Chicago
The Nutcracker
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Ballet fans be forewarned: No part of this deconstructed Nutcracker is performed en pointe. Instead, it’s an original drama about a young girl’s wartime loss of her brother. After receiving a nutcracker doll that resembles him, she resolves to help her family recover from his death. Through Dec. 26
Los Angeles
Cold Lang Syne
Ruby Theatre at the Complex
(323) 960-4412
At the stroke of midnight, a reunion of four college chums and their significant others turns sour in this New Year’s Eve mystery. Playwright Douglas Green injects a modern sensibility into the whodunit genre, adding more than a few plot twists along the way. Through Jan. 2
New York
Elf
Al Hirschfeld Theatre
(212) 239-6200
The hit 2003 movie about a man raised as an elf comes to Broadway, courtesy of Tony-winning writers Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin. Filled with pop-infused songs, the show stars Sebastian Arcelus as Buddy, an unusually tall Santa’s Helper who goes to New York in search of his real family. Through Jan. 2
Palo Alto, Calif.
A Christmas Memory
TheatreWorks
(650) 463-7170
In its world premiere, this musical adaptation of Truman Capote’s autobiographical short story features a score by Broadway veterans Larry Grossman and Carol Hall. Set in a small Alabama town, it captures the goings-on of Capote’s eccentric family as they prepare for the holidays. Through Dec. 26
Boston
A Child’s Christmas in Wales
Plaza Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts
(617) 353-5443
The Boston Playwrights’ Theatre once again collaborates with the Boston Children’s Theater in the second-annual performance of this play. Writer and director Burgess Clark fleshes out Dylan Thomas’ lyric prose, written by the poet two years before his death, about his own mischief-filled Christmas of 1923. Through Dec. 23
Houston
The Santaland Diaries
Alley Theatre
(713) 220-5700
David Sedaris’ comic monologue about his time as an in-store elf at Macy’s has become a contemporary holiday staple. Alley company member Todd Waite is Crumpet, the Sedaris stand-in who blows off steam after dealing with a bizarre array of grizzled Santas and feverishly pushy customers. Through Dec. 31
Washington, D.C.
Seasonal Disorder
Source Theatre
(202) 204-7800
The often-topical, always unscripted Washington Improv Theatre stages its eighth-annual holiday show of long-form improvisation. A cast of six will perform material drawn from cards with suggestions from each night’s audience. Through Dec. 31
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Pregnancy in AmericaFeature Why is it getting riskier to give birth in the U.S.?
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The potential warning sign of an auto lender’s bankruptcyIn the Spotlight Tricolor collapse an ‘extreme example’ of economy’s challenges
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RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine crusade comes under fireFeature Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced a heated hearing as senators accused him of lying and spreading chaos
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If/Thenfeature Tony-winning Idina Menzel “looks and sounds sensational” in a role tailored to her talents.
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Rocky
feature It’s a wonder that this Rocky ever reaches the top of the steps.
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Love and Information
feature Leave it to Caryl Churchill to create a play that “so ingeniously mirrors our age of the splintered attention span.”
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The Bridges of Madison County
feature Jason Robert Brown’s “richly melodic” score is “one of Broadway’s best in the last decade.”
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Outside Mullingar
feature John Patrick Shanley’s “charmer of a play” isn’t for cynics.
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The Night Alive
feature Conor McPherson “has a singular gift for making the ordinary glow with an extra dimension.”
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No Man’s Land
feature The futility of all conversation has been, paradoxically, the subject of “some of the best dialogue ever written.”
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The Commons of Pensacola
feature Stage and screen actress Amanda Peet's playwriting debut is a “witty and affecting” domestic drama.