VIDEO: BWW's 12 Days of Christmas with Guest Editor Richard Jay-Alexander; Day 12 - Never Before Seen Jill Eikenberry & Michael Tucker - PROMISES, PROMISES!

BroadwayWorld.com is, once again, celebrating the Holiday Season with a special 'countdown' which will reveal some favorite holiday-themed performances! For the 5th Anniversary of this Exclusive Feature, we've invited director/producer Richard Jay-Alexander to be our first-ever Guest Editor, to share with us HIS holiday favorites. His list will be composed of holiday songs and boasting performances with artists we know and love from Broadway and beyond. We'll bet that this countdown will surely get you into the holiday spirit, as the big day rolls around on December 25th, but we won't forget Chanukkah and Kwanzaa either. This is sure to be a 'Must Check-In Daily' event to see what's on RJA's list, while we wish you Happy Holidays from all of us at BroadwayWorld.com!

We did it! Welcome to Day #12 of BroadwayWorld's 12 Days Of Christmas "video" features. It has been really fun being your "Guest Editor" for these 12 days and today, on this Christmas Eve, we, once again, have something really special for you, which had us, yet again, digging into the VAULTS.

If you've been following us, you'll know that back in 2006, I directed a Holiday Benefit for BroadwayWorld, at Joe's Pub, with the profits raised going to BC/EFA. As you might also remember, it was a LINE-UP of songs and material and Rob and I began talking about including a scene from PROMISES, PROMISES. This was well BEFORE the "revival" and I couldn't remember exactly how good the scene was or whether it would still hold up .... so we sent off for the script. When it arrived, I devoured it and "it all came back" from when I saw the Original Cast, in the Original Production, back when I was in High School.

I had NEVER seen a show like this, up until that time, and I still remember the "tingles."

Produced by David Merrick, it had a score by Burt Bacharach, lyrics by Hal David, a book by Neil Simon (based on the film THE APARTMENT), was directed by Robert Moore and choreographed by "up and comer" Michael Bennett. Yeah ... I know!!!

The show starred Jerry Orbach and Jill O'Hara and was the first time I laid eyes on Donna McKechnie, but the scene that opened ACT II was KILLER! It also introduced us to actress Marian Mercer playing a "lonelyheart" named Marge MacDougall. Orbach and Mercer walked off with TONYS that season.

I knew I had to reach out to two fun, talented and "game" actors to pull this off and I found them in Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker. I had done an ACT for them with Ben Toth and Ben was doing the benefit with us, so I had Ben play "the bartender."

The scene: Christmas Eve
The place: Clancy's Bar

Chuck Baxter is feeling really low as his "apartment" is being "used" and unavailable to him ... so he haplessly finds his way into this "joint" for some holiday "cheer."

This footage has never been seen and I am, once again, grateful to Rob Diamond and Nicole Rosky for finding it for us. Also, featured in this clip are the evening's 'Jingle Boys', Josh Walden and Kurt Domoney, who you will see again tomorrow, in a very special Christmas Feature.

So, we give you "A Fact Can Be A Beautiful Thing" and send YOU all the Holiday Cheer we've got, wishing you a peaceful, beautiful and enjoyable Christmas, no matter where you are or who you are with.

And THANK YOU, again, for being with us for these 12 Days Of Christmas VIDEO PICKS!