Undertaking Christmas: An Unauthorized Hallmark Channel Original Movie Musical Comedy

Just in time for the holidays, American Theater Wing’s Jonathan Larson Grant and MAC Award winner Joel B. New is “Undertaking Christmas,” a new musical comedy homage to the Hallmark Channel movie genre about a gay man who returns to his Midwestern roots and unearths love in the most unlikely of places. Written and performed by Joel B. New, with introduction by Netflix’s “A Christmas Prince” trilogy star/gay BFF Joel McVeagh, narrated by Broadway’s Carolyn Mignini as “Mrs. Claus,” and with musical direction and arrangements by Broadway’s Gillian Berkowitz on the piano, Undertaking Christmas will be presented on Saturday December 19 at 8:00 p.m. ET by Benjwelo Theatricals in partnership with premium streaming platform Stellar (www.stellartickets.com).

After his perfectly planned life falls apart in New York City, party planner Nick Holliday returns to his quaint hometown of Sadness, Indiana, to save a family funeral home from going six feet under right before Christmas. Undertaking Christmas is a loving send-up of the Hallmark Channel Original Holiday Movie genre, except centering around a same-sex love story and deliberately daffy in its clichés. The musical’s score includes songs destined to become tomorrow’s holiday hits, like “All I Want For Christmas Is A Boyfriend For My Dad,” “Backroll Cole,” and “Death and Taxes and Christmas and You.” Broadway and Hallmark movie fans alike will enjoy this brand-new holiday story for the whole family told through a multimedia event that will feel nostalgic, groundbreaking, and super gay, all at once.

“I am a huge fan of the cozy tropes baked into every Hallmark Channel holiday movie,” stated New. “That said, LGBTQ characters in leading roles who also break the ‘conventionally attractive’ mold are nowhere to be found. Undertaking Christmas is a joyful musical comedy that incorporates gay romantic leads, body positivity, and, of course, death by fruitcake poisoning.”

Ticketholders will be able to stream the show on any computer browser (laptop or desktop), mobile web, the Stellar Android or iOS app, or on TV via the Stellar app on Apple TV, Fire TV, and Roku. For more information, visit JoelBNew.com.

Undertaking Christmas was recorded live at Scholes Street Studio in Brooklyn, NY.