Songwriter Joe Iconis comes to Feinstein’s/54 Below once again to host The 10th Annual Joe Iconis Christmas Extravaganza, December 15–17 in New York City.
Iconis and his “merry band of musical theatre punks” will offer their celebration of all things red and green, featuring “brand-new holiday songs, old favorites, tiny elves, enormous reindeer, an inebriated Mr. and Mrs. Claus, and an ungodly number of candy canes.”
Iconis told Playbill, “It’s a punk-rock, ramshackle, actor-driven, low-budget snowstorm. That’s the aesthetic of the whole night. We play this group of artists who have no money who are putting on this show in the backyard, and who decide to do our own no-budget version of the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular.”
Among beloved characters who will return this year are Mister Maccabee, the chatty bartender, and Santa Claus himself, who, in this version “is very depressed and angry because he’s trapped in a very difficult marriage with Mrs. Claus, who is completely inebriated, very belligerent, and we see their family drama played out.”
The show will feature special guest star Annie Golden, as well as performers from previous Iconis concerts, including Ally Bonino, Liz Lark Brown, Gerard Canonico, Harrison Chad, Bill Coyne, Katrina Rose Dideriksen, Badia Farha (11 PM shows only), Alexandra Ferrara, Amanda Flynn, Renee Gagner, Danielle Gimbal, Josh Greenblatt, Molly Hager (11 PM shows only), Ian Kagey, Dennis Michael Keefe, Jessica Kent, Rachel Lee, Lorinda Lisitza, Alyse Alan Louis, Lauren Marcus, Julia Mattison, Molly Model, Eric William Morris, Kevin Michael Murphy, Shakina Nayfack, James Penca, Destinee Rea, Rob Rokicki, Will Roland (Friday and Saturday at 11 PM, Sunday at 7 PM and 11 PM shows only), Charlie Rosen, Mike Rosengarten, George Salazar, Brooke Shapiro, Nick Siccone, Philip Jackson Smith, Jordan Stanley, Rachel Sussman (Friday and Sunday only), Jason Veasey, Jared Weiss, and Jason “Sweet Tooth” Williams.
Audiences will also hear their versions of “I’ll be Home with Bells On,” “Christmas Baby, Please Come Home,” “Santa Baby,” and Iconis’ own original “Celebrate Christmas With Me.”
“So much is written about the commercialization of Christmas,” Iconis said. ” With us, we play into that and turn that crass commercialism into something that is about people and family, and people celebrating and having an experience all together.”
Iconis is a musical theatre writer and performer who has been nominated for two Drama Desk Awards and a Lucille Lortel Award, and is the recipient of an Ed Kleban Award, a Jonathan Larson Award, an ASCAP Harold Adamson Lyric Award, and a MAC John Wallowitch Songwriting Award. Iconis’ songs appeared on Season 2 of NBC’s Smash.
Read: George Salazar Will Sing the Songs of Joe Iconis in Two-Player Game
