12 Days of Christmas with Michael Urie & Philemon Chambers- Mister Robinson Gets in the Holiday Spirit
Michael and Philemon star in Single All the Way- now available to stream on Netflix.
By: Team BWW Dec. 17, 2021
Christmastime is here at last and BroadwayWorld is continuing our favorite annual tradition of celebrating the holiday season with a 12 Days of Christmas countdown. This year we've invited two stars of stage and screen, Michael Urie and Philemon Chambers, to share some of their most cherished holiday songs and performances.
Check back daily to get in the holiday spirit in time for December 25 and to find out what else made their list!
Next up is a pick from Michael Urie: "Eddie Murphy's Mister Robinson's Neighborhood: Christmas is a classic. Hysterical - Eddie Murphy is one of the funniest people ever, this sketch is proof."
Michael and Philemon star in Single All the Way- now available to stream on Netflix. Desperate to avoid his family's judgment about his perpetual single status, Peter (Urie) convinces his best friend Nick (Chambers) to join him for the holidays and pretend that they're now in a relationship. But when Peter's mother (Kathy Najimy) sets him up on a blind date with her handsome trainer James (Luke MacFarlane)- the plan goes awry.
Michael Urie is an actor, presenter, director and producer best known for his breakout role on the ABC television series Ugly Betty. He currently has recurring roles on the Paramount+ series The Good Fight and Younger, and also recently starred in the Warner Bros/CBS pilot Fun with Becki Newton, which he executive produced with Michael Patrick King. Urie has appeared in ABC's Modern Family, in a recurring role on the CBS drama series The Good Wife, TV Land's Hot in Cleveland, Comedy Central's Workaholics, the CBC sitcom Partners, as well as hosting four seasons of Logo TV's Cocktails and Classics.
As active in theater as he is in television, Urie made his debut on the Great White Way in 2012 when he joined the cast of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying for its second revival. In 2018, Urie starred onstage in the leading role of Arnold Beckoff in the Broadway revival of Harvey Fierstein's Torch Song, which garnered two Tony Award® nominations. In 2019, he starred in Bess Wohl's Broadway debut Grand Horizons.
Off-Broadway, in 2013, Urie originated the role of Alex More in Jonathan Tolins' Buyer & Cellar, later taking the show on tour and to London in 2015. For his acclaimed performance, he received the Drama Desk Award, Clarence Derwent Award, the Lucille Lortel Award, LA Drama Critics Award and nominations for the Drama League and Outer Critics Circle Awards. In 2009, he received the Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk and Theatre World awards for his role in the Off-Broadway play The Temperamentals, which is about the foundation of the early LGBT rights organization the Mattachine Society. His other Off-Broadway credits include an Obie Award-winning performance in Homos, or Everyone in America; The Government Inspector; Angels in America; and A Bright Room Called Day.
Urie also combines art and activism to raise funds and awareness via theater. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall rising in 2019, Urie co-produced Pride Plays with Doug Nevin, with Nick Mayo serving as the festival's director. Produced in partnership with Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, the 5-day festival featured a celebration of queer-themed works from renowned and emerging voices. Due to popular demand, and in support of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Playbill teamed up with Pride Plays in 2020 to present live streams throughout June of new and legacy works by LGBTQ+ writers. Early in the pandemic, Urie also returned to Buyer & Cellar for the Living Room Livestream Benefit. The free livestream benefit performance, produced by Broadway.com and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in partnership with Pride Plays, raised over $200 000 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS' COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund. Michael trained at the esteemed Juilliard School in New York.
Philemon Chambers is an up-and-coming American actor. He was born and raised in Southern California, where he currently lives. When he was 13 years old, he started studying acting and landed some roles on popular television programs. Before taking on his first major leading role as Nick in Single All the Way, Chambers played a leading role in the award-winning short film Of Hearts and Castles (2020), which received three nominations and won Best Short Film at the Seville European Film Festival.
Photo Credit: Philippe Bosse/Netflix
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