10 Broadway Shows We Turned Into Hallmark Christmas Movies
Even if you're unwilling to admit that the Christmas season is upon us, you can't dispute the fact that the Hallmark Christmas movie season landed long ago like a glittery tornado. Titles like Christmas Wishes & Mistletoe Kisses, Sense, Sensibility & Snowmen, and Alice in Christmasland are hitting your cable boxes and streaming services daily, offering example after example of how to fall in love over a long weekend and look cute in a puffy coat.
Literature has clearly been a substantial influence on Hallmark's holiday lineup, which made us think — what's keeping Broadway from getting in on the heart-warming fun? Just add romance and a weather emergency and so many iconic plays and musicals instantly become the perfect Hallmark package. Here are 10 examples to prove it.
(© Julieta Cervantes)
Hello, Holly!
Holly Gallagher Levi is the best matchmaker in all of Snowbell, USA. No lonely Snowbellian has ever been without a date to the Poinsettia Gardens annual Christmas party, and this year, Holly plans to be no exception. She's still mourning the loss of her husband Ephram, who died three winters ago in a tragic sledding accident. But this year, she's putting on her Sunday clothes in the hopes of wooing notorious half-millionaire Horace Vandergarland, the crankiest toy mogul in all of Yonkers. Give her a trombone and a baton, because Holly isn't about to let another holiday parade pass her by!
Kringly Boots
Chris left his provincial hometown of Snow Falls five years ago and never looked back. But when he learns he's inherited his family's Christmas costume shop, Kringle & Son, his big city life has to be put on hold. The financial stability of the tiny holiday hamlet depends on Chris's ability to revive the struggling business, but what's a Kringle to do without enough mall Santas? In an unexpected twist of fate, the fabulous Jingle Bella and her troupe of yuletide drag queens turn out to be the answer. All Chris and his secretly beautiful seamstress Lauren have to do is figure out how to put some sex into Santa's drab thermals — and maybe teach Snow Falls a thing or two about what it really means to sleigh Christmas.
(© Joan Marcus)
Santa on the Roof
Santa Claus is getting ready for another Christmas season with his wife and three favorite daughters, Tzeitel, Hodel, and Chava. Everyone is going about their typical duties: Mama's running the home, Papa's praying over his reindeer, and the daughters are mending, tending, and fixing every damaged toy they can get their hands on. But one day, a covert 23andMe kit planted by Perchik the handsome elf reveals a long-hidden family secret. Mrs. Claus is Jewish! Do they adopt new traditions? Do they replace old ones? And how can Papa in good conscience keep skipping over all those houses? Christmas depends on those answers, but the questions have made the season as shaky as…a Santa on the roof!
Oh Come From Away, All Ye Faithful
A plane full of stern people in power suits anxious to start their Christmas holiday is bound for bustling New York City — that is, until a record-breaking blizzard grounds them in the humble and unpronounceable Canadian province of Newfoundland. Fortunately, the cheerful residents of Gander are more than happy to take in these cranky come-from-aways. In fact, they'll make perfect additions to Gander's annual nondenominational Christmas pageant! And who knows…maybe a cod isn't the only thing these strangers in a strange land will be kissing under the mistletoe.
(© Brinkhoff-Moegenburg)
Snow Angels in America
December 24, 9pm EST. The year is 1985, and Roy Cohn is about to get a visit from the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. He wakes up on Christmas morning a changed man and goes on to dismantle the Fox News empire before dying of natural causes in 2016.
A Very OK! Christmas
It's Christmastime again, and in small-town Pine Tree, Oklahoma, that means one thing: Pine Tree's famous Winter Wonderland Box Social! The only fly in the eggnog is…who's going to take the no-nonsense, burned-by-love event organizer Laurey to the dance? Will it be the charming snowman architect Curly McLain, or the gruff reindeer engineer Jud Fry? Let the man with the fringiest surrey win! And no matter who ends up melting Laurey's icy heart, everyone in Pine Tree will get a good old-fashioned hee-haw reminder that on Christmas, the reindeer and the snowman should be friends.
(© Matthew Murphy)
Christmas CATS
It's like regular CATS, but there's a Christmas tree.
The Most Fragile Ornament Collection
Laura may not be the most eligible bachelorette in St. Louis, but she sure does have the most impressive collection of Christmas tree ornaments! She's all set to spend the holiday season polishing her glass treasures, watching the Home Alone pentalogy with her brother Tom, and making a third attempt at online business college. But those wallflower ways are turned upside down when Laura's mother invites her high school crush-turned-handsome-neighborhood-firefighter for a home-cooked Christmas meal. This gentleman caller is about to crash through the door with a big helping of holiday romance. But is Laura's breakable heart strong enough to jump into love?
(© Joan Marcus)
Waiting for Santa
He comes once every featured character either kisses their one true love or gets hit by a snowball.
Long Sleigh's Journey Into Night
The Tyrone family reunites for Christmas with a full day of dog-sledding through the wilds of Connecticut. They talk, they laugh, they drink…hot cocoa…from morning 'til night. If only magical winter days like this weren't so darn short.
*Sponsored by Robitussin Long-Acting Cough & Cold*
Rejected Titles
Christmas in Chicago
Les Noels Misérables
A Christmas Cabaret
The Sound of Christmas Music
Who's Afraid of Mrs. Claus?
The Twelfth Night of Christmas
I'll Be Fun Home for Christmas
Frosty the Snowman of La Mancha
