The Best Holiday Gift Is a Gilded Age Christmas Album

Never has the phrase “Christmas came early” been so apropos. HBO’s coziest show, The Gilded Age, is finally putting its Broadway-trained cast to use and releasing a Christmas album, Voices of the Gilded Age: The Christmas Album. It will include two original Christmas tracks along with various standards, and it comes out on November 6. Looking at the title, that colon implies that there could be other Voices albums, no? Maybe this is the start of something fabulous. Give us an album of standards next!

The first single for the album is out today. It’s an original song, “The World Needs Some Christmas,” written by rock songwriter Desmond Child and performed by Ben Ahlers, who plays Jack Trotter, better known as the Clock Twink. In the poppy, jingly track, Ahlers sings the chorus with a sparkling falsetto and the verses in a lower chest voice. By the end, a choir joins in and suddenly “Christmas in September” isn’t feeling too bad.

Elsewhere on the track list, Broadway stars abound. Some are singing solo and some are creating the kind of supergroups musical-theater fans could only dream of. Tony winner Brian Stokes Mitchell opens the album with his version of “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” One of the most electric groupings is a list of musical-theater legends — Audra McDonald, Kelli O’Hara, and Donna Murphy — performing the Stephen Sondheim song “I Remember” from Evening Primrose. Everybody’s favorite couple, Peggy (Denée Benton) and Dr. Kirkland (Jordan Donica), will take on “O Holy Night.” Real-life friends Laura Benanti and Celia Keenan-Bolger will sing “Wexford Carol.” And, thank goodness, Christine Baranski gets a solo spotlight with “We Need a Little Christmas.” The album ends with Murphy returning, with the second original, “It’s Been Real.”

Still, while many of the Gilded Age cast members are vocal professionals who regularly perform musical theater on Broadway, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without Carrie Coon and Morgan Spector. Train Mommy and Daddy aren’t singers in the same way as the rest of the cast, so they’ll be reading “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” in multiple parts as interstitials throughout the album. Below, find the entire thrilling track list. Let’s make the Yuletide gay.

1. “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of The Year” — Brian Stokes Mitchell
2. “We Need a Little Christmas” — Christine Baranski
3. “’Twas the Night Before Christmas (Part 1)” — Carrie Coon & Morgan Spector
4. “The World Needs Some Christmas” — Ben Ahlers
5. “I Remember” — Audra McDonald, Donna Murphy & Kelli O’Hara
6. “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” — Kelli O’Hara
7. “O Holy Night” — Denée Benton & Jordan Donica
8. “I Wonder As I Wander” — Audra McDonald
9. “’Twas the Night Before Christmas (Part 2)” — Carrie Coon & Morgan Spector
10. “Let It Snow” — Taylor Richardson & Taylor Trensch
11. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” — Adrienne Warren
12. “Wexford Carol” — Celia Keenan-Bolger & Laura Benanti
13. “Just in Time for Christmas” — Laura Benanti
14. “’Twas the Night Before Christmas (Part 3)” — Carrie Coon & Morgan Spector
15. “It’s Been Real” — Donna Murphy