Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…
Thanksgiving’s passed, and everywhere you look, Christmas ornaments are coming out. That means it’s also time for area playhouses to revive their holiday classics. Here’s a quick survey of all the naughty and nice things available to theatergoers through the new year.
Theatre South
Sister Myotis is back with another Karaoke Smackdown. The queen of evangelitainment will judge the singers and the wallflowers while keeping us all up to date on the War on Christmas, and other good Christian concerns. (Details at the above link).
Naughty & Nice: What’s on Stage this Christmas?
Classic Myotis.
Theatre Memphis
Memphis actor/director Jason Spitzer’s been helming A Christmas Carol since Theatre Memphis decided to reinvent its signature show in 2010. This year, he’s not only directing the Victorian ghost story, he’s stepping into the slippers of the show’s iconic miser, Ebenezer Scrooge. It’s not the first time the artist has directed himself. “I find I’m one of the only directors who’ll cast me,” Spitzer says.
Naughty & Nice: What’s on Stage this Christmas? (2)
A vintage vid from when Jason Spitzer and Christopher McCollum reinvented A Christmas Carol for Theatre Memphis.
Playhouse on the Square/Circuit Playhouse
Playhouse on the Square’s going back to Neverland with Peter Pan, and Circuit’s going back to first grade with Junie B. in Jingle Bells Batman Smells!. For older audiences, Circuit Playhouse is also reviving David Sedaris’ popular Santaland Diaries with Jonathan Christian as Crumpet, Macy’s crankiest elf.
Naughty & Nice: What’s on Stage this Christmas? (3)
Hattiloo
The Hattiloo Theatre’s breaking with tradition, putting away its annual production of If Scrooge Was a Brother and moving its new holiday show to the Cannon Center. Take the Soul Train to Christmas is a musical revue compiled by Hattiloo founder Ekundayo Bandele and featuring actor/director Harry Lennix, best know for work in films like The Matrix Reloaded and on NBC’s crime thriller, The Blacklist.
Tennessee Shakespeare/Dixon Gallery
TSC’s getting into the holiday spirit with a Yuletidy production of Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare’s timeless battle of the sexes.
Naughty & Nice: What’s on Stage this Christmas? (4)
The Orpheum
The New Deal may be dead but Franklin D. Roosevelt is visiting the Orpheum this Dec. with Little Orphan Annie and her dog Sandy. You know, “Tomorrow, tomorrow…”. And all that.
Naughty & Nice: What’s on Stage this Christmas? (5)
TheatreWorks
If you’d still like to see A Christmas Carol through a different lens, Memphis’ bilingual theater troupe Cazateatro’s got you covered with Tio Pancho a Christmas Story at TheatreWorks.
Also on stage at TheatreWorks this month: ETC’s Cabaret Noel 2: Wonderful Christmastime! Featured artists include Annie Freres, Carrie Broughton, Dani Douglass, Etc co-founder Hal Harmon, and many more.
Germantown Community Theatre
Meanwhile, out on Forest Hill-Irene, Germantown Community Theatre celebrates the holidays with Rope, a gruesome thriller based on the Leopold and Loeb murder case. Because they’re rebels. Rope is at Germantown Community Theatre, December 2nd-18th.
