A Christmas Story Live! Ratings Lower Than All Previous Live Musicals Before It

While theater fans were eager to see the December 17 presentation of A Christmas Story Live!, the live musical didn't make a wide reach to TV viewers nationwide, according to TVLine.

Fox's holiday-themed three-hour live musical brought in 4.5 million total viewers, fewer than all of its live musical predecessors, including Hairspray Live! which brought in nine million, Grease: Live which saw 12.2 million, The Wiz Live! bringing in 11.5 million and Peter Pan Live attracting a viewership of 9.2 million. The first among the latest live TV musical trend was NBC's The Sound of Music Live, which still tops them all with an audience of 18.6 million. 

A Christmas Story Live! was inspired by the holiday classic feature A Christmas Story and the Tony-nominated A Christmas Story: The Musical. The live presentation featured the Tony-nominated score of Dear Evan Hansen songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, along with new songs by the pair. The cast featured Broadway veterans including two-time Tony winner Matthew Broderick, Tony winner Jane Krakowski, Chris Diamantopoulos and Ana Gasteyer.

Forthcoming live musicals audiences can look forward to include NBC's Jesus Christ Superstar Live, set to air on Easter Sunday, April 1, 2018; NBC's in-the-works Bye Bye Birdie Live and Fox's Rent Live, scheduled for January 27, 2019.