Written by LIBBY SLATE
IF YOU’VE BEEN to The Nutcracker and thought, “If you’ve seen one Nutcracker, you’ve seen them all,” kindly think again. The traditional version of the Tchaikovsky classic—about a little girl who receives a nutcracker on Christmas Eve and experiences all sorts of adventures when the toy comes to life—is certainly on view around Southern California this season. Productions include those by Westside Ballet at BroadStage in Santa Monica (through Dec. 7) and American Ballet Theatre at the Segerstrom Center in Costa Mesa (Dec. 11-21).
But there’s also Nutcracker! Magical Christmas Ballet with ten-foot puppets and cirque-like acrobatics at La Mirada Theatre in La Mirada (Dec. 21); Los Angeles Ballet’s SoCal-set Nutcracker at UCLA’s Royce Hall (Dec. 12-14) and Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre (Dec. 19-28); Debbie Allen’s Hot Chocolate Nutcracker at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center (Dec. 4-14) and a jazzy Duke Ellington concert version of The Nutcracker Suite, performed by the Los Angeles
Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert Hall downtown (Dec. 18-21).
’Tis the season for sugar plum fairies and Ebenezer Scrooges as well as candlelit Hanukkah menorahs and Kwanzaa kinaras. When it comes to performances, how do those who program decide what fare to serve on the holiday menu? What’s the magic mix of age-appealing and traditional and contemporary offerings—and on the flip side, what’s not holiday apropos?
“I’m looking to serve a variety of audiences or demographics in our programming for the holiday period,” says BT McNicholl, producing artistic director at La Mirada Theatre. “Something for families, something for seniors, something for adults who might come with or without kids.”
The schedule includes Christmas with the Drifters, featuring current members of the 1950s-‘60s pop/R&B vocal group, for the senior demographic on Dec. 7, and 1990s-to-the-present alternative rock band Sixpence None the Richer Dec. 12 for a slightly younger group.
Ballet Folklórico Mexicano de Carlos Moreno’s family-festive Navidad en México, Dec. 14, has played La Mirada for five years. McNicholl doesn’t program The Nutcracker every year and when he does he chooses different companies.
“It’s diminishing returns after a while,” he says. “By withholding it every now and again, it becomes fresh again and creates a sense of anticipation. And presenting different productions means [the audience is] discovering the same piece in a new way.”
Not everything is a slam dunk. A Carpenters tribute band that had been well received in a regular concert returned for a Christmas show that left audiences disappointed; the real-life duo was not known for its own holiday music. And McNicholl wouldn’t book a comedian or a politically themed show during the holidays.
For Grant Gershon, artistic director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, holiday programming is a mix of “programs that really lean into the traditional, popular, familiar carols, that embrace the holidays, and other programs where we look at different aspects of the season—different composers and repertoires, so that we keep things fresh from year to year.”
The familiar at Disney Hall includes the annual Festival of Carols (Dec. 20), which combines perennial favorites and less familiar works, Handel’s Messiah (Dec. 21) and the Messiah Sing-Along (Dec. 22).
The new offering is English Cathedral Christmas, featuring music from the 1500s on at Disney Hall (Dec.14) and, in a new partnership, at BroadStage in Santa Monica (Dec. 13). Previous concerts have celebrated music of the Americas, Europe, Nigeria, Kenya, China, Korea and other locales.
Of the multi-decade Messiah Sing-Along, Gershon says, “The communal experience of singing this classic and its ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ with 2,000 people—there’s something so joyous and uplifting and life-affirming, all these things that we’re looking for in the arts and at this time of year.”
Carols and traditional and untraditional seasonal songs “are all fun to sing— and they all feel really good to sing together.”
The mix of first-time and veteran soloists, he notes, also energizes the program. New this year is a morning program at Disney Hall, Carols for Kids (Dec. 20), which presents holiday classics as well as lobby activities for the youngest patrons. The show was inspired in part by a baby boom among Master Chorale / members.
The Music Center’s free annual L.A. County Holiday Celebration, Christmas Eve at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion downtown, has always presented a mix of artists and cultures, classic and contemporary.
“The producers seek performers who are entertaining, professional, and can lift people’s spirits,” says Rachel S. Moore, Music Center president and CEO. “Above all, they seek performers who embody and reflect the rich diversity of Los Angeles County’s communities.”
Performers this year include Kim Eung Hwa & Korean Dance Company, Le Ballet Dembaya West African drum and dance ensemble, Mariachi Divas de Cindy Shea and Mostly Kosher klezmer band.
About half of those chosen are new each year. Last year, to mark the show’s 65th anniversary, the Music Center brought on a new producer and changed the customary first-come-first-served admission format to online reserved ticketing.
Performers included those of new-to-the-show artistic genres such as the Bob Baker Marionette Theater, which returns this year. The Music Center and PBS SoCal will produce this time around. Tickets are available beginning Dec. 16.
The Holiday Candlelight concert of the Pasadena Symphony and Pops at All Saints Church in Pasadena (Dec. 12-13) is steeped in tradition.
The program always includes the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, Donald Brinegar Singers and L.A. Bronze Handbell Ensemble, and a different vocalist each year— this year Broadway star Sarah Uriarte Berry.
“The program always promotes the joys, goodwill and family traditions that time-honored carols and favorite holiday chestnuts can provide at this time of year,” says Pasadena Symphony Association CEO Andrew Brown. “The format has stayed relatively the same —the changes come in offering our audiences a little bit of surprise and delight from year to year.”
New arrangements of old favorites might premiere.
Two years ago, singer Jamal Moore performed the song “Umoja,” the Swahili word for “unity,” the key principle of Kwanzaa. “We always strive to offer a little bit of something for everyone,” Brown says.
Whatever the locale and format, McNicholl says, “The holiday season is an opportunity to bring families and communities together—an opportunity to do something to lift spirits and deliver on that promise of togetherness.
“I think if we look back on our lives, we think about holidays and we think about friends and families and those times we spent together.
“When you go to see one of these shows,” he says, “you leave with a shared memory. It becomes part of the emotional memory scrapbook of your life.”
Read the rest at Performances Magazine | L.A. Master Chorale, December 2025
Photo credits: Photo courtesy of Performances Magazine | L.A. Master Chorale, December 2025
