Favorite Holiday and Christmas Shows for 2021

New York City is the perfect place to spend the holidays for its many holiday activities and rich heritage of cultural events. This is particularly true when it comes to the performing arts that take place throughout the city around the holidays. With holiday traditions such as ballet, musicals, concerts and theater, New York has its guests and residents spoiled for choice. Read on for more of our top picks for holiday shows this year!

The New York City Ballet’s annual production of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker is a quintessentially New York holiday event. This year will mark the 65th annual performance of the classic ballet, performed by the top dancers not just from the US, but worldwide. Nearly 90 dancers, 62 musicians, 32 stage hands and 100 young students from the School of American Ballet come together to create this epic performance. The stage setting is known for its elaborate decorations and the costumes are celebrated internationally for their exquisite detail. The main event is the stunning Christmas tree that grows during the performance from a 12 ft tree to 40 feet in height. The Nutcracker with the New York City Ballet is a bucket-list experience!

David H Koch Theatre

Lincoln Center

70 West 63rd Street

New York, NY 10023

www.nycballet.com

Another New York classic, the annual Radio City Christmas Spectacular is the perfect way to get in the mood for holiday fun. The dazzling, upbeat singing, dancing and costumery is breath-taking and this year promises a brand new finale and updated special effects. The tradition of the Christmas Spectacular dates back to 1933 and places the 36 talented and highly trained female dancers at the heart of the holiday themed show, bringing the magic of the holidays to life on the stage with panache!

Radio City Music Hall

1260 6th Avenue

New York, NY 10020

www.rockettes.com/christmas/

This season there’s a new kid in town on the holiday show circuit: Cirque du Soleil. This year marks the company’s 49th original production and their very first holiday themed show. Twas The Night Before… is a unique take on the classical Christmas story with a Cirque lens that will keep viewers enraptured regardless of age. Expect Cirque’s death-defying acts and pageantry with themes of kindness and friendship for the holidays.

Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden

4 Penn Plaza

New York, NY 10001

www.cirquedusoleil.com

This modern take on the Nutcracker combines the classical sounds of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker with a DJ and acrobatic, contemporary hip hop dance. The Hip Hop Nutcracker’s plot line changes slightly from the original with little tweaks such as switching the mouse army to a mouse-ear wearing gang, adding in the Land of the Sweets a 1980s era nightclub, and a humble nut-seller who saves the day. This high-energy, upbeat performance is not-to-be-missed and a refreshing twist on a holiday classic.

Prudential Hall

New Jersey Performing Arts Center

1 Center Street

Newark, New Jersey 71020

http://hiphopnutcracker.com

This holiday play brings together two great minds: Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle. The works of the two men join forces as the basis of this holiday play that finds Sherlock Holmes investigating the demise of Ebenezer Scrooge for none other than Tiny Tim. Playwright and director, Mark Shanahan melds the two literary geniuses with a wink and enjoys showing Inspector Holmes visited by the ghost of Scrooge. We watch him encounter loved ones from the past and see the abysmal future if he continues in his curmudgeonly ways. And he solves the case at the end. This play makes for a fun departure from the holiday norm and enwreathes classical characters.

New World Stages

340 W 50th St

New York, NY

TICKETS

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