Snow Jobs

There’s really nothing better to put one’s family in the holiday spirit than live theater. Fortunately, there’s a plethora of holiday-oriented options — both in New York and around the country — to brighten up the darkest of days and coldest of nights.

Broadway is getting into the holiday spirit thanks to two seasonal offerings: Slava Polunin and his cast of clowns will bring snow showers to the Helen Hayes with Slava’s Snowshow; while yuletide merriment comes to the Marquis with Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, a picture-perfect love story set in the snowy surroundings of Vermont, where a quartet of performers find their soul mates. In addition, a Christmas party is a pivotal scene in Billy Elliot, the Elton John-Lee Hall musical adaptation of the hit British film about an 11-year-old boy who decides to become a ballet dancer.

For the quintessential New York experience, there’s the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, which mixes classic numbers such as the “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers” and “New York at Christmas,” with up-to-date, state-of-the-art technology, plus all the perfectly synchronized high kicks of the legendary Radio City Rockettes. (A version of this annual celebration will be available throughout the country thanks to a multi-city national tour.)

The Theater at Madison Square Garden will enjoy revamped snow flurries and bigger adventures with Wintuk, Cirque du Soleil’s production about a young boy who must travel north to save a girl who has been captured by an ice giant; the show includes skateboarders, acrobats, and even a very friendly dog.

Off-Broadway, Fan Yang’s The Gazillion Bubbles Show Holiday Spectacular at New World Stages is full of his record breaking bubble stunts; a pair of elves will bring good fortune to a struggling cobbler just before Christmas in the Manhattan Children’s Theatre production of Elves & The Shoemaker; over at the Vital Theatre, a golden dreidel carries a young girl away into a fantasy in The Klezmer Nutcracker; The Poppy Seed Players will take a trip into Jewish heritage as well with Latkes and Applesauce, a Yiddish-inflected revision of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, while Manhattan TheatreSource will present a solo adaptation of A Christmas Carol.

The original version of that timeless tale of miser turned philanthropist Ebenezer Scrooge will see a plethora of productions this month, both dramatic and musical, at such venues as New Repertory in Boston, Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, the Bellmore Theatre and the Arena Players Repertory Company in Long Island; the McCarter Theater in Princeton, New Jersey; Washington D.C.’s Ford’s Theatre; the Philadelphia Children’s Theatre; Chicago’s Drury Lane Oakbrook/Terrace and The Paramount Theatre; Florida’s Atlantic Theater; the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco; and The Allen Theatre in Seattle.

The beloved Dickens story will also receive a melodic approach at the Little Theatre of Alexandria with Scrooge The Musical!; Florida’s Lake Worth Playhouse will stage a home-style version in A Country Christmas Carol; Theater Latte Da will present Tod Petersen’s musical tribute A Christmas Carole Petersen at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St Paul, MN; the musical spoof, A Don’t Hug Me Christmas Carol, will open at Hennepin Stages in Minneapolis; and The Mulholland Christmas Carol in Los Angeles takes advantage of local history.Elsewhere around the country, the Bristol Riverside Theatre’s celebration of classic holiday tunes, Winter Musicale, will put a song in your heart; Frosty the Snowman will bring a little imagination to the Adventure Theatre; and the holiday spirit lives on in Chicago with The Snow Queen at Victory Gardens Theater and Snowflake Tim’s Big Holiday Adventure at Lifeline Theatre; San Francisco’ Town Hall Theatre Company will bring a touch of New York in Miracle on 34th Street and The Marsh will bring Magic Holiday to the Mock Café with two magicians and a juggler; and Seattle’s Studio East will stage ‘Twas the Night, while the Bathhouse Theatre will also brings its version of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen to their stage.

Last but not least, another beloved holiday tradition, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical is making the rounds with productions at the Citi Performing Arts Center in Boston, the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, and The Hippodrome Theater in Baltimore. After all, who doesn’t want to visit Whoville?