How There Are No Ghosts at the Grand Nabbed the Two-Time Tony Nominee Alex Brightman to Be the Lead Role in their Genre-Blending Game

The upcoming genre-blending “musical Lovecraftian renovation” game There Are No Ghosts at the Grand has announced Broadway actor and singer Alex Brightman as the voice of its lead character, Chris. Brightman has been nominated twice for Best Actor in a Musical at the Tonys — in 2016 for School of Rock and 2019 for Beetlejuice. He’s currently starring in Schmigadoon! on Broadway and voices multiple characters on the animated series Hazbin Hotel. The reveal comes on the heels of the game taking the top prize among 12 submissions at the 25th anniversary of the Tribeca Games Festival in New York City. There Are No Ghosts at the Grand is the debut from British studio Friday Sundae, and I had the chance to play a 30-ish minute demo and speak with Anil Glendinning, Friday Sundae’s co-founder and managing director, at the Tribeca Festival ahead of their win. Glendinning emphasized just how bootstrapped the studio is, which has allowed for a highly nontraditional but collaborative development process especially in casting. For the main player character, “we wanted someone who’s able to be sinister, but also funny and sincere, but also shady and a little bit of a liar,” Glendinning said. “By