HOLIDAY MUSICAL ‘NICE LIST’ DEBUTS ONLINE
Features Broadway stars, local producers
After the year that 2020 has been, it goes well beyond nice to know you’re still on “the nice list” this holiday season. And it won’t cost you one red cent or single good deed either. “The Nice List” is a virtual musical production from Saratoga Springs-based Masie Productions in partnership with Starhawk Productions, and it’s being offered free on Youtube and the official musical website during the month of December.
Featuring a cast of familiar Broadway and TV faces — led by the Tonywinning Genie from “Aladdin” and most-recent Marquis de Lafayette/ Thomas Jefferson in “Hamilton,” James Monroe Iglehart, as Santa Claus — it explores what happens when Santa puts the elves in charge of the Christmas toymaking at the North Pole as he checks in with his mall “ambassadors” abroad.
Actors from Broadway productions of “Godspell,” “Allegiance,” “Avenue Q” and more fill the curlytoed shoes of the elves as they video conference just like the rest of us these days, while “Sesame Street” and stage star Alan Muraoka directs.
Elliott and Cathy Masie have produced nearly 30 Broadway shows through their Masie Productions, including “Kinky Boots, “The Prom,” “An American in Paris” and “Spongebob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical,” as well as several of the musicals mentioned above.
They are also leaders in workplace technology and learning with the Masie Center’s Elliott Masie Learning Consortium, a collaborative of more than 100 major global corporations. Elliott is credited with coining the word “e-learning ” back in 1999, and he currently serves on the board of trustees of the Williamstown Theater Festival.
To learn more about the 40-minute show or watch it for free, visit nicelistmusic.com. You can watch it at youtube.com/ watch?v=hvd-1ssmuqs, as well. “The Nice List” also got a plug at the end of a recent episode of “Entertainment Tonight.” To watch that and see some of the cast perform a special five-part harmony a cappella version of the entertainment newsmagazine’s theme song, go to vimeo.com/486204249.