18 Family-Friendly Holiday Shows in Boston + Beyond
We usually aim to curate free or low-cost events for you with our weekday and weekend event roundups. Family fun need not cost a fortune! But our whole Boston Mamas team also loves to get dressed up for a special afternoon or evening out on the town, especially when that also means supporting our local performing arts. With the backdrop of our current administration, showing up for all things beautiful, creative, and diverse feels more necessary than ever. To that end, here is a list of 18 holiday shows we think you’ll love going to or gifting to someone you love this season:
1. The Nutcracker (Boston)
It’s time for the annual Boston Ballet performance of The Nutcracker at the Boston Opera House
2. Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol (Boston)
Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol combines Dickens’s classic characters with Dolly’s special songwriting expertise
3. José Mateo’s The Nutcracker (Boston, Dorchester)
José Mateo’s The Nutcracker focuses on dance over theatricality with performances at the Cutler Majestic Theatre and the Strand Theater
4. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - The Musical (Boston)
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - The Musical brings a popular holiday movie to the stage
5. Urban Nutcracker (Boston)
Tony Williams’ Urban Nutcracker was built upon themes of inclusion, community, and celebrating diversity
6. Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (Boston)
See Irving Berlin's White Christmas adapted for the stage
7. Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker (Boston)
Moscow Ballet's Great Russian Nutcracker comes to town, spreading holiday joy and goodwill with its Dove of Peace tour
8. ChristmasTime (Boston)
ChristmasTime features a cast of more than 100 performers and a live orchestra, a living nativity, a visit to the North Pole, a glimpse of Victorian Christmas in Boston, and more than twenty yuletide tunes (Boston)
9. Holiday Pops (Boston)
The Boston Symphony Orchestra transforms Symphony Hall into a winter wonderland when Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops perform holiday music during Holiday Pops, including special children’s performances with sing-alongs and visits with Santa
18 family-friendly holiday shows in Boston and beyond
10. Bach Christmas (Boston)
Unwrap a bounty of music, perfect for the Christmas season, when The Handel and Haydn Society perform Bach Christmas
11. A Christmas Celtic Sojourn (Boston)
A Christmas Celtic Sojourn draws on Celtic, Pagan, and Christian traditions to celebrate the music of the season
12. Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity (Boston)
Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity shares the original story of the Nativity in scripture, verse, music, and dance
13. A Christmas Carol (Cambridge)
Underground Railway Theater uses puppetry, live music, dancing, and live storytelling to stage A Christmas Carol
14. The Christmas Revels (Cambridge)
This year, The Christmas Revels feature An American Celebration of the Winter Solstice
15. A Charlie Brown Christmas (Lowell)
Don’t miss A Charlie Brown Christmas
16. Tafuta! A Young Child's Search for the True Meaning of Kwanzaa (Roxbury)
Tafuta! A Young Child's Search for the True Meaning of Kwanzaa is an original play that tells the story of a young boy’s search for the meaning of Kwanzaa
17. Miracle on 34th Street (Stoneham)
Watch Miracle on 34th Street come to life in this Greater Boston Stage Company performance
18. The Nutcracker (Weston)
Commonwealth Ballet presents its annual performance of The Nutcracker