19 Christmasy Broadway Songs
Make this your (virtual) family reunion playlist!
Christmas has often made its presence known on the stage. Many Broadway musicals feature a song somehow related to this festive holiday and one can easily find more than a dozen Christmas-themed numbers in various shows over the decades.
These Christmas songs play different roles in the shows whether it is to illustrate characters celebrating the holiday (“Christmas is My Favorite Time of Year” from Catch Me If You Can) or simply events happening during the season (“Christmas Bells” from Rent). Some numbers cleverly portray the frenzy of last-minute Christmas shopping (“Twelve Days to Christmas” from She Loves Me) while others show the importance of the holiday for certain characters (“A New Deal for Christmas” from Annie). And some songs even add a bit of politics to the season (“Merry Christmas, Maggie Thatcher” from Billy Elliot).
And did you know that some of the classic Christmas carols we sing every year actually originated in Broadway musicals? These include “White Christmas” (from Holiday Inn), “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” (from Meet Me in St. Louis), and, before Michael Bublé rose to fame with his iconic rendition of this song, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” from the little-known show, Here’s Love.
Christmas is so powerful a theme that it has inspired entire musicals all about it such as Elf the Musical, Holiday Inn, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, White Christmas, and A Christmas Story, to name a few. Then, there are, of course, the musical adaptations of the Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol, such as the Alan Menken version and the musical, Scrooge.
Given the wealth of holiday-themed showtunes available, every theater fan has more than enough to choose from to celebrate, Broadway-style, with their families.
So for the holidays this year, we’ve created a special playlist full of Christmas-y show tunes you can play during your (hopefully virtual) get togethers!
- “Twelve Days to Christmas” from She Loves Me
- “A New Deal for Christmas” from Annie
- “We Need a Little Christmas” from Mame
- “Merry Almost Christmas” from A Year With Frog and Toad
- “Christmas Is My Favorite Time of Year” from Catch Me If You Can
- “Turkey Lurkey Time” from Promises, Promises
- “Lovers on Christmas Eve” from I Love My Wife
- “Hard Candy Christmas” from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
- “Merry Christmas, Maggie Thatcher” from Billy Elliot
- “The Schmuel Song” from The Last Five Years
- “Who Says There Ain’t No Santa Claus?” from Flahooley
- “Christmas Lullaby” from Songs for a New World
- “Surabaya Santa” from Songs for a New World
- “Christmas Bells” from Rent
- “Be a Santa” from Subways are for Sleeping
- “Christmas” from The Who’s Tommy
- “White Christmas” from Holiday Inn
- “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” from Meet Me in St. Louis
- “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” from Here’s Love
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