More Boston Holiday Performances: Eat Your Heart Out, Charles Dickens!

Boston famously hosts the Boston Holiday Pops and the Boston Ballet’s Nutcracker every December. But the holidays are such a special time of year  that the city celebrates the season with lots of Christmas shows and events from mid-November straight through to the First Night celebration on December 31. So to keep that holiday spirit going all season long, here’s a guide to some of Boston’s other holiday performances.

A Boston holiday tradition for 156 years , the Handel & Haydn Society’s performance of  Handel’s  Messiah featuring the “Hallelujah Chorus” is always a very popular December ticket. Performances at Symphony Hall , 301  Massachusetts Ave., Boston (Map) on Friday, December 4 at 7 PM; Saturday, December 5, at 3 PM; and Sunday, December 6, at 3 PM.

The Urban Nutcracker has all the charm of the Nutcracker story and Tchaikovsky’s score but  with  an edge- the dance is a  mix of ballet,  hip hop and urban tap . The production is presented by the Ballet Rox Dance Company and the cast features talented  local dance students. Performances December 4-20 at John Hancock Hall, 180 Berkeley St., Boston (Map).

In the most Irish of American cities, A Christmas Celtic Sojourn with Brian O’Donovan is a New England holiday  favorite. There will be with a special appearance of  the popular Irish/American group Solas playing their own brand of traditional Irish music . There will be  crowd-pleasing Irish dancing as well.  Performances December 13-December 20  at the Cutler Majestic Theatre, 219 Tremont St., Boston (Map)

An especially festive and lavish production of A Christmas Carol is put on each year by the New Rep Theatre at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal St., Watertown, 617-923-8487,(Map).  There’s a pre-show caroling concert before each show to really put you in the Yuletide mood. Performances are December 6-27.

Our Home For the Holidays is the annual holiday concert of the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus, one of the city’s most active choral groups. Performances are at Jordan Hall (30 Gainsborough St., Boston) (Map) Sunday December 13, 2 PM, and Friday ,December 18, Saturday, December 19, and Sunday, December 20 at 8PM.

Image Credit: New Rep Theater,Christopher McKenzie