| Dr. Seuss' The Grinch Musical Live! | |
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| Genre | Holiday Musical |
| Based on | |
| Written by | Simon Nye |
| Directed by | Max Webster Julia Knowles |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
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| Producer | Matthew Morrison |
| Production location | Troubadour Theater |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 120 mins (estimated) |
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| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | December 9, 2020 (2020-12-09) |
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Dr. Seuss' The Grinch Musical is an AmericanChristmasmusicaltelevision special that aired onNBC on December 9, 2020. It is a performance of an adaptation of the 2006 musicalDr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical, which is based on the 1957 bookHow the Grinch Stole Christmas! byDr. Seuss. It was filmed at the Troubadour Theatre inLondon. The special starsMatthew Morrison as thetitular character,Denis O'Hare andBooboo Stewart as Max the dog, and Amelia Minto as Cindy-Lou Who.[1]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(December 2021) |
TheGrinch's dog Max narrates how his old master (Matthew Morrison) once schemed to ruin the festive holiday for the citizens ofWhoville.
In November 2020,TODAY.com reported that another musical special would be released byNBC. The last special,Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert aired live in 2018 and no live special was released in 2019. Before that, NBC had also releasedThe Sound of Music Live!,Peter Pan Live!,The Wiz Live!, andHairspray Live!. Unlike the previous specials, this one would not be live, but rather pre-recorded over 2 days. Morrison said that the special was originally intended to be live, but due to COVID protocols, it was too impossible to do it live. The program was directed for the stage by Max Webster and directed for the screen by Julia Knowles. The screenplay was adapted bySimon Nye. The program featured music byTimothy Mason and Mel Marvin. It also featured two songs written byAlbert Hague andDr. Seuss that were featured in the first television adaptation of the children's book,How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The special was produced by Morrison, who played the lead role, and executive produced by Lee Connolly,Simon Friend,Joshua Rosenblum, and James Sanna.[2] The project was overseen by Doug Vaughan, executive vice president of special programs atNBC Entertainment.
The special aired on December 9, 2020, at 8 p.m. EST onNBC.
The special received poor reviews.
Caroline Siede ofThe A.V. Club gave it a "C", mainly criticizing Morrison's performance as the Grinch, as well as the source material, saying the music writing "makesSeussical look like a masterpiece in comparison".[3] Brian Lowry ofCNN stated that "the show felt bloated and flat" with all of the commercial breaks.[4] Kelly Lawler ofUSA Today gave the presentation only one star out of a possible four, calling it the worst of all the previous adaptations of the story.[5]
The special received a 0.6 rating among the 18–49 demographic and 2.5 million viewers, and was beaten byThe Masked Singer Holiday Sing-A-Long special.[6]
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