Home for the Holidays Broadway Reviews

Touted on show's website as 'some of the greatest voices of our generation' (Is Audra McDonald of our generation? How about Marilyn Maye?), Candice Glover ('American Idol' Season 12), Josh Kaufman ('The Voice' Season 6) and Bianca Ryan ('America's Got Talent' Season 1, when she was 11) are, in all seriousness, at least reasonably talented. And again, in all seriousness, this New York theatre critic probably has no business critiquing their vocal capabilities, since they're of a style he rarely pays attention to. But their show is on Broadway, so it's the responsibility of a Broadway theatre critic to see and review it.

Bring back Donny & Marie! As clean-cut as their 2010 'Broadway Christmas' may have been, it also displayed a ravenous need to entertain, not to mention unexpected senses of humor and kitsch. Sadly, those qualities are absent from 'Home for the Holidays,' a limp revue of carols and Yule-themed pop songs that makes the Osmond siblings' spectacle look as debauched as a Mötley Crüe concert

Morose over being stuck in the city during the holidays? Tired of seeing those same old perennials like the Radio City Christmas show or The Nutcracker? If you answered yes and wish to throw yourself even further into seasonal depression, there's a new show on Broadway that's just the ticket. Expertly recalling the sort of entertainment you'd experience on a cruise ship or in a low-rent Vegas casino, Home for the Holidays is a Christmas show only Ebenezer Scrooge could love

'Please be advised that Home for the Holidays contains haze effects,' warns a sign at the August Wilson Theatre, and boy, does it ever. First there is the hazy concept. This tacky pop-up Broadway concert, the yuletide equivalent of a Halloween costume store, features a comically motley cast: Candice Glover, Josh Kaufman and Bianca Ryan, three winners of televised vocal contests; Kaitlyn Bristowe, one of two bachelorettes on season 11 of The Bachelorette; Peter and Evynne Hollens, a married a cappella duo; and, somehow, veteran character actor Danny Aiello. Then there is the hazy singing: breathy, baroquely melismatic ornamentations, as though the vocalists were skating on thin ice and afraid to stay on a single note for more than a quarter of a second.

If your happy place is an Odd Lot outlet, then 'Home for the Holidays' will be right up your aisle, er, alley. That's not an endorsement. It's just that this seasonal pop-up concert on Broadway is one motley mix. A trio of TV reality show vocal contest winners share top billing: Candice Glover of 'American Idol,' Josh Kaufman of 'The Voice' and Bianca Ryan of 'America's Got Talent.'