ArtSEA: Seattle is brimming with holiday shows

With carols on repeat and Dec. in full view,
It’s time for an annual performance review!

Holiday shows come around every year, 
Comforting, funny and often good-weird.

And tho’ the weather is less snow than sog,
There’s still cause for grabbing a cuppa eggnog.

Just look at the options — too many to carry ’em!
Case in point: St. Nick dives in the aquarium.

So grab your calendars, Moleskine or Google
And get thyself festive (resistance is futile).

Now shake a leg, there’s no time for slacking
We’ve got halls to deck and nuts that need cracking.

The Nutcracker comes in all flavors and sizes
So choose your own level of sweetness or spices.

For those who want ballet a la Balanchine
PNB’s candyland is the stuff of dance dreams.

Jazz Alley expands on Tchaikovsky’s dope score
with Afro-Bop big band, timbales and more.

Burlesque is your bag? Try Land of the Sweets.
The Triple Door fave is a-jiggle with cheek(s).

On Dasher, on Dancey, on Vixen and Prancey
to a yuletide tale that involves necromancy!

A Christmas Carol was penned by Charles Dickens.
You have three options (and ghosts) for the pickin’s.

ACT holds the standard, performed in the round
for the 48th year — apparitions unbound. 

Unexpected Productions does Scrooge off the cuff
With the audience chipping in all the right stuff.

And with one more look at the stingy old geezer
Strawshop provides a fresh take on Ebenezer: 

Fellow Passengers is an actor’s “hashtag goals”
with just three performers playing 50-some roles.

Nothing says Christmas like Charlie Brown’s dance moves
Fueled by Guaraldi, the soundtrack is soooo smooth!

Listen live, played by David Benoit at D’mitriou’s,
or Jose Gonzales’ piano, bass & drum trio.

And Royal Room offers two evenings to hear it
With Lucy and Linus, that smells like team spirit.

There’s more festive music, in fact, a whole sleigh full,
From somber to silly, impassioned to playful.

Singers have songs both bedazzled, bespoke —
Shoot for Moondoggies or go for baroque.

The Symphony’s putting on Holiday Pops,
while Seattle Men’s Chorus pulls out all the stops.

Black Nativity’s back with its own gospel choir;
Celtic Winter brings carols from Scotland and Eire.

The tunes are inspiring — how could they not be?
Handel’s Messiah! Mexican “Merry-Achi”!

Hanukkah music? Klezmatics have gotcha …
Or try this concert with three bands (and latkes).

Good luck getting tix for jazz king Kenny G,
But enjoy Noëls past — such as at Pemberley.

White Christmas brings song and dance to The 5th.
Based on the movie, it’s loaded with kitsch.

Speaking of camp, don’t forget cabaret, 
Let’s kick it off with Jingle All the Gay.

These shows combine dance, song and lots of ho-hoing,
irreverently naughty with sly in-the-knowing.

Wonderland’s slick as a peppermint stick;
Drag queens Jinkx & DeLa are slay belles with schtick. 

In War on Christmas the holiday’s at stake;
Dina Martina? Enigma … wrapped in fruit cake.

Now we have come to the end of the rhyme
(I hear some of you saying, “It’s about time!”).

But as the world turns and seems to unravel
Our holiday fare brings escape and time travel. 

I dig the warm vibes — here’s hoping that you will,
Just like those wee little Whos down in Who-ville. 

I’ll end with an ask, for what it is worth:
Peace, joy and funding for more arts on earth.