SANTA SAYS >>>>

Nothing says "the holidays are here" like a romping, roaring evening of pagan-inspired celebration. A seasonal tradition since 1994, The Christmas Revels returns to the Rialto Theater, with performances of music, dance and other entertainment in honor of the original Christmas, the winter solstice.

This year, producing company Puget Sound Revels pays tribute to 19th-century Bavaria culture featuring Sankt Nikolaus, Knecht Rupprecht, a shoe-slapping dance called "Schuhplattler" and a procession of masked drummers called the "Perchten" procession - and the good old Christmas tree.

Well isn't that cute.

There will also be comedic street theater, chorale works, brass players and a fiddler or two.

Normal audience and performer roles may blur at the Revels, so make sure to bring your best voice.

Molly Gilmore of the Weekly Volcano previews the show here.

[Rialto Theater, The Christmas Revels, Tuesday, Dec. 20 and Wednesday, Dec. 21, 7:30 p.m., $12-$27, $12-$23.50 for students and seniors, $12-$19.50 for children, 901 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.591.5894]

PLUS: 2011 South Sound Holiday Happenings

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PLUS: 2011 Super Best of Tacoma Bought and Sold Readers' and Staff picks

PLUS: 2011 Best of Olympia Bought and Sold Readers' and Staff picks

SANTA SAYS >>>>

A brooding, mysterious godfather, a broken-jawed wooden soldier that comes to life and a murderous Mouse King all converge once again to remind us The Nutcracker story may be the most hair-raising Christmas favorite for the whole family the world has ever known. Dance Theatre Northwest puts on Tchaikovsky's ballet this weekend, with choreography by Melanie Kirk-Stauffer.

Santa is not sure what exact shape DTN's show will take, but whether the Mouse King has seven heads (like the beast of Revelation), three heads (like Cerberus, dog-guardian of Hades) or only one (like a normal mouse king), this dark-edged dream promises to leave kids and sensitive adults as speechless as the bounding, pirouetting athletes on stage.

[Mount Tahoma High School Auditorium, Saturday, Dec. 17 2:30 and 7 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 18 4 p.m., $11-$26, 4634 S. 74^th St., Tacoma, 253.778.6534]

PLUS: 2011 South Sound Holiday Happenings

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PLUS: 2011 Super Best of Tacoma Bought and Sold Readers' and Staff picks

PLUS: 2011 Best of Olympia Bought and Sold Readers' and Staff picks

SANTA SAYS >>>>

Centerstage Theatre will present the greatest of all possible stories detailing the ache of the anthropomorphized, not just for autonomy but for the human soul - a working blueprint for adolescence: the confusion, the yearning, the denial of wood.

It's hard out there for a puppet. I know. I see it all the time.

Whether you're a marionette, a big-mouthed sock-type or some Henson combo of both, they feel that spark - of adventure, independence, life itself - compelling them to snip their strings or unglove the hand up them.

Many make it.

Anyway, the play I speak of is Pinocchio. The Federal Way-based theater company will not concerned itself with the undoubted complexities of the tale and has adapted the story in the style of the traditional English Christmas pantomime - loud, boisterous, and full of music, ridiculous humor and traditions almost as old as theater itself. The audience will be actively encouraged to boo the villain whenever he enters, argue with the Dame, and warn the "good" characters when the villain is in the vicinity.

Assigned the task of creating this new version is John Forster, the award-winning songwriter and humorist whose work encompasses the worlds of, musical theater and children's entertainment. 

[Knutzen Family Theatre, Nov. 26-Dec. 23 2 and 7 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, as well as 7 p.m. Dec. 16, 21-23, $12.50-$27.50, 3200 Southwest Dash Point Road, Federal Way, 253.661.1444]

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SANTA SAYS >>>>

With Thanksgiving looming large, you must succumb to the siren song of the approaching Holiday season.

The folks at the Weekly Volcano have posted its first round of holiday events in the South Sound. Yes, they present this list awfully early this year. That's so them!

Click here for the scoop on movies, plays, dance, concerts, outdoor activities and festivals coming your way between now and the end of the year - plus other events that defy categorization and enough Nutcrackers to satisfy even those dance enthusiasts who don't know the difference between a pas de deux and the shag. There's also a searchable database of events here.

The Weekly Volcano will also offering four print holiday guides, the first hitting the street Wednesday.

Once you've baked enough cookies to last until Easter, spent three weeks worth of paychecks, and played all of your Christmas albums backward, break out those wool socks and long underwear and hit the area for something new.

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"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!" - A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

Yup, with the holidays approaching ol' Ebenezer Scrooge will soon be kicking a dog. In fact, he's in Paradise Theatre's production of A Christmas Carol, running Nov 25-Dec. 11. Warning: the Dec. 9 show is sold out.

Give your kids the chance to see the production with someone other than Daffy Duck in the cast. Journey back to Victorian London as you see the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future scare old Scrooge so badly he transforms from a mean, tight-fisted old geezer to a loving and giving, well um, old geezer.

Rekindle the spirit of Christmas when you see this uplifting production.

[Paradise Theatre, Nov. 25-Dec. 11, 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday, holiday dinner show 6 p.m. Dec. 10, $10-$22 online, $25-$40 dinner show, 9911 Burnham Dr NW, Gig Harbor, 253.851.PLAY]

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Evidence the holiday season is sprouting like mushrooms can be found throughout the land, which means dance companies are rehearsing its Nutcracker performances.

Always ahead of everyone else, Dance Theatre Northwest has its Nutcracker nailed, and has been previewing it, as well as other dance pieces, in area halls and centers.

And, even better, without charging a cent.

Dance Theatre Northwest's Regional Performing Company's next free preview will be on Saturday, Nov. 19 at Narrows Glen. Holiday dance and music will include excerpts from the Nutcracker featuring Katie Neumann, Chhay Mam, and Vadne Domeika. Melanie Kirk-Stauffer, artistic director, will narrate. The show will feature classical and contemporary ballet as well as wonderfully festive costumes - geared to family audiences.

[Narrows Glen, Dance Theatre Northwest's "Holiday Special," Saturday, Nov. 19, 7 p.m., free admission, 8201 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.564.4770]

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The annual routine goes like this: After I leave for my night shift on Christmas Eve, King Moonracer sneaks into my castle and hijacks the television to watch A Christmas Story. The next morning I stumble down to the ambient sounds of Peter Billingsley being told, "You'll shoot your eye out, kid." After presents have been opened, the King immediately jets back to the Ralphie fest. This continues until 8 p.m., after which he invariably detoxes - then winds up fetching the DVD.

I'd very much like to annihilate the bizarro-world Möbius strip that is TBS' 24-hour Christmas Story marathon, but that's nothing against the commercial-friendly movie.

If you love A Christmas Story, I have two pieces of good news. Olympia Family Theater presents a staged version of the story opening Dec. 2 inside Washington Center's Black Box Theater. Second, there's a good chance King Moonracer and his "special smell" won't be sitting next to you inside the theater.

I triple-dog dare you to invite him.

[Washington Center Black Box Theater, A Christmas Story, Dec. 2-18, 7 p.m. Thursday-Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 7 p.m. Thrifty Thursday donations performance Dec. 8, 512 Washington St. SE, Olympia, 360.753.8586]

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I miss the old days when I would battle with the grouchy Burgermeister Meisterburger in Sombertown. I miss sliding down the rooftops with my little penguin friend. I miss hanging out with the Winter Warlock before he went all-soft on me. Most of all, I miss the tiny waistline of my wife, Jessica.

Oh, I do have a soft spot for those old Bavarian days.

Thankfully, The Christmas Revels are bringing a little Burgermeister Meisterburger to the Rialto Theater this year when they go nuts with the music, dance and folklore from old Bavaria. Das ho, ho, ho, ho.  

I could be wrong, but I believe this is the 300th year this jolly group of South Sounders have celebrated the winter solstice with traditional dance, processionals, carols and drama. More than 80 performers will sing traditional tunes, perform authentic folk and court dances, and generally raise a ruckus, feudal-lord-style toward the end of December.

Tickets just went on sale today here.

[Rialto Theater, 2 and 7 p.m. Dec. 17, 1 and 5:30 p.m. Dec. 18, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 20-21, $120$27, 310 S. Ninth St., Tacoma, 253.591.5894]

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