Twelve Days of Christmas: The Cast of EUREKA DAY

The holidays are upon us and BroadwayWorld is continuing our favorite annual tradition of celebrating the holiday season with a Twelve Days of Christmas countdown. This year we are featuring some of our favorite members of the 2024 Broadway scene to share some of her most cherished holiday songs, films, and performances. This year's countdown is sponsored by Elf The Musical- running on Broadway through January 4 at the Marquis Theatre.

Elf The Musical is the hilarious and heartwarming tale of Buddy, a young orphan whose life is changed forever when he mistakenly crawls into Santa’s sack of toys one Christmas Eve. Raised by elves at the North Pole, Buddy’s enormous size and limited toy-making abilities make him realize he may not quite fit in! When he discovers he is actually human, Buddy embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father, and in turn, helps the Big Apple and the people he meets rediscover the true meaning of Christmas. Featuring a mistletoe-tapping score and a knockout cast – including a "terrific" (Deadline) Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings) as Santa Claus and a "delightful and exuberant" (The New York Times) Grey Henson (Mean Girls, Shucked) as Buddy – this is one holiday charmer you won't want to miss. 

The company of Eureka Day had much to celebrate earlier this week when the play officially opened at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Now the cast gets to look ahead at celebrating the holidays, and they shared what they'll be watching to get in the spirit.

"Oh, The Muppet Christmas Carol, because it's the best," Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz quickly answered. "I mean it's got Kermit as Bob Cratchit! It has Gonzo the Great as Charles Dickens! There's some great original songs. There's cabbages singing about Christmas. It's just the best. It's the best!"

"It's not really me who does this, but yes, my partner and the boys always watch Elf and they also always watch those ones with Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn- The Christmas Chronicles," added Amber Gray. "That's the classic."

"I used to like A Christmas Story, but I don't know... I feel like that's for a generation that's older," joked Thomas Middleditch. "What am I, like 70?"

"You know, pathetic but true. 'It's a Wonderful Life' is our go-to Christmas. It's such a beautiful movie" added Jessica Hecht.

Bill Irwin had an obvious answer handy. "Over 20 years ago, I stood there and watched Jim Carey do what he did, and I still can't believe it. So yeah, I tune in every year to see the genius Jim Carey [in How the Grinch Stole Christmas]. I remember he bit Jeffrey Tambor's nose off during one take. You know, we all had these foam rubber things on our faces. So it was a wild job, and it's a wonderful thing to watch every year."

Eureka Day is now running on Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.

Eureka Day is a private California elementary school with a Board of Directors that values inclusion above all else—that is until an outbreak of the mumps forces everyone in the community to reconsider the school’s liberal vaccine policy. As cases rise, the board realizes with horror that they’ve got to do what they swore they never would: make a choice that won’t please absolutely everybody.

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Twelve Days of Christmas