The internationally renowned actress and singer has launched an introspective tune to celebrate this year’s festivities. Written in collaboration with Grammy winning composer Toby Gad, the song explodes the memories of a harsh childhood while keeping an uplifting tone.
So often do we hear that Christmas is a time for hope, magic and memories. Well, if that’s true, those have come in spades this year, with the theatre community bringing out more than their usual sparkle to the most shining of periods. As both the London and New York scene prepare to join the glitz and joy of the season, some of its family members seem to have joined Santa’s gift workshop – drawing out the enchantment of the holiday spirit through some treats of their own making. This week, international MT star Marisha Wallace has launched Little House In The Snow, a new single inspired by the memories of a hard yet inspiring childhood, written in collaboration with Grammy winning hit songwriter Toby Gad (John Legend All of Me, Beyonce If I Were A Boy, Fergie Big Girls Don’t Cry).
Inspired by her own personal remembrances, the piece explores the hardships of not being able to celebrate the festivities while growing up in North Carolina. Secret traditions were made with her mother, who handed out gifts to Marisha and her siblings from a black bin bag in private, and their new toys had to be hidden as soon as their father returned home for the day. From a sad, yet magical time created by her mother, Marisha has tried to brings all the emotion and nostalgia to her new tune, highlighting her powerful, soulful voice through what’s been described as a “stripped back, emotional piano ballad”.
“I would watch Home Alone, A Christmas Story, Scrooge, The Muppet Christmas Carol and imagine that I would have those Christmases that you see on television and in the movies”, says Marisha. “Now, I try to make memories at Christmas that I couldn’t make when I was little. I will decorate and bring all that Christmas spirit that was kept from me for so long. Christmas to me means creating the life you want to have. Everybody’s Christmas is different, but if you have family and each other then you have everything, and Christmas is everything”.
Currently on stage in the critically-acclaimed Guys & Dolls, Marisha is one of Broadway and the West End’s biggest names. Multi-talented, Marisha has fronted Charlotte Tilbury campaigns, starred in a Netflix series alongside Lisa Kudrow, performed everywhere from Strictly Come Dancing to The Royal Variety, released a chart-topping charity single at the height of the pandemic for the NHS, earned Radio 2’s Album of the Week and received Olivier and Evening Standard Theatre nominations this year alone.
Little House In The Snow is currently on Spotify and available on the following link.