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Rube&Clay
Rube&Clay

Full Cast & Creative Team Announced for Ruben & Clay’s Christmas Show

The title might be a mouthful, but considering the cast and creative team that has been assembled, Ruben & Clay’s First Annual Christmas Carol Family Fun Pageant Spectacular Reunion Show may just be what is required to capture all the holiday spirit that it encompasses. The limited engagement, which begins performances on Friday, December 7th at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre, promises to be the family holiday event of the yuletide season.

The show will be led by American Idol’s 2003 winner Ruben Studdard, and its runner-up Clay Aiken, reuniting the pair for the first time onstage in almost 15 years. Joining them onstage will be Farah Alvin, Ken Arpino, Julian Diaz-Granados, La’Nette Wallace, and Khaila Wilcoxon. The creative team for the production will include Jonathan Tessero directing, with musical staging by Lisa Shriver and music direction by Ben Cohn. The design team includes Rob Bissinger (scenic), Paul Miller (lighting), James Brown III (costume), Bruce Landon Yauger (sound), and Jason Lee Courson (projection design). Ruben & Clay’s First Annual Christmas Carol Family Fun Pageant Spectacular Reunion Show is written by Ken Arpino and Jesse Joyce.

“Audiences will see Ruben and Clay journey through a fusion of holiday music and entertainment featuring lighthearted comedy, astounding versatility and, as always, Ruben and Clay’s magnetic stage presence. “American Idol’s” fan favorite odd couple will give fans the reunion they have been asking for when the duo takes to the stage for this limited engagement holiday event.”

Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken rose to international fame after taking first and second place, respectively, on the second season of the Fox reality competition program American Idol in 2003. Both hailing from the south, Studdard and Aiken were relatively unknown when American Idol thrust them into the spotlight. Igniting an entertainment phenomenon, the two gentlemen enticed over 38 million viewers to tune in for the results of its season’s conclusion. More than 124 million votes cast during the finale, making it the most watched “Idol” episode in history and the highest rated regularly scheduled, live, non-sporting television episode of the 21st century. Combined they have recorded twelve albums, sold more than eight million albums worldwide, toured the country 14 times, won four Billboard Music Awards, an American Music Award, and have been nominated for two Grammys.

Ruben & Clay’s First Annual Christmas Carol Family Fun Pageant Spectacular Reunion Show begins performances on Broadway Friday, December 7th, with Opening Night set for December 11th, and continues its limited engagement through December 30, 2018. Adding to the holiday spirit of the show, Aiken and Studdard aim to give back with tickets benefiting the National Inclusion Project, the leading voice for the inclusion of children with disabilities.”

Mark Robinson is the author of the two-volume encyclopedia The World of Musicals, The Disney Song Encyclopedia, and The Encyclopedia of Television Theme Songs. He maintains a theater and entertainment blog at markrobinsonwrites.com.

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