The best Christmas shows and ‘Nutcrackers’ in Los Angeles

Take your Christmas movie binge-watching up a notch and reserve a seat to one of the upcoming special screenings of Home Alone at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and DTLA Voices will bring the classic to life by performing John Williams’s score live to picture, conducted by David Newman. 

American Ballet Theatre is returning to Orange County with its production of The Nutcracker for the 10th year running. The show will feature larger-than-life scenery, a Christmas tree, over 100 performers, and sets and costumes designed by Tony Award winner Richard Hudson (the visionary behind the sets of the stage version of The Lion King). The Pacific Symphony will perform Tchaikovsky’s score live.

Don something festive and head over to Royce Hall to hear the angels sing—the Angel City Chorale, that is. The America’s Got Talent semifinalists will sing a host of holiday classics at their annual holiday concert. The 150-member group, known for its mishmash of classical, pop, world, contemporary and gospel genres, will perform silver-screen-worthy soundtrack arrangements at the holiday-film-themed show. Also promised are photo ops, carol sing-alongs and some surprises. If you can’t make it, the Sunday concert will also be livestreamed.

KIIS FM’s annual holiday behemoth’s lineup reads like a roll call of the station’s playlist: Alex Warren, Audrey Hobert, Conan Gray, Feid, Jackson Wang, Jessie Murph, the Kid LAROI, Leon Thomas, Reneé Rapp and Zara Larsson will all take over the Intuit Dome this holiday season. And perhaps the most notable act of all: EJAE, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami—better known as the singing voices of HUNTR/X from KPop Demon Hunters. The best seats will cost you a boatload, so look out for news of a potential free pre-show with some of the artists on the lineup.

Even the grumpiest of list-makers at yuletide has to include a production of Charles Dickens’s beloved tale of becoming a better person. Each holiday season, Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott direct this merry and music-filled production, starring Elliott and his fellow resident artists of A Noise Within theater company—all ranking among L.A.’s best classical actors—staged in ANW’s spacious theater with perfect sight lines from every seat, even for the kids.

For the Record, the live production company known for transforming film soundtracks into immersive live musicals, used to pop up in Beverly Hills each holiday season for Love Actually Live. Now, it’s celebrating the season with a show made up of over 25 beloved songs from different holiday soundtracks, premiering inside FTR’s new permanent home: CineVita, the world’s largest Spiegeltent, in Inglewood. New Kids on the Block’s Joey McIntyre will host a night of numbers from films including Home Alone, Elf, White Christmas and, yes, Love Actually—all performed by a professional cast of singers, dancers and musicians. Pair your festive nostalgia with themed cocktails and seasonal treats.

The American Contemporary Ballet returns this holiday season with its fantastical take on the tale from author E.T.A. Hoffmann. Experience the seasonal classic on a snow-shrouded stage set within an immersive space in DTLA’s Bank of America Plaza. The 75-minute production includes an ensemble of live musicians performing Tchaikovsky’s iconic score, as well as an artist reception following the show. The sweet-surprise-filled show sells out every year, so grab your tickets early.

The beloved Bob Baker Marionette Theater’s year-end production, formerly known as Holiday on Strings, has been reimagined as a holiday special complete with puppets in party clothes singing carols. Head to the troupe’s Highland Park location for the hour-long show, which follows host Demitrius Nova Twinklestar III on a tour of BBMT’s holiday traditions: You’ll see sledding slopes, caroling penguins, Santa’s workshop and more. For a sensory-friendly version, book tickets to the 4:30pm show on Saturday, December 20.

Relive your childhood theatergoing experiences this Christmas with Uncle Drosselmeyer, Clara and her beloved Nutcracker at the L.A. Ballet. The timeless show—which gets a SoCal-setting twist here—will travel all over L.A. for the holiday season, bringing classic pirouettes and Mouse King battles to UCLA, as well as 12 performances at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, where the show will be backed by the troupe’s live orchestra.

Strike the harp and join the chorus with the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s annual Holiday Sing-Along at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The family-friendly seasonal program offers two performances hosted by Melissa Peterman with performances from a choir, a jazz combo and the venue’s massive pipe organ. Lyric sheets for the holiday classics will be provided, just in case you forget how many fa-la-la-la-las are in “Deck the Halls.” Show up early for complimentary cocoa and crafts for kids at 10:30am.

A performing-arts staple of Los Angeles for over 40 years now, the 200-strong GMCLA brings festive cheer in its annual holiday musical extravaganza while raising awareness for important LGBTQ+ issues. This year, the chorus returns to the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills performs a “Holiday Legends”–themed show, performing iconic songs from the season, from choral classics to pop Christmas anthems to Hanukkah favorites. Chorus member Salina EsTitties, of RuPaul’s Drag Race, will make a special guest appearance.

Long Beach Ballet’s The Nutcracker is one of the only area productions of the holiday classic that includes not only a live full orchestra, but also a horse, a flying sleigh, magical special effects and pyrotechnics, making it a SoCal fan favorite. Sure, the story may be the same, but this production pulls out all the stops to entertain audiences year after year—including for six performances this December, when it will celebrate its 43rd anniversary.

Strike the electrified, amped-up harp and join the chorus: The KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas lineup is here. Don’t let its dainty Christmas name fool you—the annual concert is most definitely a plugged-in affair, featuring some of the year’s top mainstream, alt-rock radio staples taking the stage at the Kia Forum. This year’s nostalgic lineup is made up of bands that’ll take you back to middle school: The All-American Rejects, Evanescence, Rise Against, Social Distortion, Third Eye Blind and Yellowcard, plus newcomers Wet Leg and the Paradox.

Tickets for the concert—which is only one night these days, not two—go on sale Friday, November 7, at noon here.

Mexican folk dance company Ballet Folklórico de Los Ángeles is taking the Soraya stage in Northridge once again for the 10th anniversary of this mariachi-infused holiday show, which celebrates the different regions of Mexico. The four music- and dance-filled shows will also feature the talents of Mexican actress and Grammy-nominated Ximena Sariñana.

Broadway star and Tony, Grammy and Emmy Award Ben Platt may not have reprised his starring role in Dear Evan Hansen for its L.A. run, but the singer-actor will be gracing the Ahmanson stage after all this holiday season, performing his own hits along with classic showtunes—joined by star-studded special guests—during a two-week residency at the theater.

Not one, but two holiday puppet shows! Bob Baker Marionette Theater’s annual production of the classic ballet dates back to 1969. This year, the puppet-filled play is returning to the Sierra Madre Playhouse. From just after Thanksgiving through the beginning of the year, you can see the charming take on the classic ballet, with its large-scale marionettes and intricate sets, on most weekends and, closer to Christmas, select weekdays. 

Not to be confused with A Noise Within’s annual production of A Christmas Carol—though the talents involved are equally stellar—here we have the chance to see the story up close, from the POV of Dickens himself. Now in its 22nd year, this show finds David Melville displaying his classically trained, beautifully polished craft to bring the famous writer to life as he tells his classic tale of Christmastime redemption—and spars with his young American assistant—in the intimacy of Independent Shakespeare Co.’s indoor theater space.

Join the Los Angeles Master Chorale for some your favorite holiday carols in concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Sixty-two singers, led by conductor Grant Gershon, will belt out classics from around the globe (plus traditional fixtures like “Jingle Bells,” “Angels We Have Heard on High” and “The Twelve Days of Christmas”) to get you in the festive spirit. The Disney Hall’s famed pipe organ will also make an appearance—and you never know when Santa might show up.

Follow Kara as she drifts from New York to globetrotting lands with a hot-chocolate-filled Nutcracker in Debbie Allen Dance Academy’s reimagining of the classic ballet, made famous in the Netflix documentary Dance Dreams. Now in its 15th year, the production trades Tchaikovsky for Arturo Sandoval and Mariah Carey. 

If the words “Disney” and “sing-along” normally make you think of mini-vans and Frozen, rethink your word associations and head to the Walt Disney Concert Hall for the annual Messiah Sing-Along. The event allows the 2,200-member audience to sing their hearts out and try to hit the high notes alongside the Los Angeles Master Chorale, conducted by artistic director Grant Gershon. Songs will be performed by the professional orchestra and a quartet of professional soloists—the audience fills in as the chorus. Show up early and warm up at the free Carols on the Plaza, a holiday sing-along on Jerry Moss Plaza at 6pm.