Based on the writings of broadcaster and storyteller Jean Shepard, the film draws from his collection of short stories published in 1966 as In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash. These stories paint a vivid picture of Shepard’s childhood growing up in Hammond, Indiana, near the U.S. Steel Works on Lake Michigan. The movie adaptation of his work earned its place as number two on Entertainment Weekly’s list of all-time Christmas movies. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before this beloved film made its way to Broadway—but the journey there wasn’t exactly smooth.
It all started with composer and lyricist Scott Davenport Richards and book writer Joseph Robinette. Neither of them had written for Broadway before. Richards had a background in opera and musical theater and even performed in the original Broadway production of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Robinette, on the other hand, was known for his adaptation of Charlotte's Web and the musical version he created with Charles Strouse. By December 2009, they had developed a workshop version of A Christmas Story: The Musical, which premiered at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre. Directed by Eric Rosen, this version stuck to the core story: Ralphie’s desperate quest to get a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. But as with many musicals, changes were on the horizon.
The most notable change came after the Kansas City run, when Richards was replaced by a rising songwriting duo: Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Producer Jerry Goehring cited “artistic differences” as the reason for the switch, and Pasek and Paul who were just 25 years old at the time were brought in to reimagine the score. Today, we know them as EGOT-winning creators of Dear Evan Hansen, The Greatest Showman, and La La Land. But back then, this was their first crack at a large-scale musical, and Pasek and Paul had just one year after the Kansas City run, to bring A Christmas Story 2.0 to life. And on December 9, 2010 at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, they delivered.
Goehring praised the changes, saying this new iteration “tells the story more clearly and more directly.” Rosen was still the director, but with choreographer Kelly Devine and a new cast that included John Bolton and Anne Allgood as The Old Man and Mother, this Christmas Story took a slightly different approach to the movie’s storyline. Some of notable changes included removing Ralphie’s obsession with the Little Orphan Annie decoder ring. Also, the voice-over, narrated by Jean Shepherd in the film, was now delivered by a live character onstage to frame the musical—though critics noted, this new narrator sometimes interrupted the flow of the story.
One scene that remained from the film, however, became a source of tension during rehearsals: the family dinner at a Chinese restaurant after the neighbor’s dogs destroy their Christmas turkey. In the movie, the waiters sing a heavily accented version of “Deck the Halls.” Justin Paul admitted finding the scene “definitely offensive” but felt it was too iconic to cut. “The only way we get away with it is that it’s from the movie,” he explained, “and it feels familiar and in a bygone era.” The scene ended up being a hit with Seattle audiences, generating some of the show’s biggest laughs.
In fact, throughout the musical, Pasek and Paul lean into the iconic moments from the film, with a score of holiday-themed numbers like “It All Comes Down to Christmas” and “Up on Santa’s Lap” along with other songs like “A Major Award” (featuring a kick line of the leg lamps), an Act II opening number “Sticky Situation” (about a triple-dog dare and flagpole), and of course a song based on the movie’s most famous warning called “You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out.”
The following year, the musical hit the road for a national tour. This time directed by John Rando and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, with Peter Billingsley—the original Ralphie from the film—coming onboard as a producer. This team finally brought the show to Broadway in 2012, where it played the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre from November 7 to December 30. The cast featured Dan Lauria as Jean Shepard, John Bolton as The Old Man, Caroline O’Connor as Miss Shields, Erin Dilly as Mother, and Johnny Rabe and Joe West alternating as Ralphie.
The Broadway run earned six Drama Desk nominations and three Tony nods, including Best Musical. Although it didn’t win any awards, A Christmas Story has become a holiday favorite, with a live TV version airing in December 2017 and continued success in regional productions.
But as they say, “the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.” And if you’re looking for even more holiday spirit, our next production might just take the cake—or, in this case, the spaghetti.
The Christmas comedy Elf starring Will Ferrell quickly became a beloved holiday favorite after it hit screens in 2003—following an oversized elf raised in the North Pole who arrives in New York City to find his father and true identity. Fandango ranks it as the best Christmas movie of the 21st century, and it comes in at number 4 on Entertainment Weekly's all-time Christmas movie list. With its unique blend of feel-good comedy and magical whimsy, the movie seemed destined for the Broadway stage, but adapting it for live theater was no small feat.
Elf the Musical was a collaborative journey that required creativity, persistence, and teamwork. And with a team like book writers Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin, along with composer Matthew Sklar and lyricist Chad Beguelin, this show was definitely in good hands. From the outset, their goal was to capture the charm and humor of the original film while also creating a theatrical experience filled with festive spectacle and heartfelt moments. I spoke with Beguelin for my podcast Why I’ll Never Make It earlier this Fall, and he said it was a meticulous process in adapting the story for the stage, describing how the team identified potential song spots and outlined the story before diving into the details of each scene and musical number. One of their biggest challenges was balancing Buddy’s whimsical world with the emotional arcs of the supporting characters, ensuring the show resonated with adult audiences as well as kids.
This collaborative process took shape in a six-week workshop in late 2009, directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw. It featured Sebastian Arcelus as Buddy, Amy Spanger as Jovie, Beth Leavel as Emily, and George Wendt as Santa. The workshop served as a testing ground for the musical's structure, and with Beguelin’s background in writing both book and lyrics contributed to a seamless narrative where songs naturally advanced the plot. He recalls that the creative team worked tirelessly to ensure the humor and emotional beats landed effectively, taking note of what worked and what didn’t during this early development phase.
Just a year later, Elf began previews at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in early November 2010, and most of the workshop cast remained, with the addition of Mark Jacoby stepping in as Walter Hobbs. Under Nicholaw’s direction, Sklar and Beguelin’s festive numbers like “World’s Greatest Dad” and “Nobody Cares About Santa” really came to life, as well as a song that might as well have been inspired by Mary Poppins called “Sparklejollytwinklejingley.”
During the previews, rigorous testing of the script and songs continued. The team worked to fine-tune comedic beats and emotional moments based on audience reactions. There a certain point in the musical that he wasn’t very specific about, but he did mention advocating for a particular comedic element that initially his collaborator, Matthew Sklar, didn’t want to do. But after they tried it in front of an audience and it ended up getting this huge laugh, it just reaffirmed that sometimes you gotta trust your instincts and be open to creative risks. It was this kind of back and forth fine-tuning that helped shape the final production.
However, adapting a beloved film to the stage always requires some sacrifices, and Elf was no different. Here’s just a few iconic elements from the film that ended up on the proverbial cutting room floor: Buddy being bailed out of jail by Walter, his visit to the mailroom of the Empire State Building, and even the Central Park snowball fight were all removed. Most surprisingly, the character of Miles Finch was gone and replaced by a subplot involving Walter’s team discovering an unpublished manuscript by a deceased author. These changes aimed to streamline the story for the stage, but not all of them were embraced by critics. Vulture called the show “All tinsel, no tree,” and the New York Times said it was “tinseled in synthetic sentiment, performed with a cheer that borders on mania, and instantly forgettable.”
Audiences, however, felt very differently. During its seven-week run at the Hirschfeld, Elf broke box office records three times (previously held by Hairspray), and it was the third-highest-grossing show during Thanksgiving week 2010, behind only Wicked and The Lion King. The show returned to Broadway for another holiday run in 2012 with a revised book and a brand-new opening number called "Happy All the Time."
Since then, Elf has toured across the U.S. and delighted London audiences as well, playing on the West End in 2015, 2022, and 2023. And this Christmas season, Elf is once again spreading holiday cheer for all to hear on Broadway, with Sean Astin making his Broadway debut as Santa and Grey Henson form Mean Girls and Shucked, in the title role. Reflecting on his role, Henson said, “Elf has always been required yearly viewing for me, and I am so honored and excited to be fulfilling a lifelong dream of wearing tights on Broadway.”
After the break, I’ll be back with some final thoughts about three lesser known Christmas musicals that have played on Broadway.
Now that we’ve covered some of Broadway’s most beloved Christmas musicals, I wanted to briefly touch on some lesser-known treasures—shows that may not have become holiday mainstays, but still left their mark in unique and unexpected ways. These musicals take creative and offbeat approaches to the Christmas season, blending the spirit of the holiday with inventive storytelling. So let’s shine a spotlight on three such shows that deserve a place in our Broadway Christmas discussion…
The first rather unique musical on our list is Flahooley, a short-lived production from 1951 that served up political commentary through the lens of a whimsical Christmas story. Set in the B.G. Bigelow toy factory, this musical revolves around the holiday release of a toy doll named Flahooley, which laughs when turned upside down. Written by Oscar-winning composer Sammy Fain and famed lyricist Yip Harburg, best known for his work on The Wizard of Oz, the duo brought a clever and musically rich score to life, featuring songs like “Enchanted” and "Who Says There Ain't No Santa Claus?" The show also includes a parade of playful puppets, an Arabian princess, and a genie who wishes to become a real-life Santa Claus. But what begins as a lighthearted Christmas tale quickly morphs into satire, tackling issues like the McCarthy hearings, the threat of communism, and the post-WWII climate of fear.
Unfortunately, Flahooley’s clever score was simply overshadowed by these complex political themes, including the opening number "You Too Can Be a Puppet.” The musical ended up closing on June 15, 1951 after just 40 performances. However, it did mark Barbara Cook's Broadway debut as well as Yma Sumac, the famous Peruvian singer who became the first Latin American female on a Broadway stage. So give the cast recording a listen, because Flahooley is a quirky holiday gem for those willing to explore a lesser-known, politically charged Christmas-themed musical.
Not your typical Christmas musical, I Love My Wife is set on Christmas Eve but focuses more on the sexual revolution of the 1970s than traditional holiday cheer. Set in suburban New Jersey, the plot follows two married couples who have been close friends since high school exploring the idea of a ménage-à-quatre, with comedic results and some thoughtful moments. The jazzy, upbeat score by Cy Coleman and Michael Stewart captures the free-spirited energy of the era, with holiday-themed touches like the song “Lovers on Christmas Eve” adding a playful nod to its seasonal setting.
Directed by Gene Saks and choreographed by Onna White, who stepped in after original director/choreographer Joe Layton suffered an injury, the show took an innovative step by bringing the musicians out of the orchestra pit. When Clive Barnes of the NY Times reviewed the show, he noted that this was “breathtakingly simple, but none...has ever done it before. They have taken the band and put it up on stage...The musicians are welded into the play, as a kind of Greek chorus." And acting alongside the band was the original cast of James Naughton, Joanna Gleason, Lenny Baker, and Ilene Graff. Notable replacements during the run included Tom and Dick Smothers, Tom Wopat, and even an African American cast version featuring Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Hattie Winston, and Barbara Sharma.
Despite its provocative subject matter, I Love My Wife earned six Tony nominations and won two of them—for Gene Saks’ direction and Lenny Baker’s featured performance. By the time the musical closed on May 20, 1979, with 857 performances and seven previews, the show had achieved a rare longevity for a musical set at Christmas, even though its connection to the holiday is more tangential. Ultimately, I Love My Wife earns its place as an unconventional example of how Broadway can weave Christmas into unexpected stories, offering a fresh take on love, relationships, and the season.
For our last musical we turn to none other than Meredith Willson, best known for The Music Man and The Unsinkable Molly Brown, who brought his third musical to Broadway in 1963 called Here’s Love—an adaptation of the beloved Christmas film Miracle on 34th Street. His musical recounts the heartwarming story of Kris Kringle as he tries to convince a skeptical young girl and her cynical mother that he is the real Santa Claus. There was a bit of upheaval as the original director, Norman Jewison, was replaced by during rehearsals, and it was the show’s producer Stuart Ostrow, who took over working alongside famed choreographer Michael Kidd, who definitely put his signature trademark on the opening number, “The Big Clown Balloons/Parade” where we get a whopping ten-minute exuberant march. While Willson’s score as a whole was a bit mediocre, it did have a few well-crafted songs that worked within the context of the show, including the familiar Christmas classic "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," alongside newly composed songs like "Pine Cones and Holly Berries.”
The opening night cast included Janis Paige, Lisa Kirk, Fred Gwynne, and Baayork Lee, as well as another soon to be famous choreographer, Michael Bennett, as one of the ensemble dancers. Later in the run, Richard Kiley would step into the role of Fred Gailey. When the show closed on July 25, 1964, after 334 performances and two previews, it marked Willson’s final Broadway musical, and it has never been revived. So while it didn’t become a major hit, Here’s Love remains a charming, albeit uneven, Christmas musical that showcases one last glimpse of Willson’s songwriting potential.
So, there you have it—Christmas on Broadway in all its various forms. From timeless classics like A Christmas Carol to the jazzy humor of I Love My Wife, these musicals remind us of the many ways theater can capture the spirit and even the complexities of the holiday season. Whether they’re heartfelt tales of redemption, nostalgic celebrations, or something entirely unexpected, these shows reflect the magic of Christmas—and the creativity of Broadway.
Thanks for joining me on this festive journey. Wishing you and yours happy holidays and a Merry Christmas. For a transcript and full list of the numerous resources and materials used in this episode, you'll find a link to them in the shows notes. Closing Night is a production of WINMI Media. I'm Patrick Oliver Jones, host and executive producer. Dan Delgado is editor and producer, not only for this podcast but also for his own movie podcast called The Industry. Theme music for Closing Night composed and created by Blake Stadnik. I’ll be back in the new year with season 2 of Closing Night. I know, it’s taken awhile, but I think you’ll find its been worth the wait when we talk about more shows as they head toward Closing Night.
