The world can always use a joyful, funny musical, especially when Santa’s involved.

A couple of years ago, Broadway star and Icons co-owner Joshua Franklin-Wolfe set out to write a musical specifically for Colorado Springs that could be done annually and would bring together arts nonprofits. “Searching for Santa” turned into one of the most “delightful things I’ve ever written,” he said.

“Sometimes when you’re writing it’s an arduous process and takes forever. I wrote this in three months. I orchestrated eight different parts and it was easy and joyful the whole time. The plot poured out of me. It’s not always like that, but when it happens it’s so enjoyable.”

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In the holiday comedy, Santa’s elves are panicking — it’s one week before Christmas and they’ve forgotten Santa retired. The handbook declares there must be a new Santa before Christmas Eve, so they unite to find a new head honcho, but keep getting hit with obstacles, almost as though someone is intentionally thwarting their progress.

The world premiere is Friday through Sunday at Colorado College’s Armstrong Hall and stars a cast of 45 students ranging in age from 5 to their 20s from Colorado Springs Conservatory and Colorado College. Conservatory CEO Nathan Halvorson will direct and choreograph the 90-minute musical. CC students and music director Dan Brink will provide the music.

This is the fourth full-length musical by Springs native Franklin-Wolfe, who graduated from Doherty High School and also is a conservatory alumnus. He also spent two decades living and performing in New York City, in musicals including “Grease,” “Legally Blonde,” “Anything Goes” and “The Prom.”

In 2018, Franklin-Wolfe and his husband, also a performer, were in the Springs working on a different show and teaching at the conservatory. He had a Broadway show lined up, but the couple decided to buy a home on the west side, thinking they’d rent it and someday move back to town. That day came more quickly than they anticipated when the pandemic forced Broadway to shut down. The couple decided to live in the house, believing it would only be for a couple of months. That was four years ago.

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The unplanned move created a domino effect of big changes.

“When we got here we started discovering this surprisingly large queer community,” he said. “We started connecting with people and being frustrated when we Googled gay bar downtown and nothing came up, so we decided to take our living room and what we do at home, which is gather around a piano and sing show tunes, and create a space reminiscent of Broadway.”

It led to the creation of the downtown gay bar Icons in 2020.

“This has been the most rewarding few years of my life,” Franklin-Wolfe said. “We’re on a mission to bring joy to the community and lift people up, particularly the people who are encouraged to stay silent. We’re here to provide big voices in the community we love so much.”

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Although he can’t say he’s permanently done with performing, it was a good life.

“I loved performing on Broadway and it was great to do for a chunk of my adult life,” he said, “but at the end of the day, you’re talking on stage and saying someone else’s words and singing someone else’s lyrics for eight shows a week. It’s grueling. To come back here and create things from scratch and see the daily impact it’s making, that’s a different sort of rewarding feeling.”

Contact the writer: 636-0270