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See the Radio City Rockettes, a naughty Nutcracker and more festive offerings
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The holiday season has officially arrived and seeing shows with your loved ones is a great way to celebrate. We've rounded up 15 festive productions for different types of audiences, so whether you're with the kids, out on a date, or looking to drink, laugh or sing along, there's a production for you.
In terms of COVID-19 safety protocols, rules vary by venue. While we are trying to keep this article up to date, be sure to double-check the protocols before purchasing tickets so you arrive prepared.
At press time, many of these shows were offering discounts to TDF members. During this busy time of year, it's best to log in daily to see what we're selling as ticket availability changes frequently. Not a TDF member? Our TKTS Discount Booths sell same-day tickets up to 50% off to many Broadway and Off-Broadway shows.
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New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West
Runs November 21-January 1, 2023. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Masks are optional.
An inventive twist on a holiday classic, this play combines characters and plotlines from Charles Dickens' ghostly Christmas tale and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's detective stories, as an adult Tiny Tim asks Sherlock Holmes to solve the murder of Ebenezer Scrooge. A merry theatrical mystery for bookworms.
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Merchant's House Museum, 29 East 4th Street between the Bowery and Lafayette Street in the East Village
Runs November 23-December 29. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Masks are required.
The ultimate old-school version of Charles Dickens' holiday classic, this one-man Christmas Carol is mounted in the 19th-century Merchant's House Museum. In this historic setting, actor John Kevin Jones plays Dickens performing all of the characters, just like the Victorian author did back in the day. It's an intimate show and tickets often sell out in advance, so if you want to go, get buying. Can't make it in person? No need to "bah, humbug." You can watch a recording online at home.
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Théâtre XIV, 383 Troutman Street between Wyckoff and Irving Avenues in Bushwick, Brooklyn
Runs November 24-January 29, 2023. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Masks are optional. Must be 21 or older to enter.
There are many Nutcrackers twirling around town this season, including George Balanchine's landmark version at New York City Ballet. But just Nutcracker Rouge is for adults only! Leave the kids at home and your inhibitions at the door for Company XIV's burlesque and circus-filled take on the classic ballet, which returns to Brooklyn for its annual run. With sumptuous design, liberal libations and lots of sex appeal, this show is sure to heat up your holidays.
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Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street near Pitt Street on the Lower East Side
Runs November 30-December 18.
Masks are required.
Usually, burlesque bigwigs Julie Atlas Muz and her husband Mat Fraser create jaw-dropping entertainment for the 21-and-over set. But for the holidays, this dazzling duo presents fabulous, family-friendly pantos—an interactive musical comedy genre popular in England during the Christmas season. Their last panto, a rollicking reinvention of Jack and the Beanstalk featuring a slew of downtown divas, was a hit with critics and theatregoers. This December, they're putting a Lower East Side twist on the classic panto Dick Whittington and His Cat inspired by a rags-to-riches tall tale about real-life London mayor Richard Whittington. Expect radical joy, progressive politics and enchanting wackiness.
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New York City Center, 131 West 55th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues in Midtown West
Runs November 30-December 24. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Masks are required.
The venerable troupe of breathtaking dancers puts its best footwork forward during its annual holiday run at New York City Center. This year's lineup includes world premieres by Kyle Abraham and resident choreographer Jamar Robert alongside classics by its namesake founder such as his masterpiece Revelations.
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Irish Repertory Theatre, 132 West 22nd Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues in Chelsea
Runs December 1-31. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Masks are required.
Charlotte Moore's adaptation of Dylan Thomas' beloved A Child's Christmas in Wales returns to Irish Repertory Theatre for the holidays. Christmas carols, hymns and other seasonal songs are interwoven with evocative recollections of a boy's magical December 25 in Wales. The ensemble is led by Broadway favorite Ali Ewoldt of The Phantom of the Opera fame.
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The Heights Players, 26 Willow Place between State and Joralemon Streets in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn
Runs December 2-11. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Masks are required.
A holiday show for revelers of all faiths, this nostalgic dramedy by Pulitzer Prize-winner Donald Margulies (Dinner with Friends, Time Stands Still) centers on a young Jewish girl in 1935 Brooklyn who lands the plum part of Jesus in her school's Christmas pageant. Oy vey! Loosely based on Grace Paley's short story The Loudest Voice, this is a show about communing with your neighbors, so it's perfect that it's being mounted by this 67-year-old community theatre in Brooklyn.
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The Beacon Theatre, 2124 Broadway between 74th and 75th Streets on the Upper West Side
Runs December 3.
Masks are optional.
Cabaret's most acclaimed kooks, the Tony-nominated lounge duo Kiki and Herb (the alter egos of Justin Vivian Bond and Kenny Mellman) reunite for a hell of a holiday concert inspired by their recently rereleased Christmas album of the same name. If you cherish irreverence, prepare to laugh your tuchus off as these "octogenarian" icons deliver unexpected takes on seasonal classics and heaps of cultural satire in this one-night-only concert.
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Soho Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street between Sixth Avenue and Varick Street in Soho
Runs December 7-11. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Masks are optional.
Three wisecracking women share their hilarious holiday stories in this Latina take on the season. Comedians Sandra Valls (Showtime's Latin Divas of Comedy, Maria Russell and Diana Yanez (Margaret Cho's Sensuous Woman) tell outrageous, real-life stories about their eccentric families in this 90-minute live special.
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Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen, 296 Ninth Avenue at 28th Street in Chelsea
Runs December 8-10.
Masks are required.
Yes, The Met is presenting its annual mounting of Julie Taymor's fantastical Magic Flute. But for a more intimate and empathetic operatic experience, try On Site Opera's immersive production of Amahl and the Night Visitors, which is staged in a Chelsea soup kitchen. Inspired by Hieronymus Bosch's painting "The Adoration of the Magi," Gian Carlo Menotti's one-act opera centers on an impoverished little boy with a disability whose encounter with the Three Kings changes his life. This production connects the tale to our city's mounting homeless crisis and features a chorus of folks who have experienced housing insecurity alongside professional performers.
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The New Victory Theater, 209 West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in Midtown West
Runs December 9-January 1, 2023.
Masks are required.
The holidays always feel like a circus, so it makes sense that multiple troupes are wowing audiences this season, including the Big Apple Circus at Lincoln Center and Circus Vazquez at Citi Field. But if you choose just one, try Circus Abyssinia at the New Victory Theater. It's thrilling to watch the Ethiopian company's jaw-dropping lineup of jugglers, contortionists and acrobats in such an intimate space. This new show is a tribute to Olympian Derartu Tulu, an Ethiopian runner who won a gold medal in 1992. But you're going for the spectacle, not the story. Like TDF, the performers want their acts to be accessible to all audiences, which is why they're presenting a sensory-friendly performance on December 18.
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Palladium Times Square, 1515 Broadway with an entrance on 44th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in Midtown West
Runs December 22-24.
Masks are optional.
With its brief running time, beloved Peanuts characters and familiar story, this stage adaptation of the holiday TV special is a great option for very young audiences. Once the 30-minute tale wraps up, stick around for a Christmas carol sing-along with the cast.
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Nederlander Theatre, 208 West 41st Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues
Runs through January 1, 2023. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Masks are optional.
Jefferson Mays is a master at playing multiple characters in the same show. He won a Tony Award for doing just that in I Am My Own Wife (40 different roles!) and earned a nomination for portraying eight members of the ill-fated D'Ysquith family in A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder. Now he's portraying more than 50 characters (including Scrooge, Tiny Tim and a potato) in his celebrated solo adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Originally mounted at LA's Geffen Playhouse in 2018, the production was reimagined for digital consumption during the shutdown by director Michael Arden (Once on This Island) and costume and set designer Dane Laffrey. They're helping bring Mays' passion project to Broadway, a fresh and intimate take on Dickens' timeless tale featuring the actor in a tour-de-force performance—make that performances.
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New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West
Runs through January 1, 2023. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Masks are optional.
No, it's not exactly a Hanukkah show. (There are so few!) But if you go see a movie and eat Chinese food every December 25, the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene's critically acclaimed production of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish is sure to make you kvell. Directed by Tony winner Joel Grey (yup, of Cabaret fame) and featuring Steven Skybell reprising his award-winning turn as pious patriarch Tevye, this is the most moving Fiddler I've ever seen. Don't worry if you don't understand Yiddish: there are English supertitles and, if you're familiar with the show, you may find you don't even need them. It would be a shanda to miss this!
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Radio City Music Hall, 1260 Sixth Avenue at 50th Street in Midtown West
Runs through January 2, 2023. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Masks are optional.
Although Santa, the Three Kings, Jesus and lots of local landmarks put in appearances, this extravaganza is all about The Rockettes and their stunning synchronized dance numbers, like the awesome Wooden Soldiers and the brand-new number "Dance of the Frost Fairies." A New York City tradition since 1933, this iconic Christmas show truly jump-starts the seasonal feels—just walking into the bedazzled Radio City is sure to put you in a holiday mood.
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Raven Snook is the Editor of TDF Stages. Follow her at @RavenSnook. Follow TDF at @TDFNYC.
Top image: Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes runs through January 2. Photo courtesy of MSG Entertainment.
Raven Snook is the Editor of TDF Stages. Follow her on Facebook at @Raven.Snook. Follow TDF on Facebook at @TDFNYC.
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