As the saying goes, look up “holidays” in the dictionary, and you’ll see a picture of the performing arts. In our humble opinion, one of the most charming attributes of the holiday season—no matter which holidays are in observance—centers around the sheer abundance of performing arts everywhere you look. 

Caroling, church Christmas pageants, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Hallelujah Chorus, Hannukah songs, the drum and music of Kwanzaa, Miracle on 34th Street, White Christmas ... not to mention all The Nutcrackers and stagings of A Christmas Carol ... every town's holiday parade that includes the high school band, local dance studios, and cheer routines—something about the whole spirit of the season seems best expressed with people celebrating in song and dance. 

The Stories That Unite Us 

Holidays are born in stories: a woman gives birth in a manger, a day’s worth of sacred oil miraculously burns for eight nights, a man in a red suit delivers presents to all the world’s children overnight.  

The most entertaining (and dramatic) way to tell a story is to act it out, or sing it along with some dance steps—as all Broadway fans know. So, it makes sense that human communities would rely on the performing arts to celebrate the telling of the tales. Plus, performing and being entertained is just plain fun, and there’s no better way to activate the joyful connection between people than with music and movement. 

We’ve talked with a lot of you over the years and know you have your own family holiday traditions around the arts. We’re always delighted to hear about family sing-alongs around the piano, the annual trip to see The Rockettes Christmas show, or the yearly gathering of popcorn and viewing of A Christmas Story (“You’ll shoot your eye out!”).  

Here are a few of our top holiday performing arts traditions, in no particular order, and in no way is this a complete list.  

1. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 
   The holiday season doesn’t start until Tom Turkey cruises onto 8th Avenue in his festooned float on Thanksgiving Day. Macy’s knows how to throw a party, and their annual parade is chock-full of singers, dancers, flash Broadway performances (this year’s parade featured superstar Cynthia Erivo), circus acts, and more. It’s the perfect pre-game for the impendingly stultifying Thanksgiving feast. 

2. Anything With Candlelight and Singing 
   The holidays symbolize the best of the human experience on earth—the possibility of peace, giving to others, warm lights shining in a cold, dark world. Throughout the season, choral groups take to the stage to lift their voices in heart-soaring harmonies both sacred and secular. Add to these performances the romantic touch of candlelight, and it’s a recipe for a wondrous journey into the very best of human nature.  

3. Nontraditional Takes on Traditional Shows 
   While we love a classic Nutcracker ballet or Nativity play, we’re also excited to see inventive holiday performances around stories we know so well. Speaking of, did anyone catch A Time for Three Holiday when they were here earlier this month? Incredible! Take, for example, Debbie Allen’s Hot Chocolate Nutcracker, The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris, or Reduced Shakespeare Company’s The Ultimate Christmas Show (abridged)—shows like these give us a renewed perspective or much-needed laughs during winter’s chill. 

4. A Good, Old Fashioned Holiday Songbook Concert 
   Somewhere in all the performing arts hoopla that is the holiday season, we must have a sit-down with classic holiday tunes in concert. Leslie Odom, Jr. just brought his Christmas tour here for such a concert, as did The Tenors, and both shows hit all the perfect notes in the traditional holiday songbook. There’s just something about the opening line of “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...” that wraps up all that holiday nostalgia in a pitch-perfect present tied up with string.  

This holiday season, we wish you and yours a performing arts-filled calendar of exciting, inspiring, and peaceful moments of music, dance, and theater. We hope to see you all in our theaters over the next few weeks to enjoy seasonal shows or to give the gift of live theater to your loved ones.