Christmas Plays

With the holiday season upon us, many theaters in the Chicago area are bringing out their holiday shows. There are, as always, many to choose from to get you in the holiday mood.

Of course the yearly popular shows return again this year which include A Christmas Carol at the Goodman Theatre, Christmas Schooner at the Bailiwick Theatre, and The Nutcracker at the Auditorium Theatre but there are many others to choose from including:

A Wonderful Life
Porchlight Music Theatre, Chicago’s inventive musical theatre company, opens its 2006–2007 season with A Wonderful Life.  Offering a new spin on the holiday film, A Wonderful Life is a musical version of the Frank Capra film classic “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

“We honor the film with this fresh new musical version,” comments director L. Walter Stearns.  ”We cannot improve on the classic, but our live musical experience tells the story in a unique way.”

A Child’s Christmas In Wales
Dylan Thomas' timeless classic “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” summons memories of simpler holiday pleasures from the author’s childhood in his beloved Welsh seacoast village. Readings from Paul Auster’s “Auggie Wren’s Christmas Story” and Isaac Bashevis Singer’s Hanukkah story “The Squire,” from his collection The Power of Light, evoke the heart-warming spirit of the season. Rounding out the program are new stories written by area teens in the Young Chicago Authors program in workshops with Remy Bumppo Artistic Associates.

The Hipmas Carol
A unique and wholly original reinterpretation of the Dickens classic performed by Tyler Bohne and Patrick Zielinski and illustrated musically by Chicago musician Robert Rial of the band "Bakelite 78." It is presented in a style that manages to remain warm and wry while never losing its distinctly urban edge - due in large part to the charm and dexterity of the versatile performers who deftly utilize age-old theatrical storytelling techniques to deliver a barrage of rhyming couplets over a rich and ever present live blues score as they effortlessly invoke every character and nuance to astonishing effect.

A Christmas Story
Set in Northwest Indiana in the 1940’s and told from the viewpoint of eight-year-old Ralphie Parker, this hilarious look into middle-class American life follows Ralphie’s quest to get his dream Christmas gift – A Red Ryder BB Gun.

To see a full list of this season’s holiday shows just click here!