Review: Matt Rogers’ Have You Heard of Christmas? At Soho Theatre

Wednesday, 15th November 2023 at Soho Theatre, London.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Reviewer: Charlotte Dawes

Christmas has arrived early in London as Matt Rogers’ show, Have You Heard of Christmas? delivers a hilarious interpretation of the holiday season.  

Written by and staring Matt Rogers, the musical comedy takes us through Rogers’ debut Christmas album. The score features pieces written from the perspective of lesser known festive characters such as Mrs Claus and Martha May Whovier (Christine Baranski’s character in How the Grinch Stole Christmas). 

Rogers makes his mission clear from the outset: convince us he is the Prince of Christmas. The twinkling tree on the stage, the santa hat worn by pianist Eric Gersen and the snowflake broach adorning Rogers go some way to scoring some early yuletide points. Each song works to paint a picture Rogers’ holiday experience, from his heartbreak ‘Everything you want’, to his favourite spot ‘RockaFellaCenta’.

For one song, ‘Immah Have Your Back (This Christmas)’, guest artist Alexis Sakellaris, an employee at the Soho Theatre, joins Rogers for a duet about going home for the holidays. What starts as quite a sweet song about friendship ends in a lively exchange about getting away with arson, keeping humour at the forefront.  

Rogers’ impressive vocals are what makes this show work so well. He may be twirling or shimmying throughout a number littered with innuendos, but his vocal never fades. It would come as no surprise if “I Don’t Need It To Be Christmas At All”, a compelling song about everyday feeling like the holidays, was added to the monoculture list of festive favourites.

Did Matt Rogers convince us he’s the Prince of Christmas? Absolutely.

Matt Rogers: Have You Heard of Christmas? is at Soho Theatre, London until November 18th, 2023 – more information and tickets can be found here.