Twelve Days of Christmas: Will Swenson

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 their 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. 

Audra McDonald is back on Broadway, and while the Broadway world is certainly celebrating that fact, so is her family. Husband (and Tony nominee) Will Swenson and their daughter, Sally, hit the red carpet at the Majestic Theatre last week for opening night of Gypsy, and while they were there, they stopped to share some of their favorite holiday traditions.

"Some of my favorite holiday movies are Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman," Sally happily proclaimed. "They are old-fashioned ones, which makes them even more special!"

"We put on all kinds of playlists and play Christmas music like crazy," added Swenson. "We've been watching Elf  like crazy lately too, because we went to the opening night just the other day."

Swenson most recently appeared on Broadway in A Beautiful Noise. He received critical acclaim for his performance as the subversive hippie Berger in the 2009 revival of Hair for which he received Tony, Drama Desk and Drama League Nominations. He went on to perform the role in London’s West End as well. He starred as Inspector Javert in the 2014 revival of Les Miserables, and played the conflicted drag queen Tick in Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, (Drama League Nomination). In Waitress Will performed opposite the show’s creator Sara Bareilles. Other Broadway: Disaster!, Lestat, Brooklyn: The Musical, and his sentimental favorite 110 in the Shade: the production where he met his wife, actress Audra McDonald. Off-Broadway favorites include the recent revival of Assassins, Nantucket Sleighride, and Jerry Springer: The Opera for which he won an Obie Award. Will originated the role of Tom in Murder Ballad, and also created the role of Stacey Jaxx in the original Off-Broadway production of Rock of Ages. Other favorites include Little Miss Sunshine, Adrift in Macao, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Pericles. Tours and Other: Miss Saigon, We Will Rock You, Camelot with the NY Philharmonic, Pirates of Penzance, Moon for the Misbegotten, The Royal Family of Broadway. Film & Television: Will played Philo Barnum in the movie musical “The Greatest Showman”, and can be seen in the feature films “This is Where I Leave You”, “The Kitchen” and “The Switch”. Will spent a season on the Netflix series “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” as the evil Professor Carcosa. He played opposite his wife in the Covid/Zombie thriller series “The Bite”. He has guest-starred on “Law & Order (SVU & CSI)”, “The Good Wife”, “No Tomorrow”, and “The Code.”

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Twelve Days of Christmas