Here at Windy City Times, we call this time of year the “sugarplums and treacle season,” when just about every theater, dance and musical troupe programs a holiday season cash cow. The League of Chicago Theatres calendar for the next month features 10 Christmas Carols, seven Nutcrackers, three It’s a Wonderful Lifes and a partridge in a pear tree! In total, more than 50 holiday offerings, some playing just one day or one weekend, and others running up to six weeks.
We don’t mind, because our performing arts companies still are recovering from the COVID shut-down, and anything that helps them re-build their audiences is okay with us. But how are you to choose from such an embarassment of sugary riches? That’s where we come in, being the know-it-alls we are. Here are our suggestions for the most interesting—and not necessarily the same old familiar—choices for your holiday theater-going.
Adults Only
Throbbin’ Wood, Pride Arts, through Dec. 15: As it has for several years now, Pride Arts offers a very naughty take on a traditional British holiday pantomime, complete with songs, vivid costumes, terrible puns and lusty humor. C’mon, it’s a show about a bunch of guys in the woods. Stuff happens!
Christmas Karen 3, Annoyance Theater, through Dec. 26: This is one of four comedy shows Annoyance is presenting over the holiday season, three about Xmas and one about Hanukkah. Check the Annoyance website for more complete descriptions and the rotating schedule of performances.
Who’s Holiday!, Theater Wit, Nov. 29-Dec. 29: It’s little Cindy Lou of Grinch renown, but she’s 40-years-old now, living in a trailer and dead-set on telling her side of the story the way it really went down. Veronica Garza repeats as Cindy Lou.
Totally ’80s HoliGAY, Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus at Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Dec. 6-8: The CGMC will be 200 voices strong this year, playing their largest venue yet. They are a community treasure who always sound great and always offer musical treats and surprises. Hey, if the Millennium Park ice rink is open, bring along your skates for some post-concert gliding. You can show off your salchow—if you have one!
Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer, Hell in a Handbag Productions at Hoover-Leppen Theater (Center on Halsted), Dec. 13-Jan. 5: Yes, this one is a perennial classic, and David Cerda’s tale of the gay-but-heroic little outcast reindeer still is a holiday favorite, now celebrating its 25th season.
Family-friendly (an asterisk* means suitable for very young children)
*Mrs. Claus! A Holiday Musical, Chicago Kids Company at Beverly Arts Center through Dec. 22, also Apollo Theater, Dec. 5-21: It’s almost Xmas, and Santa has lost his naughty-and-nice list, but Mrs. Claus saves the day. The elves help, too, and we have the notion that kids in the audience may be recruited as elves. Looks like 2-or-3 up to 8 is the age range. This show is new to us, but it’s been produced for 25 years by the Chicago Kids Company, which will bring it to the Apollo Theater in Lincoln Park for the first time. They must be doin’ something right!
*Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Greenhouse Theater Center, through Dec. 22—The Greenhouse describes this show as “joyous holiday fun,” although it does not seem to be specifically about Xmas . . . which probably is just fine. It’s a 55-minute musical, based on Mo Willems’s 2004 award-winning book for kids, featuring songs by Deborah Wicks La Puma and puppets. The Greenhouse has presented this show before, and it’s back by popular demand.
*The Beatrix Potter Holiday Party, Chicago Children’s Theatre, through-Dec. 29, matinee performances only: This perennial classic runs 60 minutes and is intended for small kids, 2-8 years old. It features favorite Beatrix Potter characters, and everyone gets hot chocolate when it’s over.
The House Without a Christmas Tree, Griffin Theatre Company at Bramble Arts Loft, through Dec. 29: This is a world premiere musical, based on the book by Gail Rock, set in 1946 Nebraska, with music and lyrics by George Howe and book by William Massolia, a talented team. Griffin Theatre produces too little these days, but always delivers worthy productions. FYI: The Bramble Arts Loft is a new, very comfortable venue at 5545 N. Clark Street in Andersonville.
*Herschel and the Hanukkah Goblins, Strawdog Theatre at Chicago Loop Synagogue (16 S. Clark Street), Dec. 3-23—Filled with balloons, magic tricks and music, this show runs barely an hour, and is adapted from a beloved children’s book, set in an old Russian Jewish community. Strawdog has been offering Herschel for some years, although the Loop venue is relatively new. Perhaps it need not be said, but non-Jews are welcome and kids won’t care!
Unique Choices (for adults and teens)
Yippee Ki Yay, Broadway Playhouse (Water Tower Place), through Dec. 15: Not precisely a holiday show, but it takes place on Christmas Eve, because it’s a one-man retelling of the original Die Hard as an epic adventure in rhymed verse. It’s a tour-de-force for writer and star Richard Marsh, a Brit who does all the roles and voices. He weaves in the story of how he met his wife, another Die Hard fan, and you do need to know the franchise to enjoy this one.
Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol, Lifeline Theatre, Nov. 29-Dec. 22: Just like Wicked is about Oz before Dorothy dropped in, so this highly imaginative and ultimately moving tale is the story of the ghost of Jacob Marley before he visits Ebenezer Scrooge in the opening scenes of Charles Dickens’s holiday classic. The author, Tom Mula, is an award-winning Chicago actor, director, writer and teacher who played Scrooge at the Goodman Theatre for many years. Adapted as a one-person show, Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol has been performed across the country.
The Long Christmas Dinner, TUTA Theatre at Bramble Arts Loft, Nov. 30-Dec. 29: You think your family dinners go on forever, well, how about 90 years? That’s the time span of this once-famous, experimental 1931 play by the great (and gay) Thornton Wilder, as multiple generations of a family grow up, age and disappear before our wondering eyes. Now nearly forgotten, The Long Christmas Dinner was a staple of high school and college theaters for decades, with its large cast and familiar situation. Don’t worry: It really only lasts 75 minutes!
Charles Dickens Begrudgingly Performs ‘A Christmas Carol,’ Again, Den Theatre, Dec. 5-22: A wonderful actor and director, Blake Montgomery, devised this tongue-in-cheek take on Dickens himself reading/performing all the roles in his classic tale, which Dickens actually used to do on his numerous lucrative reading tours. But sometimes he just didn’t feel like it! Couldn’t he recite the death of Little Nell instead? No? No! It’s been some years since Montgomery has rolled this out, and it’s a welcome return.
A Swingin’ Little Christmas, Steppenwolf Theatre, Dec. 12-15 only: This one sure looks like a treat to us—90 minutes of seasonal songs and jokes performed by actor, TV host and comedienne Jane Lynch with Kate Flannery, Tim Davis and the Tony Guerrero Quintet. Tickets aren’t cheap, but they are going fast and this one will sell out, so don’t dawdle, dearies.
Now, if you want to see The Nutcracker this year, we recommend considering the lovely version by the Salt Creek Ballet, which will play Hinsdale Central Nov. 30 and Dec. 1; the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, Dec. 6-7; and McAninch Arts Center (MAC) in Glen Ellyn, Dec. 14-15. It’s nearly as lavish as the Joffrey Ballet’s version at the Lyric Opera House and it’s performed in venues which are much more intimate.
For the most complete listings of holiday shows, check the League of Chicago Theatres website, chicagoplays.com.
JONATHAN ABARBANEL was theater editor of the Windy City Times for many years. He is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association, and can be heard Sunday mornings on “The Arts Section” on WDCB Public Radio (90.9 FM) or at wdcb.org.