10 THENEWYORKER,NOVEMBER25, 2019
“Christmas Spectacular”
Radio City Music Hall
The Rockefeller Center classic, starring the
leggy Rockettes, returns. Nostalgic numbers,
such as the “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers,”
in which the Rockettes collapse one upon
another like dominoes, and “Sleigh Ride,”
featuring them as precision-stepping rein-
deer, are interspersed with high-tech visual
effects and aerialists. And, just as it did in its
first year (1933), the show offers the “Living
Nativity,” a tableau vivant of the Bethlehem
manger, complete with live camels. (Through
Jan. 5.)
Origami Holiday Tree
American Museum of
Natural History
Earlier this month, a seventy-seven-foot-tall
Norway spruce made its way from Florida, New
York, to Rockefeller Center, where it awaits the
tree-lighting ceremony on Dec. 4. But it’s not
the only tree game in town—a smaller ever-
green, thirteen feet high, is tucked inside the
largest natural-history museum in the world.
The theme of this year’s eight hundred fold-
ed-paper ornaments is the festive predator
T. rex. (Nov. 25-Jan. 12.)
“The Nutcracker”
There’s a new “Nut” in town: a tap interpretation
of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s “Nut-
cracker” jazz suite, from 1960. The innovative tap
choreographer Michelle Dorrance conceived this
half-hour version, with scenes set to “Sugar Rum
Cherry,” “Toot Toot Tootie Toot,” and “Peanut
Brittle Brigade.” (Joyce, Dec. 17-Jan. 5.) • Still,
the old standby, George Balanchine’s classic take
for New York City Ballet, is nothing to sneeze
at, with its enormous tree, impeccably rehearsed
children, and thrilling second-act choreography
for both Dewdrop and the Sugarplum Fairy.
(David H. Koch, Nov. 29-Jan. 5.) • In Francis Pa-
trelle’s “The Yorkville Nutcracker,” the action is
set in fin-de-siècle New York City, in and around
Gracie Mansion. (Kaye Playhouse, Dec. 13-15.) •
The Brooklyn Ballet’s “Brooklyn Nutcracker”
merges ballet with flexin’, Native American
hoop dancing, and Chinese fan dancing. (Kings
Theatre, Dec. 14.) • David Parker and the Bang
Group offer a salty alternative in “Nut/Cracked,”
a variety show full of tongue-in-cheek gags,
such as a dancer tapping in point shoes while
eating takeout Chinese and the pop-and-snap
of bare feet on bubble wrap. (Flea, Dec. 20-22.)“Messiah”
Winter is coming, but gloom is the exception
in Handel’s festive “Messiah” oratorio, which
echoes around the city throughout December.
The New York Philharmonic and the Handel
& Haydn Society promise a robust rendition.
(David Geffen Hall, Dec. 17-21.) Not to be out-
done, Carnegie Hall hosts three performances
by volunteer choruses—a massed choir presented
by DCINY (Dec. 1), the Oratorio Society (Dec.
19), and the Masterwork Chorus (Dec. 23)—as
well as one by the professional singers of Musica
Sacra (Dec. 23). Among ecclesiastical outfits, the
choir of St. Thomas Church (Dec. 12) and that
of Trinity Wall Street (St. Paul’s Chapel, Dec.
20-22) stand out. Meanwhile, for life’s joiners,
the Dessoff Choirs offer a come-and-sing version
at the Union Theological Seminary (Dec. 7).“Peter & the Wolf ”
Guggenheim Museum
In the annual “Works & Process” show of
Prokofiev’s symphonic fairy tale “Peter and
the Wolf,” each character has a musical double:
Peter is the violin, the duck is the oboe, and
the ferocious wolf, a trio of brass instruments.
The narrator is Isaac Mizrahi, the players
come from Ensemble Signal, and the inge-
nious choreography is by John Heginbotham.
(Dec. 7-8 and Dec. 13-15.)Festive Sundays
The Jewish Museum invites budding artists
older than three to build Hanukkah lamps out
of found objects and to sketch some of the eighty
lamps in its collection. Children may take spe-
cial interest in the white ceramic “menurkey”—a
menorah shaped like a turkey—designed, in
2013, by a nine-year-old New Yorker. Joannie
Leeds and the Nightlights provide musical en-
tertainment, and they just might play their pop-
ular “Tofurkey Song.” • The Morgan Library’s
annual exhibition of the original manuscript for
Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” occasions
an afternoon of festivities. Children between the
ages of three and fourteen can make crafts, listen
to a dramatic reading from Dickens’s holiday
classic, and chat with Ebenezer Scrooge, not to
mention the ghosts who taught him the mean-
ing of Christmas. (Both events are on Dec. 15.)Unsilent Night
Washington Square Park
The Rockettes notwithstanding, you’d be hard
pressed to find a more authentically New York
City holiday tradition than this annual boom-
box carolling event, devised and led by the com-
poser Phil Kline. Grab your portable cassette
player—or download a sound file or an app from
the event’s Web site—and join the procession,
which produces ethereal, infinitely variable
tintinnabulations throughout its one-mile trek
from Washington Square Park to Tompkins
Square Park. (Dec. 15 at 6.)“Ceremony of Carols”
St. Thomas Church
Jeremy Filsell leads the boys of the St. Thomas
Choir in their annual performance of Benjamin
Britten’s sublime sequence of traditional carols,
accompanied by the harpist Sara Cutler. Brief
works by Ned Rorem (“Alleluia”) and Peter Hal-
lock (“I Am Wisdom”) complete an appealing
hour-long offering. (Dec. 19 at 5:30.)“The Little Match Girl Passion”
The Met Cloisters
Christmastime performances of David Lang’s
“The Little Match Girl Passion” have become
a tradition for the Grammy-winning choral
group the Crossing, which specializes in con-
temporary music. In Lang’s tender yet pene-
trating setting of Hans Christian Andersen’s
story, the tale of a child who freezes to death
on the street can be just as profound as Christ’s
Passion. The group also performs Edie Hill’s
new “Spectral Spirits.” (Dec. 21 at 12:30 and
3:30.)New Year’s Eve Gala
Metropolitan Opera House
The Met typically introduces a new production
on New Year’s Eve, but this season it gives
operagoers a different reason to don their
black-tie attire: an evening centered on Anna
Netrebko. The velvety-voiced soprano stars in
a fully staged, all-Puccini showcase, singing
one act apiece from “La Bohème,” “Tosca,”
and “Turandot,” alongside Matthew Polenzani,
Yusif Eyvazov, and Evgeny Nikitin; Yannick
Nézet-Séguin conducts. (Dec. 31 at 5:30.) ILLUSTRATION BY TOMI UM