We get it: Everyone is about to come home for the holidays. While it’s great to spend time with family, catch up with your old school chums and swig too much eggnog, the holidays can feel, well, a little itchy.
How much time can you sit at home playing Scrabble? How many Christmas bars can you hit before your breath permanently smells like crème de menthe? And, worse yet, how long can you hang out with that one uncle until politics comes up?
Luckily for you, dear reader, we have you covered.
Here’s a round up of holiday offerings to get you out of the house and into the theater. As for your uncle, maybe a little ballet is just what he needs.
“A Campy Christmas” at Richmond Triangle Players
Through Dec. 22
Richmond Triangle Players’ latest offering is a double whammy of holiday hilarity. This season, RTP is staging the one-act plays “With Bells On” and “Who’s Holiday.” The former imagines that a 7-foot-tall Glamazon drag queen and a mild-mannered accountant are trapped together in an elevator. Eventually they realize that they have a thing or two to learn from each other.
The latter is a raunchy envisioning of what became of Cindy Lou Who after that famous Christmas when Grinch’s heart grew three sizes. Among other developments, the blond Whovillian has had a romance gone wrong, birthed a child and served a stint in prison.
Before the close of act one, audiences will be treated to a performance by drag queen Wette Midler. With Doug Schneider, Luke Newsome and Emily Dandridge.
“A Campy Christmas” plays through Dec. 22 at Richmond Triangle Players, 1300 Altamont Ave. For more information visit rtriangle.org or call (804) 346-8113.
“Ted Swindley’s Honky Tonk Angels” at Swift Creek Mill Theatre
Through Dec. 28
If Christmas puts you in the mood for a holiday hoedown, “Honky Tonk Angels” is just the ticket. Relating the story of three women who set off for Nashville in the hopes of hitting the big time, the show features 30 classic country tunes that include “Stand by Your Man,” “9 to 5” and “Harper Valley PTA.” The show stars Savanah Ragland as Los Angeles career woman Sue Ellen, Kimberly Strother as Texas housewife Angela, and Chelsea Shaul as Darlene, a woman from West Virginia and Mississippi.
“Honky Tonk Angels” plays through Dec. 28 at Swift Creek Mill Theatre, 17401 Route 1, Chesterfield, 23834. For more information, visit swiftcreekmill.com or call (804) 748-5203.
“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” at Virginia Rep
Dec. 5-Jan. 12
When the musical adaptation of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” first opened in London’s West End it broke the city’s record for weekly ticket sales.
Now, Virginia Rep readies its staging of the musical. Relating Roald Dahl’s beloved story of an impoverished boy who finds one of five golden tickets and gains access to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, the musical promises a tale of sweets, treats and pure imagination. Created by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, the creative minds behind the Tony-winning musicals “Hairspray” and “Some Like it Hot,” the musical cribs a few beloved tunes from the 1974 Gene Wilder film: “The Candy Man,” “Pure Imagination” and “The Oompa Loompa Song.”
Virginia Rep’s staging stars Matt Shofner as Wonka, with Penelope Hanson and Kylan Dowdy trading off the title role. The rest of the cast is rounded out with some of the city’s leading lights, including Susan Sanford, Debra Wagoner, Mark Persinger, Bianca Bryan, Durron Marquis Tyre and Rachel Marrs.
Virginia Rep’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” plays Dec. 5-12 at the November Theatre, 114 W. Broad St. For more information visit va-rep.org or call (804) 282-2620.
“The Nutcracker” at Richmond Ballet and Richmond Symphony
Dec. 7-23
Can you claim to be a true Richmonder without having seen Richmond Ballet’s “The Nutcracker”?
We’ll leave that to social media to suss out; regardless, attending the show stands alongside ham biscuits, rainbow cookies and Duke’s Mayonnaise as something immutably and quintessentially Richmond.
On Dec. 7, the Rat King and the Russian Bear return to the Dominion Energy Center. Stoner Winslett’s beloved production — which was praised as one of the best in the country by The New York Times’ chief dance critic in 2011 — has enchanted Richmonders for more than four decades. While some updates have occurred over the years, sources say the “cheese-a-pult” used by the mice during the battle scene hasn’t gone anywhere. The ballet will be accompanied by the Richmond Symphony.
Richmond Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” plays Dec. 7-23 at the Dominion Energy Center, 600 E. Grace St. For more information, visit richmondballet.com or call (804) 344-0906 x224.
“Mamma Mia!” at Broadway in Richmond
Dec. 10-Dec. 15
Here we go again.
The traveling Broadway tour of “Mamma Mia!” returns to Richmond mid-December. Bringing its fluffy jukebox musical stagings of ABBA tunes like “Dancing Queen,” “Lay All Your Love on Me,” “Super Trouper,” “Mamma Mia,” “Money, Money, Money” and others, the show relates the story of a young woman who returns to the Greek island she was raised on to get married.
The young woman would like to invite her father, but no one is sure who he is. Through reading her mother’s diary, the woman learns that three men could have possibly sired her. In the ironclad logic of musicals, she invites all three men to the wedding in the hopes of meeting her real father. To add an element of surprise, the woman doesn’t tell her mother that she’s invited them — in fact, she invited them while pretending to be her mother.
Hijinks, hilarity and some of the greatest pop tunes of the ’70s ensue.
Broadway in Richmond’s “Mamma Mia” plays Dec. 10-15 at the Altria Theater, 6 N. Laurel St. For more information, visit broadwayinrichmond.com or call (804) 592-3368.
“The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” at Cadence Theatre Company
Dec. 13-22
Heaven help those who meet the Herdman children. They smoke cigars, drink jug wine, curse, shoplift and have a special penchant for arson.
After attending Sunday school for the first time (upon learning that they offer snacks), these rowdy siblings learn the story of Christmas and decide they want to play the lead roles in the local Christmas pageant; their decision to “revise” the tale brings about both hilarity and chaos.
Starting Dec. 13, Cadence Theatre Company will stage “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: The Musical,” a stage version of Barbara Robinson’s bestselling book. The show stars Lauren Barry, Kaitlyn Connolly, Desirèe Dabney, Joel Furtick, Chloe Green, Lauren Leinhaas-Cook and Corey T. Norman.
Cadence Theatre Company’s “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” plays Dec. 13-22 at Dominion Energy Center, 600 E. Grace St. For more information visit cadencetheatre.org or call (804) 233-4894.
“Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty” at Virginia Rep
Dec. 13-Jan. 19
The world’s most famous detective is back on the case!
In “Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty,” Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson’s investigation of the king of Bohemia’s stolen letters morphs into an international mystery that puts world peace at stake. To take down criminal mastermind Professor Moriarty, Holmes and Watson join forces with American actress Irene Adler in this tale of intrigue, spies and blackmail.
The show’s cast of Matt Bloch, Patrick Rooney, Joel White, Lindsey Zelli and Theresa Mantiply play more than 40 roles in this new Sherlock Holmes adventure.
Virginia Rep’s “Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty” plays Dec. 18-Jan. 26 at Hanover Tavern, 13181 Hanover Courthouse Road, Hanover, 23069. For more information visit va-rep.org or call (804) 282-2620.
