Area theater lovers will find a glut of holiday theater productions to choose from this December. There are the old Christmas standbys, of course: Great Lakes Theater at Playhouse Square has been doing its version of A Christmas Carol, for something like forever, and it’s again mounting its own version, originally adapted and directed by its late artistic director Gerald Freedman, through Friday December 23. If you like the comfortably familiar, get tickets here.
Another seasonal production local audiences know and love is Karamu’s version of Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity, featuring gospel music and dancing to tell the Christmas story. They’re bringing it to the stage from Friday December 9-Sunday December 18, directed by Karamu executive director Tony Sias — but a different stage. They’re doing it in partnership with the Cleveland Playhouse at its home at the Allen Theatre. .clevelandplayhouse/black-nativity
But many local theaters, especially smaller ones, are opting out of traditional fare and instead are producing plays that have an upbeat, positive feel suitable for driving holiday spirit, although not necessarily directly related to it. And if there’s a Christmas angle, it’s a bit skewed.
For instance, Cleveland’s new Latin Us Theatre, located at the Pivot Center in the Clark/Fulton neighborhood, is offering a double bill of La Apuesta, a comedy about a bet between a group of Mexican angels and a group of Mexican devils about getting Mary and Joseph to the manger in time for Jesus’s birth, and Santa Clo llegó a la Cuchilla, about an incident in Cuchilla, Puerto Rico, in the 1940s when the Three Wise Men and a teacher from New York, introduce Santa Claus into the local holiday celebration. Both are in Spanish with English subtitles. It runs Friday December 2-Sunday December 11. latinustheater.com
Tremont’s tiny convergence-continuum theater, known for its interest in LGBTQ+-related material, is offering Paul Rudnick’s The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told from Friday December 2-Saturday December 17. It turns the old fundamentalist saw, “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve,” on its head, recounting Old Testament stories featuring gay couples and eventually arriving at contemporary Manhattan. “Along the way, they meet a slew of fabulous characters, including a sexy rhino, a flamboyant Pharaoh, a go-go boy, and a lesbian paraplegic rabbi,” they tell us. convergence-continuum.org
The musical Cinderella isn’t about Christmas but the delightful fairy tale and lovely music put theatergoers in an upbeat mood. That’s surely what Akron-based Ohio Shakespeare Festival is counting on by remounting its 2021 production of the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic, based on the 1997 TV version with Brandy and Whitney Houston. It runs Thursday December 1-Sunday December 18. ohioshakespearefestival.com/cinderella
Blank Canvas Theatre in 78th Street Studios, which is known for its offbeat shows, eschews Christmas but not fun with the Cleveland premiere: The Last Starfighter, which runs Friday December 2-Saturday December 17. It follows a teenage trailer park resident, who discovers warring factions inside his video game and enters in the fight, leaving a body double droid in his place. blankcanvastheatre.com/the-last-starfighter/
Dobama Theatre in Cleveland Heights also forgoes an overt Christmas theme, similarly opting for adventurous fun with the music The Land of Oz, in which a youngster escapes from their evil witch guardian to have a series of adventures with the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow. It runs Friday December 2-Saturday December 31, allowing for some post-holiday theater-going, and since it’s entirely suitable for kids, something to do if they’re bored and restless. dobama.org/land-of-oz
If you’re interested seeing one of these productions, get your tickets now. How The Circus Stole Christmas, which runs at Cleveland Public Theatre Friday December 1-Saturday December 10, sold out entirely prior to opening!