Voices of The Gilded Age: The Christmas Album arrived on November 6th from Concord Theatricals Recordings, and it shimmers with exactly the sort of holiday glamour you’d hope for from the cast of HBO’s Emmy-winning series. Produced by Grammy-winning songwriter Desmond Child, the fifteen-track collection pairs beloved Christmas classics with two new original songs.
One of the great joys of The Gilded Age, especially for lovers of musical theater, is seeing prominent Broadway stars featured week after week. Christine Baranski, Carrie Coon, Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Donna Murphy, Kelli O’Hara, Denée Benton, Jordan Donica, and Laura Benanti are among them, and each brings an incredible talent for delivering a song with technique, power and meaning, as only a Broadway performer can. This album benefits enormously from such a gifted collection of players.
For those who never got to see Christine Baranski in the full role of Mame, which she played at the Kennedy Center in 2006, her take on “We Need a Little Christmas” offers a welcome taste of that performance. She brings all her comic timing and theatrical flair to a song that might have been written for her. Kelli O’Hara’s “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” is simply lovely. Her luminous, heartfelt voice is made for this tender, wistful standard, and she lets its quiet longing speak for itself.
Among the classics, one of the album’s two new originals brings a welcome balance. “The World Needs Some Christmas,” written by producer Desmond Child and released as the album’s first single, is performed by Ben Ahlers, a 2026 Theatre World Award winner and SAG Award nominee for Death of a Salesman. A soft pop song with a fresh, contemporary feel, it sits pleasingly alongside the period standards, a modern voice in the world of The Gilded Age. Delivered from the soul, it speaks right to the heart.
Laura Benanti takes on “Just in Time for Christmas,” a song forever bound with Nancy LaMott’s once-in-a-lifetime recording. Benanti’s earnest attempt can’t quite match that memory, but it’s lovely to hear the song again. Not every track earns a place on repeat: Carrie Coon and Morgan Spector’s reading of “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” is charming as an idea, but it’s likely to be skipped when the album is playing through the holidays. A spoken narrative, however well delivered, sits oddly on a collection of songs.
Denée Benton and Jordan Donica take on “O Holy Night,” a big song to attempt, and they deliver it in a big way. The exchange between the two, each voice building on the other, climbs until the song simply soars. Audra McDonald goes more traditional with “I Wonder as I Wander,” and anyone wondering how her remarkable soprano has held up can stop worrying: it remains glorious. She never has to sell a song the way a showier number demands. She simply sings, and the lucky listener is right there with her.
After hearing the whole album, the track I kept returning to was the opener, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” Brian Stokes Mitchell’s rich, commanding baritone captures the spirit of so many beloved Christmas albums of the past, and it sets the tone beautifully for a record that would make a wonderful present, in the present.
There may be a track or two you’ll skip, but Voices of The Gilded Age: The Christmas Album is a joyful, handsomely sung collection that gives today’s Broadway talent room to shine. From the soaring duet on “O Holy Night” to Audra McDonald’s effortless purity and Brian Stokes Mitchell’s warm opening, it’s a gift worth giving, and one you’ll be happy to unwrap again every holiday season.
