As we nestle into our couches with cups of coffee, tea, or mulled wine, there is plenty to get out and see on our stages, as well. Plenty to warm hearts and entertain for the holidays.
Compiled from press releases:
Not / Our Town, Pony World Theatre, 11/4/22-12/3/22 (at 12th Avenue Arts)
With Not / Our Town, Pony World Theatre tackles the most iconic American classic: Our Town by Thornton Wilder. Both the 1938 original and this new play examine family, community, and those journeys in life common to us all. But how much this production feels like Our Town or not is up to audience members who will take a survey with options for several different scenes, staging styles, and even story elements. The winning votes determine that night’s performance. This is not improvised theatre, but instead numerous possible variations of the script.
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/5587205
Jesus Christ Superstar, Reboot Theatre, 11/4-19/22 (at Theatre Off Jackson)
This now-classic musical focuses on the personal relationships between Jesus, Mary, and Judas, and examines the highs and lows of stardom, fanaticism, and mob justice. So, how will applying Reboot’s “style” highlight this musical in a new way?
Paddington Saves Christmas, Seattle Children’s Theater, 11/15/22-12/31/22
It’s holiday time in the Brown household and Paddington is here to save the day! When he runs out of sugar for the seasonal marmalade jam, Paddington heads next door to borrow some from Mr. Curry. But Mr. Curry is short-tempered as he prepares for a visit from his great aunt. Paddington volunteers to help with Mr. Curry’s chores, but good intentions lead to chaos! Will Paddington be able to fix everything in time? Find out in this fun-filled holiday comedy!
Approx. 70 minutes, no intermission. Recommended for ages 3+
Teatro ZinZanni, with Herban Feast, 11/16/22-3/19/23 (at SODO Park)
Teatro Zinzanni has journey far and come home to entertain! They’re putting up the tent in SODO Park and partnering with Herban Feast for a special holiday season meal. Many of your favorite performers are back to win your hearts and there are new ones to pique your interest.
Cinderella, Village Theatre, in Issaquah – November 16 – December 23, 2022 // Everett – January 6 – January 29, 2023
Village Theatre welcomes back the magic of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Remind yourself of now classic tunes such as “In My Own Little Corner,” “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful,” and “Impossible.” Perfect for the whole family, this sumptuous production will feature the best Northwest talent, amazing gowns, and some real (and literal) Village Theatre magic! Some of our favorite comic talents will join together before the midnight bell tolls.
Girls School Memory Play, Dacha Theatre, 11/17-20/22 (at West of Lenin)
Girls School Memory Play is a playful, borderline ridiculous examination of the socialization of gender set in a rigidly single-sex school. Several trans protagonists look back on their time at an all-girls middle and high school with a mix of love, anguish, and disbelief. Through the lens of coming out and processing internalized transphobia, and with a goal of catharsis and healing, we revisit moments of adolescence and the formation of identity. (Staged reading)
Elf, The Musical, Edmonds Driftwood Players, 11/18/22-12/18/22
Buddy, a young orphan, mistakenly crawls into Santa’s bag of gifts and is transported to the North Pole. The would-be elf is raised, unaware that he is actually a human until his enormous size and poor toy-making availabilities cause him to face the truth. With Santa’s permission, Buddy embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father and discover his true identity. This modern-day holiday classic is sure to make everyone embrace their inner elf.
www.edmondsdriftwoodplayers.org
The Wiz, 5th Avenue Theatre, 11/19/22-12/23/22
The 5th Ave is bringing Dorothy to the Emerald City! With an original staging, a soaring soul, R&B, and gospel score featuring hit songs “Brand New Day,” “Ease on Down the Road,” and “Home,” this fun production gives entertainment the whole family will enjoy. Here’s a totally different holiday show that still warms the heart and brightens the spirit.
The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, Taproot Theatre Company, 11/23/22 – 12/30/22
In this all-new Jane Austen-inspired story, we return to the world of the Darcys and Bennets! Lydia’s come for Christmas, the halls are decked, and the aroma of everyone’s favorite orange biscuits fills the air. But downstairs the loyal staff scramble to keep a secret that could upend the festivities. Amid the chaos of Christmas, a little yuletide forgiveness might be the one gift everyone needs.
https://my.taproottheatre.org/overview/wickhams
A Christmas Carol, ACT: A Contemporary Theatre, 11/25/22-12/24/22
On a snowy Christmas Eve brimming with memorable characters, ghostly apparitions, and visits to the past, present, and future, miserly Ebenezer Scrooge discovers the joy of charity and redemption…Capture the timeless magic of Dickens’ Yuletide classic, proudly returning for the 47th year. Get your tickets now.
https://acttheatre.org/a-christmas-carol-2022/
Mr. Dickens And His Carol, Seattle Rep, 11/25/22-12/23/22 (world premiere)
Charles Dickens should be looking forward to Christmas. When his latest book is a flop, putting both his popularity and finances in peril, his publishers give him an ultimatum: write a Christmas book within a month or lose everything. Samantha Silva adapts her critically acclaimed novel for Seattle Rep. This tale set in the heart of Victorian England weaves a fictional take on Dickens’ past, present, and future into a comedic and poignant new holiday classic.
George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, Pacific Northwest Ballet, at McCaw Hall, 11/25/22-12/27/22
Pacific Northwest Ballet’s sparkling production of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker® returns to the stage for live performances this holiday season. Featuring Tchaikovsky’s timeless score performed by the world famous PNB Orchestra, PNB Company dancers in show-stopping roles, bright young stars from the PNB School, unique-to-Seattle sets and costumes by Ian Falconer (creator of Olivia the Pig), and McCaw Hall’s lobbies decked out with the season’s best photo ops, PNB’s production is a holiday treasure for audiences young and old.
QBrothers Christmas Carol, ArtsWest, 11/25/22-12/23/22
In this hip-hop remix of Dickens’ classic tale, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the Ghosts of Hip-Hop Past, Present, and Future…and a Jamaican Jacob Marley. As Scrooge is shown the path of rhythm and redemption, will he throw off his selfish chains and join the beat? Q BROTHERS CHRISTMAS CAROL mixes everything from reggae to rock, updating and funkifying this beloved tale of love, forgiveness, and Christmas spirit – and transforming it into something altogether new.
A Very Die Hard Christmas, Seattle Public Theater, 11/25/22-12/20/22
Ki Yay! Coming back this holiday season, from the comedy writers that have had Seattle in stitches for years, comes A Very Die Hard Christmas, a musical parody that is sure to blow the roof off the joint. For those who like their Christmas entertainment with lots of action, 80s jokes, smooth soft rock jams, and snarky German terrorists.
Cinderella, Centerstage Theatre, 11/26/22-12/18/22
For fifteen years, Centerstage has enchanted audiences with its traditional holiday pantomime (the Panto). Young and old enjoy the sparkle, glitter, and chaos of this family-friendly laugh-a-minute traditional British treat. Audience participation is encouraged and enhances the cleverly choreographed mayhem.
Austen Unbound, Book-It Repertory Theatre, 11/30/22-12/18/22
It’s Christmas time for Jane Austen! By gathering a single suggestion at the beginning of each performance, our intrepid cast of professional long-form improvisers will take us to the Regency era, to drawing rooms and manor houses, to revel in the spirit of the works we know so well. When we unlace the constraints of propriety, anything is possible!
Train With No Midnight, On the Boards, 12/1-4-22
Joseph Keckler and an intimate musical ensemble move through a series of vignettes, each like a stop on a late-night train, and circle The Crossroads, a place of danger and possibility.Train With No Midnight dances between comedy, commentary and communion. The score features smoky pop songs, propulsive invocations, and leaps into the operatic realm.
A Christmas Carol, SecondStory Repertory, 12/1-23/22
In its eighth year of production, this original adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is rich with traditional carols, alive with color and movement, and created to tell this enduring tale in a fashion that will appeal to people of all ages. Celebrate this timeless seasonal classic in Redmond.
Christmastown, Seattle Public Theater, 12/2-24/22
A holiday favorite, this film noir-inspired holiday thriller introduces hard-boiled detective Nick Holiday investigating some un-holiday-like shenanigans taking place in Christmastown that sends him on a search for the truth about Big Red. Add a glamorous elf, a used-Christmas-tree salesman, a muckraking reporter, and a quick-thinking cab driver, and you have a good ol’ mystery to solve!
Flight Before Christmas, Macha Theatre Works, 12/2-23/22 (at West of Lenin)
With all the stress of the holidays, spending Christmas Eve stranded in an airport with a bunch of strangers is the last thing anyone needs! With endless delays, kids shuttling between stepfamilies, a rogue cat on the loose, an important business deal at stake, and missing your grandson’s first Christmas morning, the holiday spirit can disappear quicker than your lost luggage. But sometimes, all you need is to be a little late in order to truly appreciate what you’re rushing toward.
Jingle All The Gay, Kitten’n’ Lou Present, at West Hall, OddFellows Building, 12/2/22-12/18/22
Seattle, it’s time to REJOICE! Your beloved holigay tradition RETURNS to the stage with more comfort and joy than ever before…and the past few years have us all feeling the importance of gathering strength and power as a community more than ever. Don’t miss the surprises and magic of this year’s LIVE (but limited, and final) run. There’s exciting new things in store for next year, so jump on your last chance to revel in this iconic cast and production….tickets WILL go quickly!
https://jingleallthegay.strangertickets.com/
Scott Shoemaker’s War on Christmas!, Theatre Off Jackson, 12/2/22-12/24/22
Christmas is saved! “Scott Shoemaker’s War on Christmas” is back! The all-star variety spectacular that quickly became a Yule Tide tradition returns to Theatre Off Jackson! Come spend an evening with Scott and a cast of Seattle luminaries as they try to figure out who’s fighting a war on Christmas and what for?
It’s a hilarious night of comedy, songs, dance numbers, delightful videos, and partial nudity!
https://theatreoffjackson.org/event/scott-shoemakers-war-on-christmas/
Land of the Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker, Verlaine & McCann Present, at The Triple Door, 12/7/22-12/30/22
Seattle’s “Most Glamorous Holiday Tradition”TM returns to the Triple Door for its sixteenth astounding season! Lily Verlaine and Jasper McCann are elated to announce the return of their award-winning wintertime spectacle, Land of the Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker. Voted “The Best Burlesque In Western Washington” (KING 5), this bawdy and irreverent take on the Nutcracker Ballet has delighted tens of thousands of holiday revelers since 2006. All your favorite characters will return, including Lily Verlaine’s Sugar Plum Fairy, the light-juggling magic of Babette La Fave, the ever-loveable Snowflakes… and of course the swinginest band in the Land, The Nutcracker Nonette! New surprises await, so come Swing In The Season with us!
https://tickets.thetripledoor.net/eventperformances.asp?evt=606
The Dina Martina Christmas Show, ACT: A Contemporary Theatre, 12/8/22 – 12/24/22
Get a butter knife and spread the word that the astonishingly hilarious Dina Martina will be returning to ACT with an ALL-NEW Christmas show for December 2022!
Joined by Stranger Genius Award winning composer/musician Chris Jeffries, Dina Martina – a.k.a. The Second Lady of Entertainment – is brimming with excitement to be bringing her singular brand of razzle-dazzle entertainment back to ACT this holiday season.
A beloved Seattle holiday tradition for 25 years, Dina Martina’s Christmas Shows are jam-packed with traditional as well as contemporary holiday tunes, both treated with Miss Martina’s fresh and undeniably surreal comic sensibility.
https://acttheatre.org/dina-martina-2022/
Forbidden Xmas, Showtunes Theatre Company, 12/17-18/22 (at Cornish Playhouse)
Written by Seattle’s own Rich Gray, this holiday musical parody show updates each year to poke fun at and celebrate what is going on in the Northwest. It’s resurrected with new songs and sketches as well as some of the favorites from its past productions in the 90s.
The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show, The Moore Theatre, 12/21/22-12/24/22
You better watch out, you better not cry, because “The queens of Christmas” (Entertainment Weekly) are coming back to YOUR town with the wildly successful, internationally acclaimed “Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show!”
AND, in the case of Seattle, it’s a former hometown for both drag divas!
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About the Author: Miryam Gordon
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