What To Do Today
Christmas cheer
Calendar has dozens of events for you to check out for the holiday season — from a one-man “A Christmas Carol” to Light Up UCF, singing Christmas trees to “Nutcrackers” galore. Plus a preview of the Foodie Awards and when you can vote for your favorite Central Florida restaurants, movie reviews, listings and more.
Art
Support local artists and find unique holiday gifts at the annual Crealde Holiday Art Sale (Dec. 9, crealde.org). The Winter Park school will be selling pottery, paintings, jewelry, sculpture, prints and photographs. See the art of a different age at “Holidays at the Waterhouse.” The Victorianera home, part of the Art & History Museums in Maitland, is decorated in 19th-century style. A guide explains the holiday customs of days gone by (through Jan. 7, artandhistory.org).
Comedy
Sak Comedy Lab’s “Invasion Christmas Carol” returns Dec. 8-25. In the scripted show, an incongruous character chosen by the audience — think Harry Potter or Wonder Woman — “invades” a production of “A Christmas Carol” as the actors struggle to carry on. The troupe’s popular “Yule of Fools” improv show also returns to Sak’s downtown Orlando venue, Dec. 8-30 (sakcomedylab.com).
The Humor Mill Orlando presents its seasonal sketch-comedy show, titled “Fa
La La Land” at the Lowndes Shakespeare Center in Orlando (Dec. 2, humormill orlando.com). Musical parodies and skits involving Santa, Tweak the Elf, Charles
Dickens and more provide laughs.
Community
For the 39th year, the Morse Museum of American Art will install its Tiffany windows in Winter Park’s Central Park for “Christmas in the Park”
(6:15 p.m. Dec. 7). The Bach Festival Society Choir, Youth Choir and Brass Ensemble perform at the free event.
Down in Celebration, snow is in the air — at 6, 7, 8 and 9 p.m. nightly through Dec. 31. The “Now Snowing” celebration also includes strolling carolers, horse-drawn carriage rides and ice skating. A free Radio Disney concert will be Dec. 9, and a “Countdown to Christmas” concert takes place Dec. 16.
At Lake Eola Park, Orlando’s city tree lighting
will be Dec. 1, with festivities starting at 5 p.m. The park’s Walt Disney Amphitheatre will host a free holiday movie at 7 p.m. Dec. 8, 15 and 22.
Another local tradition, First Baptist Orlando’s Singing Christmas Trees
program, returns with music, worshipful dance — and 250,000 twinkling lights (Dec. 8-17, first orlando.com).
Dance
If you like your dancing more naughty than nice, check out Corsets & Cuties’ holiday show at The Venue in Orlando (Nov. 25, corsetsandcuties.com). The burlesque troupe will welcome amateur dancers to the stage.
Dance Theatre of Orlando brings back its production of “The Nuthouse,” a darker, modern take on themes from “The Nutcracker” (Dec. 1-3, dancetheatreoforlando .org). The show is set in a mental institution on Christmas Eve.
Music
The Bach Festival Society of Winter Park now offers four performances of its “Classic Christmas” program, featuring full choir and orchestra (Dec.
16-17, bachfestivalflorida .org).
You can also hear the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and its festive singers during its annual “Home for the Holidays”
concert (Nov. 25, orlando phil.org). If you prefer your Christmas music under the stars, you can also hear the Phil during the free “Sounds of the Season”
concert in Winter Park’s Central Park (4 p.m. Nov. 26) or at the Bok Tower Gardens “Sunset & Symphony Holiday Concert”
(6 p.m. Dec. 2).
The Brass Band of Central Florida will present a Traditional Holiday
Brass Concert at St. Luke’s Church in Oviedo (Dec. 1-2, stlukes-oviedo.org/concert -series) and in Celebration (Dec. 8, thecelebration foundation.org). The Sounds of Freedom Band and Color Guard looks at Christmas through the eyes of a child in “If Not Now…
When?” The concert will be at Orlando Repertory Theatre (3 p.m. Dec. 17, CFSOF.com/Arts). Phoenix Tears Productions presents a holiday cabaret of music, theater and art at Orlando’s Church of the Ascension. Among the performers: Draco and the Malfoys and the Death Day Players (Dec. 7, phoenixtearsproductions .com). Also in cabaret: Sara Jones, who will bring her “Razzle Dazzle Christmas Schmazzle” show to the Starlite Room at Orlando’s Savoy nightclub. Along with the music, Jones promises a “handsome dancing elf boi” (Dec. 10, eventbrite.com).
Theatre South Playhouse, in south Orange County, goes for a New York vibe with its “Very Broadway Christmas”
cabaret (Dec. 15, theatre southplayhouse.org). Orlando’s Mad Cow Theatre brings back the “It Was a Very Good Yule” cabaret with a salute to the resilient spirit of the 1940s. (Dec. 15-23, madcowtheatre.com). If the 1960s are more your speed, head to the Clermont Performing Arts Center for the “Motown Christmas Spectacular.”
Vocalists and musicians from the Capitols, the Miracles and the Temptations sing classics from the Detroit sound, as well as seasonal favorites (Dec. 15,
clermontperforming arts.com).
Orlando’s Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts also has several musical celebrations: Wynton Marsalis presents his “Big
Band Holidays” concert (Dec. 3, drphillipscenter .org). The Bethune-Cookman University Concert Chorale holiday concert
(Dec. 5) includes jazz, gospel, sacred and classical songs. Outside on the Seneff Arts Plaza will be the free “Songs of the Season” presentation (Dec. 2) featuring musicians from Rollins College.
Opera Orlando’s production of “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” a familyfriendly story of a boy who meets the Three Wise Men, also will be onstage at the Dr. Phillips Center (Dec. 9-10).
Orlando’s Bob Carr Theater will host the annual
free presentation by the Messiah Choral Society
of Handel’s great work (Nov. 26, drphillipscenter .com).
Another big chorus show: Central Florida Community Arts presents “Once Upon a December”
at Northland church in Longwood, featuring its 300-member choir and orchestra (Dec. 7-9, cfcarts.com).
Central Florida Vocal Arts will bring its annual “Cocktails and Carols”
fundraising event to Luma on Park in Winter Park (Dec. 9, cflvocalarts.com). And for pet lovers, the fifth annual free “Violectric
Holiday Show” at Lake Eola Park will be dogfriendly this year. The amped-up string quintet, plus keyboards and drums, will rock in the holidays with classic rock tunes, pop hits and traditional Christmas carols (7 p.m. Dec. 9, violectric.net).
Theater
Dangerous Theatre in Sanford will be full of holiday spirit, both naughty and nice. Country Joe Rosier will tell Christmas stories for children and adults in “A Visit from Father Christmas” (Dec. 16-17, dangeroustheatre.com). In “A-loan for the Holidays,”
a newly divorced woman rents a family from Craigslist to spend Christmas with her. What could go wrong? (Nov. 24-Dec. 8).
On the naughty side, the audience will have its say in “Who Killed Santa? The Choose-Your-Own-Ending Musical Murder Mystery Holiday Whodunit.” Frosty, Rudolph, Tiny Tim and the Little Drummer Boy are suspects in this merry mystery (Dec. 1-30).
Finally, in “Beach Blanket
Bongo,” a beat poet relives the glory days of the 1960s on Christmas Eve (Nov. 24-Dec. 23).
From the 1960s, we travel to the 1930s and “Annie,” onstage at the Garden Theatre in Winter Garden (Nov. 25-Dec. 23, garden theatre.org). “The sun’ll come out tomorrow” for the orphan who’s taken into the home of rich Daddy Warbucks at Christmastime.
Home is a bit different
for the folks in “The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical ,”a comedy about life on the other side of the tracks from the Bay Street Players in Eustis (Dec. 28-31, baystreetplayers.org).
More heavenly characters are found in “Plaid
Tidings,” when the angels of a doo-wop group return to Earth to spread cheer. CFCArts stages the show in Orlando (Dec. 7-16, cfcarts.com).
From angels, we turn to ghosts and the usual crop of “A Christmas Carol”
productions that turn up this time of year. The Melon Patch Players in Leesburg present a traditional “trunk show” version of the tale (Dec. 1-17, melonpatch players.org). Osceola Arts in Kissimmee has “Scrooge: The Musical”
(Dec. 1-17, osceolaarts.org).
In multiple Central Florida locations, Phantasmagoria will put its own stylishly spooky spin on the tale, subtitled “A Ghost Story of Christmas” (Dec. 15-23, phantasmagoria orlando.com). And Cultural Fusion sets the story among the funk of 1970s Harlem in “Christmas Is Coming Uptown,” presented at Orlando’s Dr. Phillips Center (Dec. 15-17, drphillips center.org).
The Moonlight Players in Clermont tug at the heartstrings with “Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus” (Dec. 2-17, moon lightplayers.org) and Michael Wanzie and Gidget Galore go for the funny bone with “Wanzie’s NotQuite-Right ‘Christmas Florida’ TV Special in Living Color” at the Starlite Room at Savoy in Orlando (Dec. 3-17, eventbrite.com).