Theater Guide Dec. 2025: It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like…

Christmas is the season to bring out the best of Christmas Past. And there’s not one production in our best recommendations for December 2025 that wasn’t born from great stories years ago. (Sort of fitting with that ancient tale of a young couple looking for comfort in a stable.) Call these traditional, value their renewed relevance, or hail their rightful revival each December, but do experience the joy of love with family (or a BFF) some night out this December. Whether it’s a carol, a play, a mock radio broadcast, a dance or revue, there are so many opportunities for Pittsburghers to share the holiday spirit this season. And besides, it’s all so essential to the economic health of performing arts companies here and, well, everywhere this year. Be not a Scrooge; share your love of the joy live theatre brings to each and everyone.

Shows are previewed below in two sections, Spotlight Picks for the month and Other Shows of Interest, followed by a look-ahead to Big Shows on the Horizon. Spotlight Picks are listed by run dates. The Theater Guide is created by the theater writers and editors of Entertainment Central including Mike Vargo (M.V.) and C. Prentiss Orr (C.P.O.).

Spotlight Picks

MIDNIGHT RADIO LAMPOONS CHRISTMAS VACATYINZ by Tami Dixon. Bricolage Production Company. December 4 – 21. 

Midnight Radio is actually live theater. And this holiday season, the Midnight Radio team resumes its run of unique Christmas comedies. Recent shows have included Die Hard N’at, a mind-bending spoof of the Bruce Willis-Alan Rickman skyscraper caper, transposed to Pittsburgh’s fictional Terrible Tower. An even trippier entry, Yinzer Scrooged, spoofed modern corporate capitalism, with Scrooge as a voracious CEO and single mom Barb Cratchit cleaning offices to support her dear child Tiny Tony. Now this year’s show ventures into meta-spoof. Midnight Radio Lampoons Christmas Vacatyinz is a lampoon of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, the 1989 film about an extended family going nuclear at Yuletide. As before, the goal is to prove that yinzer humor can transcend cliché to become truly transcendental humor. As before, the play is presented as if you’re in the studio watching an old-time radio broadcast, with actors making non-digital sound effects and doing commercial breaks. As always, Midnight Radio is produced by Bricolage Production Company. Bricolage’s Tami Dixon wrote the Christmas Vacatyinz script and co-stars along with Patrick Jordan of barebones productions and others. Reserve tickets quickly because the show is hot, hot, hot. In the barebones black box, 1211 Braddock Ave., Braddock. (M.V.)

A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE PLAY (comedy) by Philip Grecian, adapted from the film and story by Jean Shepherd and others. Pittsburgh Public Theater. December 4 – 21.

Chances are, if you’re not familiar with the classic film about little Ralphie Parker whose holiday memories of freezing his tongue to a lamppost, witnessing his father’s obsession for roast turkey, or hoping against all hope (lest he shoot his eye out) to find that Red Ryder BB gun under the Christmas tree, you’ll want to attend any of dozens of other holiday events. But wait; Pittsburgh Public Theater’s production of A Christmas Story is returning to the O’Reilly Theater for the fourth time this December. So you know it’s got to be a Pittsburgh favorite. With a splendid cast and a setting reminiscent of small-town America when the biggest boxed stores were called Higbee’s, A Christmas Story is a sweet and sentimental journey of American values years ago. Pittsburgh Public Theater tickets go faster than a slide in Santa-land. 621 Penn Ave., Cultural District. (C.P.O.)

THE NUTCRACKER (ballet) with music by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, choreographed by Terrence S. Orr.  Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. December 5 – 28.

For 23 years straight, Pittsburgh Ballet has staged a Pittsburgh-themed The Nutcracker. There are visual references to Heinz, the once-famous Kaufmann’s clock, terrible towels, and many other steel town “easter eggs” to spot on stage. The production is one of the grandest among rival productions in many other cities across the country. And, so, word on the street is this may be the last year yinzers will enjoy this yule time tradition. (Or maybe not?) The production was developed by PBT’s former longtime artistic director, Terrence S. Orr, who drew in part from the original 1892 choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. But Orr also studied contemporary versions, then teamed with his PBT colleagues to create a one-of-a-kind synthesis of classical ballet, modern artistry, and stunning stagecraft. This Nutcracker is set at an old-time Christmas party in Pittsburgh at the turn of the last century. Then, as we move into the realm of fantasy—with the Nutcracker doll coming to life and leading a cast of adult and child dancers through a visit to the Land of Enchantment—there are dazzling special dances, amazing magic tricks, and breathtaking stage effects. The music of course is by Tchaikovsky, and The Nutcracker is presented this holiday season under the aegis of Pittsburgh Ballet’s current artistic director, Adam W. McKinney. Benedum Center, 237 7th St., Cultural District. (M.V., C.P.O.)

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE adapted for the stage by James W. Rodgers. Based on the film by Frank Capra. Pittsburgh Savoyards. December 5 – 20.

Poor George Bailey! Bedford Falls High School hero, now the town’s lone president of an honest loan company—a hopeless romantic who wants to see the world—George discovers instead his life is in hopeless ruins. That is until Clarence Odbody, an angel from on high, descends to help George find his way. The time is Christmas Eve at the close of WWII. This classic American film has been a Christmas favorite since its longstanding copyright expired in 1974 when, with a flourish, the film ran on late night television stations, garnering a nation of stans since.It’s A Wonderful Life is based on the short story “The Greatest Gift” by Philip Van Doren Stern, who was inspired by the novella written a hundred years earlier by Charles Dickens. Just imagine what the world—or Christmas time—would be like if Frank Capra hadn’t directed the film in 1946. Pittsburgh Savoyards perform the stage version at The Margaret Partee Performing Arts Center, 523 Lincoln Ave., Bellevue. (C.P.O.)

A DINAH WASHINGTON CHRISTMAS (musical revue) by Ernest McCarty. Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company. December 11 – 22.

She was celebrated as the “Queen of the Blues.” Known for a voice developed from her gospel upbringing, Washington ruled the club circuit in early 1940s Chicago, but performed hither and yon as blues and jazz festivals beckoned her to travel the country. Playwright Ernest McCarty’s A Dinah Washington Christmas envisions a night, one perhaps of many in her brief career, in which she performs at Pittsburgh’s famous Crawford Grill. The venue was razed in the early ‘60s as part of the city’s mindless economic development of the Lower Hill. (A second Crawford Grill, also built by Gus Greenlee, still stands—albeit dark and lifeless—on Wylie Avenue in the proud Hill District.) In its heyday, however, clubs like the Crawford Grill created and fostered a fusion of blues, jazz, boogey-woogie and be-bop when this singular Pittsburgh neighborhood was known as the crossroads of the world. Come hear Delana Flowers bring down the house in a performance reimagined from December, 1954. Hallelujah, it’s the spirit of Christmas in the Hill come again! Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company at Madison Arts Center, 3401 Milwaukee St., Upper Hill District. (C.P.O.)

A SHERLOCK CAROL by Mark Shanahan, with elements of stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Charles Dickens.  Kinetic Theatre. December 11 – 21.

There is a new holiday classic in Pittsburgh theater, and incredibly, it’s a Sherlock Holmes play. A Sherlock Carol is presented here for the second year by Kinetic Theatre. This unusual pastiche was scripted by New York playwright Mark Shanahan, who borrowed some threads of original Holmes stories … wove them into a story arc inspired by Dickens’ A Christmas Carol … and came up with a tour de farce that’s hilarious but also genuinely touching. The action begins some years after the Dickens tale. London’s great philanthropist, Ebenezer Scrooge, has been found dead in his lodgings—along with signs that he didn’t simply die of old age. It seems a nefarious scheme is afoot. And when Holmes sets out to crack the case, layers upon layers of bizarre crack-ups await the flinty-eyed detective. Kinetic’s production has David Whalen as Holmes, a role he has acted expertly many times. He takes the character to another level in this play. A Sherlock Carol scored a surprise hit last year, but it’s no longer a surprise, because the word is out. Get tickets for this year’s production while you can. At Carnegie Stage, 25 W. Main St., Carnegie. (M.V.) 

A MUSICAL CHRISTMAS CAROL by David H. Bell, from the Dickens story. Pittsburgh CLO. December 13 – 23.

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is considered schmaltz by some and high art by many others. In Japan, the novella has been viewed as one of the great works of English literature—“possibly in a league with Hamlet,” as one Japanese scholar wrote. Therefore it takes a formidable actor to play Ebenezer Scrooge on stage, and in Pittsburgh CLO’s annual production of A Musical Christmas Carol, this year it’s Denis O’Hare. The Tony Award-winner and Emmy nominee is best known for his spooky roles. On TV, O’Hare played vampire king Russell Edgington in HBO’s True Blood series. On Broadway he was Charles Guiteau, the delusional man who shot James Garfield in the Sondheim musical Assassins. Now, as Scrooge, he gets to be a villain turned world-class good guy. CLO uses a stage adaptation by David H. Bell, who wrote Hot Mikado, the jazzed-up remake of The Mikado. There is no bebop in A Musical Christmas Carol, but Bell has added some scenes that help to fill out the original tale nicely. Byham Theater, 101 6th St., Cultural District. (M.V.)

University Theater

In addition to Pittsburgh’s professional and community theater companies we have many outstanding university theater programs as well. Check their box office pages for what’s onstage:

Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama
Duquesne University Red Masquers
Point Park University’s Playhouse
Robert Morris University
University of Pittsburgh Department of Theatre Arts

Other Shows of Interest
(Listed by opening date)

Tuesday, December 2
Yippee Ki Yay Die Hard Parody (Pittsburgh CLO)

Thursday, December 4
Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge (Little Lake Theatre Company)

Friday, December 5
The Worst Christmas Pageant Ever (Lincoln Park Performing Arts)

Friday, December 12
The Nutcracker (Lincoln Park Performing Arts)

Saturday, December 13
The Jazz Nutcracker (Confluence Ballet)

Thursday, December 18
A Christmas Carol (Palace Theatre)

December 30
Clue (PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh)

Big Shows on the Horizon
(Listed by opening date)

January 14
Wicked (PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh)

January 17
Malcolm X & Redd Foxx Washing Dishes at Jimmy’s Chicken Shack in Harlem (City Theatre)

January 23
Freedom House: Giving Life a Second Chance (Prime Stage Theatre)

January 24
Curlew River (Pittsburgh Opera)

January 28
Martha Graham Dance Company (Byham Theatre)

C. Prentiss Orr is a Pittsburgh-based writer who covers theater and other topics for Entertainment Central. He is the author of the books The Surveyor and the Silversmith and Pittsburgh Born, Pittsburgh Bred. Mike Vargo is an independent writer based in Pittsburgh.

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