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Tickets please! Christmas is already on sale
When you say it out loud, How the Grinch Stole Thanksgiving just doesn’t have the right ring, does it?
Turkey Day is less than a week away, but there aren’t any Thanksgiving-themed concerts, pageants or presentations planned. No Mayflower musicals. No pilgrim productions.
That’s because when it comes to the holiday season, it’s all about the Tide of Yule.
The 2024 schedule of bay area Christmas concerts and other stage events is extensive – like every year – and most of these shows went on sale well before Halloween, some before Labor Day. So there’s no need to go dashing through the snow.
Christmas in November
The full title of the Straz Center’s current Broadway touring show is Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical, and it’s onstage (in Morsani Hall) through Sunday. Cindy Lou Who and the big green guy have an 8:00 show tonight, and three (10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.) Sunday. And before you can say “cranberry sauce and stuffing,” it’ll be off to another city. Get tickets here.
Coming Nov. 21 is A Celtic Christmas, an all-Irish singin’ and dancin’ show from the traveling company known as A Taste of Ireland (dancers from Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, etc.). It’s in the Straz Center’s Ferguson Hall. Get tickets here.
Pianist Zachary Bartholomew will play The Music of Vince Guaraldi – A Charlie Brown Christmas Nov. 23 at the Palladium Theater’s Side Door Cabaret, accompanied by bass, drums and a guest vocalist. Get tickets here.
Saxophonist Dave Koz brings his Jazz Christmas tour, now in its 27th year, to Ruth Eckerd Hall Nov. 30. Jamming away with Dave this go-round are saxophonist Vincent Ingala, guitarist Adam Hawley and vocalist Rebecca Jade. Get tickets here.
December’s children
Dec. 6 at freeFall Theater, it’s The Womack Family Christmas, with bay area jazz/blues vocalist Belinda Womack and her immediates. Get tickets here.
It wouldn’t be Christmas without a performance of Handel’s Messiah, and the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay’s got you covered – for free, Dec. 7 at the Cathedral Church of St. Peter. Get details here.
The Florida Orchestra Holiday Brass Quintet will perform a 3 p.m. holiday concert (with carol singing) Dec. 8 at Peace Memorial Presbyterian Church in Clearwater. Donations accepted.
The Florida Orchestra and the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay combine for Classical Christmas, “a cozy concert that evokes a traditional Christmas on the cobbled streets of a snow-covered village,” Dec. 13 (Straz Center Ferguson Hall) and Dec. 14 (Mahaffey Theater). Michael Francis conducts. Included is an audience sing-along. Get tickets here.
Chelsea Gallo conducts The Florida Orchestra’s annual Holiday Pops concerts (five performances, in three cities, also with the Master Chorale) Dec. 20-22. Get tickets here.
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band Creole Christmas arrives, direct from New Orleans to the Capitol Theatre, Dec. 3. Get tickets here.
Guitarist Nate Najar brings the 15th annual Nate Najar’s Jazz Holiday to the Palladium Theater Dec. 12, with a band including Bruce Harris, trumpet; Jeff Rupert, saxophone; Daniela Soledade, vocal; Carl Amundson, guitar; Patrick Bettison, piano; Joe Porter, bass; and Jean Bolduc, drums. Get tickets here.
Due at Ruth Eckerd Hall Dec. 4: Derek Hough Dance for the Holidays. Get tickets here.
Coming to the Capitol Theatre Dec. 22: Celtic Angels. Publicity photo.
A live orchestra will accompany a screening of the movie Elf at 2 and 7 p.m. Dec. 7 in Morsini Hall (Straz Center). Get tickets here.
A Very Broadway Christmas, from Tampa’s Broadway on the Bay, visits the Mahaffey Theater Dec. 20 (two shows). Get tickets here.
Dec. 13 at Ruth Eckerd Hall: A screening of The Polar Express, and a holiday sing-along with the “Ruth Eckerd Hall Chorus.” The 4:30 p.m. event is free.
The national tour of NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet pays its annual Mahaffey Theater visit after the Christmas holiday – Dec. 28 and 29 – with elaborate sets, and dancers from Ukraine, Japan, Turkey and elsewhere. Get tickets here.
A production of It’s a Wonderful Life – A Live Radio Play is scheduled for the Shimberg Playhouse (Straz Center) Dec. 6-23. Get tickets here.
It’s deja vu all over again, as Gavin Hawk and Helen R. Murray perform Wonderful Life, a different adaptation of Frank Capra’s beloved holiday film, Dec. 5-22 at American Stage. Get tickets here.
The yearly St. Petersburg Opera Company musical cabaret, Holiday Sparkle, takes place at the Palladium Theater Dec. 17 and 18. Get tickets here.
The 2024 edition of Bowzer’s Holiday Rock ‘n’ Roll Party (Dec. 8, Ruth Eckerd Hall) has Peter (“Herman’s Hermits”) Noone, the bay area’s own Joey Dee, Jay Siegel’s Tokens and some guys who were in Sha Na Na. Get tickets here.
The national touring show Cirque Dreams Holidaze, a lavish musical that incorporates circus acrobatics, was originally scheduled for Sarasota’s Van Wezel Hall in October (two months before Christmas). That venue was damaged by Hurricane Milton, and the show was moved to the Straz Center’s Morsini Hall Dec. 26 and 27 (after Christmas). Get tickets here.
Cirque Musica Holiday Wonderland, coming to Ruth Eckerd Hall Dec. 21, is yet another lavish musical extravaganza combining holiday stuff with circus acts. Get tickets here.
British actor David Payne portrays Chronicles of Narnia author C.S. Lewis in the play A Christmas with C.S. Lewis, visiting the Straz Center’s Jaeb Theatre Dec. 5 and 6. Payne also wrote and directed the piece, which presents Lewis in 1962, regaling a group of Americans with stories of his life. Get tickets here.
The lovely lasses known as Celtic Angels arrive Dec. 22, with band and dancers, at the Capitol Theatre. It’s an all-Christmas show. Get tickets here.
Keith Ferguson and Bruce Greer’s A Christmas Carol in Concert is onstage Dec. 20-24 as part of the Tandem Series at freeFall Theatre. They’ve done the show (with variations) in 2014 and again in 2020. Get tickets here.
As seen on PBS, Christmas with The Celts – Irish music, dancing, singing and comedy – visits Largo’s Central Park Performing Arts Center Dec. 20. Get tickets here.
Soft jazz superstar Kenny G brings his swingin’ soprano sax to the Baycare Sound Dec. 17. It’s the “Miracles Holiday and Hits Tour,” and you can get tickets here.
Dec. 20 brings another jazz sax player – in this case, St. Pete native Mindi Abair – to the area. With Lindsey Webster and Marcus Anderson, her Christmas show alights at the Capitol Theatre. Get tickets here.
Vocal group Rockapella hand-delivers its annual Christmas show to the Capitol Theatre Dec. 21. Get tickets here.
Dickens’ A Christmas Carol has a one-nighter at Ruth Eckerd Hall, Dec. 23. It’s a full (touring) production written and directed by actor Scott H. Severance, who plays miserly Mr. Scrooge. Get tickets here.
