Also: the galloping Americana of Ryan Davis, Michael Urie’s tragic “Richard II,” a holiday roundup, Inkoo Kang’s TV picks, and more.
No less characteristic of the holidays than tree lights or candy canes are stagings of “A Christmas Carol,” Charles Dickens’s 1843 novella about the importance of valuing people over profits. Prominent among this year’s New York productions is a British import: PAC NYC hosts Matthew Warchus and Jack Thorne’s immersive, lantern-lit adaptation , complete with gingerbread cookies and clementines for the audience.
First performed at the Old Vic, in 2017, the show has been revived in London every year since and has toured on Broadway and beyond. The current iteration stars Michael Cerveris as the harrumphing miser Ebenezer Scrooge; Cerveris’s experience playing prickly types, from the emotionally withholding father in “Fun Home” to the sociopathic Sweeney Todd, should make for a potent incarnation. Elsewhere downtown, Dickens himself—as embodied by John Kevin Jones and Vince Gatton, in rotating performances—takes up his tale. Summoners Ensemble Theatre presents its thirteenth annual “A Christmas Carol” , set within the frame of a real-life visit that Dickens made to New York in December, 1867, to give a reading of his story. The show’s venue, Merchant’s House, is a landmarked nineteenth-century home whose damask drapes and gaslit chandelier supply period vibes—for anyone really wanting to feel them, select performances include a reception with mulled wine. Also in its thirteenth installment is the less conventional “Thirty Years Christmas Carol” , an annual series that began in 2013 and will continue through 2042. Every year, the same couple—played by Andrew Farmer and Ryann Weir—age in real time as they navigate the vicissitudes of life, which so far have included a pandemic, a marriage, and a baby. But regardless of what’s going on in their lives, they always make a point of reading Dickens’s story aloud together over the holidays.—Dan Stahl Americana As a teen, the songwriter Ryan Davis was a skater sweating it out in the Louisville hardcore scene. Now he makes winking nine-minute literary ballads for the countryside cognoscenti. His latest record, “New Threats from the Soul,” feels like just that—unjiltable paeans to and from the down-and-out, not the guys on the starting line but those watching from the parking lot. His slunk-shouldered Americana grooves with the standard-fare fiddle and pedal steel, but gallops with synthesized breakbeats. Davis and his Roadhouse Band play three Brooklyn shows, including a matinée. For fans of David Berman, Sam Shepard, tobacco-reeking leather, seventies Cadillacs, jokes with two punch lines.—Holden Seidlitz Off Broadway In Nazareth Hassan’s stunning new satire “Practice,” directed by Keenan Tyler Oliphant, Asa, a guru-like artist , forms a performance collective and—cunningly, over months—shapes it into a cult. To devise a theatre piece , the actors willingly share secrets; each painful revelation feeds Asa’s vampiric appetite for psychic control. The audacity of Asa’s manipulations can startle us to laughter, but the play comes closer to horror than to comedy, partly because Hassan’s own control is so total. The dialogue shifts between weaselly art-speak and flights of literary beauty, but it’s the daring way that Hassan uses time—stretching the first act to two delicious hours—that had me following wherever they led.—Helen Shaw Indie Rock Since the late two-thousands, the twin musicians Katie and Allison Crutchfield have been fixtures of the indie-rock scene, both separately and together. Katie is a critical darling, primarily as the front person for the solo project Waxahatchee, but also, in a team-up with the folk singer-songwriter Jess Williamson, as Plains. Allison has become a cult hero as a singer and guitarist for the punk band Swearin’. The sisters Crutchfield have played together for various other projects, but haven’t been a unit since the split of P.S. Eliot in 2016. They finally reunited on Halloween for Snocaps, a band with the rock wunderkind MJ Lenderman and the producer Brad Cook. Snocaps concludes a run of its first-ever shows, supporting its self-titled début album, with two nights in Manhattan; Ryan Davis opens on Dec. 8.—Sheldon Pearce Dance Ephrat Asherie, an Israeli-born choreographer also known as Bounce, came up as a B-girl in New York’s underground dance-club scene. Arturo O’Farrill, a pianist and composer, is the scion of an Afro-Cuban jazz dynasty. Despite those disparate backgrounds, it makes sense that these two artists would hit it off, since both are agile and eager mixers of styles. In their new collaboration, “Shadow Cities,” they bring together Asherie’s company, Ephrat Asherie Dance, and other musicians to explore cultural hybrids, fluid and hyphenate identities, and in-between spaces.—Brian Seibert Off Broadway It’s a relief to see Michael Urie star in “Richard II,” Craig Baldwin’s adroit Shakespeare adaptation, produced by Red Bull—Richard is the part Urie was born to play. Urie has long been a comic mainstay on Broadway and television, but Baldwin’s nineteen-eighties version of the Elizabethan history play triggers his impressive tragic capacity. This coked-up, sexually voracious Plantagenet king parties till the bill comes due, distracted by an appetite he mistakes for a divine mandate. Baldwin tailors the plot so that Richard’s most loving playmate betrays him; at the moment of revelation, Urie seems to relive the entire drama in reverse—you see him recall each kiss, each lie, with a grave, unsurprised sorrow.—H. Shaw Movies The unusual preconditions for Robinson Devor’s astonishing documentary “Suburban Fury” gave rise to its original form. In San Francisco, in 1975, Sara Jane Moore attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford; released from prison in 2007, she agreed to talk on camera with Devor provided that no one else be interviewed for the film. Moore’s extensive monologues detail her romantic frustrations and her failed efforts at an acting career, along with her pivot to radical action. While involved with such groups as the Black Panthers and the Symbionese Liberation Army, she also bonded with an F.B.I. handler, given voice by Devor. The context is filled out with a tangy gathering of archival clips; the effect is a refraction of history through a uniquely warped prism, to nonetheless revelatory effect.—Richard Brody Metropolitan Museum Crèche There is a street in Naples, Via San Gregorio Armeno, where you can find shop after shop presided over by artisans whose specialty is building Nativity scenes out of papier-maché, terra-cotta, wax, and cloth. It is an art with roots in the eighteenth century, of which the Baroque crèche brought out by the Metropolitan Museum every year is a splendid example. This installation depicts entire street scenes: animals, food stands, fishermen, the Magi—and, of course, the cozy Nativity itself. “Radio City Christmas Spectacular” The Radio City Rockettes kicked off a hundred years ago, in St. Louis. Their “Christmas Spectacular” in New York is a relatively young ninety-two. Over the decades, some technological innovations have accrued, including, this year, a new sound system. The group’s centenary hasn’t occasioned new material, but oldest is best anyway in this show: the well-maintained precision of the tapping, kicking dancers; and the built-to-last construction of the “Parade of Wooden Soldiers” number, which has been collapsing in slow motion since the Spectacular began. Nutcrackers Galore There is a point in December when “The Nutcracker” becomes ubiquitous; love it or hate it, it’s here to stay. But not all “Nutcrackers” are the same. In addition to the canonical version—“George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker,” at New York City Ballet —also worth a mention is “Nut/Cracked,” by the Bang Group, featuring tap dance in pointe shoes and a snow waltz in which everyone keeps slipping and falling on imaginary ice. And “Nutcracker Rouge,” a naughty burlesque for the adult crowd, is set in a visually splendid, Baroque-inspired world filled with sensual Christmas delights. “It’s a Wonderful Life!” The story of George Bailey, a small-town banker whose intentions of suicide dissipate after an angel shows him his life’s importance, is a gift that keeps on giving. It originated as a 1943 short story, became an iconic Frank Capra film three years later, and, in 2012, got the stage treatment at Irish Rep, reframed by Anthony E. Palermo as a radio play broadcast by actors in a sound studio. Following revivals in 2013 and 2017, it returns to the Rep stage this year . “Advent Carolndar” and “Sugar & Booze: A Holiday Spectacular” For anyone liable to go full Grinch after hearing “White Christmas” one more time, Julia Mattison and Joel Waggoner’s “Advent Carolndar” offers a refuge of holiday non-standards, drawn largely from the comedians’ 2019-21 Instagram series, which presented an original carol every day from December 1st through the 25th. Also reinvigorating ye olde merriment is Ana Gasteyer’s concert “Sugar & Booze” , featuring music from her jazzy 2019 Christmas album; the title refers to, in her brassily sung phrasing, “the best part of the holidays.” “Peter and the Wolf” Sergei Prokofiev wrote “Peter and the Wolf” in 1936, for a children’s theatre in Moscow. It is both a parable and a clever example of music education using orchestra instruments. Peter is personified by a beautiful, forthright melody, on strings; he encounters a duck , a cat , and, of course, the wolf . Isaac Mizrahi is the avuncular narrator; John Heginbotham conceived the witty choreography; Prokofiev’s characterful music is played by Ensemble Connect. Holiday Carols Will there be snow to dash through this year? Who knows, but we can still sing about it. Jingle all the way to Judson Memorial Church, for West Village Chorale’s annual Caroling Walk around the neighborhood . Or take your one-horse open sleigh to Brooklyn, for the Dessoff Choirs’ “Welcome Yule” concert . Maybe bells on bobtails will ring as you sway along with the songs of “A Goyishe Christmas to You!” at the Kaufman Center . The opportunities are plentiful, and they might even make spirits bright. “A Very Sw!ng Out Holiday” This seasonal variation on “Sw!ng Out”—a show that presents swing dancing, born in nineteen-twenties Harlem, as a form very much alive in the present—has happily become a tradition. The Eyal Vilner Big Band swings holiday songs, fabulous dancers including Caleb Teicher and LaTasha Barnes respond in motion, and, after the show is over, the band keeps playing for audience members to express their own holiday spirit on the dance floor. “Messiah”s If you close your eyes and listen carefully, you may be able to hear faint chants of “Hallelujah” starting to emerge from classical-music venues throughout the city. That’s right, it’s “Messiah” season. Catch Handel’s masterpiece at Carnegie Hall, with the Oratorio Society ; at Lincoln Center, with the New York Philharmonic or National Chorale ; or at Trinity Church , St. Thomas Church , St. Helena Church , or St. Ann’s Church . Probably any church, really. They like this kind of thing. Jazz at Lincoln Center For the thirteenth straight year, Jazz at Lincoln Center continues a beloved holiday tradition: Big Band Holidays, where festive favorites are transformed by the swagger and swing of an epic jazz orchestra. Directed by the J.L.C.O. trombonist and arranger Chris Crenshaw, in collaboration with the vocalists Shenel Johns and Kate Kortum, the series arrives along with an album collection that mirrors the show, created with the trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis and featuring such classics as “Christmas Time Is Here” and “Little Drummer Boy.” It’s impossible not to think about family as we head into the holiday season. This is the time of year when we’re faced with the joys and the obligations of kinship. It’s also, perhaps, a period when it helps to be mired in other people’s troubles. Television is a particularly fruitful medium through which to pore over family dynamics—often layered and multigenerational. If you’re already familiar with the dysfunctions on “The Sopranos,” “The Americans,” “The Righteous Gemstones,” and “Succession,” here are some lesser-known family portraits that are no less compelling. “Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show” The comedian Jerrod Carmichael came out at the age of thirty-four, in his 2022 standup special, revealing not only his sexuality but also the profound strain that it caused in his relationship with his religious mother. He aims for even greater self-disclosure in this follow-up, in which he examines his shortcomings as a friend, a partner, and a son, particularly after Hollywood success. Though wide-ranging, the series has at its poignant core Carmichael’s attempts to introduce his mother to his boyfriend—and to reconcile with the fact that he feels impelled to repeat family dynamics he’d prefer to put in the past. “Nuclear Family” When the director Ry Russo-Young was born to two mothers, in 1981, the idea of gay parents still seemed impossible to many in the L.G.B.T.Q. community. Russo-Young revisits her family’s unique—and headline-making—history in this engrossing docuseries about her biological father, a gay sperm donor, suing for paternity rights, and the lawsuit that threatened her already vulnerable family. “The Other Two” One of the best comedies of the past decade happens to be this painfully sharp exploration of how viral fame—and unresolved grief—can warp a family. After their thirteen-year-old brother becomes a YouTube celebrity overnight, flailing adult siblings Cary and Brooke spin out until they discover how they can support the guileless boy and their equally lost mother in a demented new-media ecosystem none of them quite knows how to navigate. “Ramy” Ramy Youssef’s dark comedy centers on a thirtyish Egyptian American dude who is figuring out what he wants from life, but its strongest episodes focus on his parents and his sister, with whom he still shares a slightly cramped home in the New Jersey suburbs. The house practically seethes with unexpressed longing and resentment; each member of the family feels trapped in a role they can’t seem to get out of playing. Its relatable grimness makes for a counterintuitive comfort watch. “Vida” Two estranged sisters return home after the death of their mother, only to be confronted with a major family secret and the intense gentrification of their Mexican American Los Angeles neighborhood. The show follows their journey as they try to rebuild their family and restore their mother’s bar as a community pillar—one that pays tribute to cultural traditions but reflects their progressive values. TV has too few shows like this angry and sexy and electrifying half-hour drama. P.S. Good stuff on the internet: Charli XCX has a substack now Winona Ryder’s spat with Arthur Miller Postscript to an open marriage
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Trump’s 2025 Thanksgiving Proclamation: ‘God Bestowed Abundant Blessings All Across Our Land’Source of breaking news and analysis, insightful commentary and original reporting, curated and written specifically for the new generation of independent and conservative thinkers.
Read more »
President Trump Issues Thanksgiving Proclamation: ‘We Offer Our Endless Gratitude to Almighty God’Source of breaking news and analysis, insightful commentary and original reporting, curated and written specifically for the new generation of independent and conservative thinkers.
Read more »
‘She’s a fighter but we need God to bless her’The victims of Wednesday’s shooting apparently targeting National Guard members had been patrolling in Washington, D.C., since August, according to officials.
Read more »
For the love of God, use your restaurant gift cardsDo not drop the restaurant gift card into a junk drawer or coat pocket. Use it right away. Save it for a special occasion? Isn't getting a free meal special enough?
Read more »
‘God Of Chaos’ Stars Revealed In NASA’s Jaw-Dropping New ImageNASA’s Webb Telescope has revealed four spiralling dust shells around a rare triple-star system named after the 'God of Chaos,' Apep.
Read more »
The 10 Greatest Christmas Movies of the 21st Century, RankedRooney Mara in Carol
Read more »