COME VISIT "EARLENE'S DINER (SCROOGED AGAIN)" FOR HOLIDAY FUN

If you are in need of a vaccination of Christmas spirit, then the best place to locate one is at Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury where the Stage 7 Community Production of “Earlene’s A Christmas Carol (Scrooged Again)" is bursting with holiday treasures guaranteed to delight even the most Bah Humbug of non-believers until Sunday, December 19. Starring that irrepressible comedian Michelle Gotay as Earlene Babcock of diner fame as well as a female Ebenezer Scrooge, the fun and festivity is off and running from the first note of “We Need a Little Christmas” all the way to the last note of “Sleigh Ride” and the dozens of Christmas songs in-between. Earlene’s Diner is always in crisis mode as the bank is threatening to foreclose if her mortgage isn’t paid up to date and the mean spirited loan officer, Ebbie Scrooge, will not show any humanity or compassion for Earlene. It’s up to ghosts like Scrooge’s old business partner Marley (John Fabiani) to scare Scrooge into changing his stingy ways as well as send him visitations from the Ghost of Christmas Past (Phil Maiorano), Christmas Present (Jimmy Donohue) and the Ghost of Christmas Future (Leona Schwartz) who looks amazingly like the Grinch to show Scrooge the need to mend his stingy ways. With delightful surprise visits from Elvis (he is in the building), a bevy of Ghostbusters, Buddy the Elf, the Fruitcake Maven, a special Christmas 12 Step AA Program and a string of Christmas song delights, you couldn’t possibly leave the theater without a double dose of holiday happiness. With additional help from a cast that includes Nicholas Bates, Lilyana Bodnar, Tom Chute, Diane DeLucia, Angelina Emanuel, Len Emanuel, Jeannine Gallmeyer, Karl Gallmeyer, Emry Golia, Lou Guertin, Ian Kindt, Zoe Kindt, Norma Jean Lombard, Elijah Loucks, Anthony Marchetti, Marcia Maslo, Camryn McCarthy, Lilah Pape, Ella Perrotti, Isabel Puffer, Jeff Savage, Joe Stofko, Justin Torres and Jonathan Zalaski, a cavalcade of Christmas tunes burst with joy. Directed with pleasure by Semina DeLaurentis, choreographed by Brittany Mulcahy, with spirited musical direction by TJ Thompson with his band that includes Bob Nolte, Mark Ryan, Dan Kraszewski and Seth Yurichek, the party just needs you to arrive, with masks on please. For tickets ($30 adults, $20 17 and under), call Seven Angels Theatre, ! Plank Road, Waterbury at 203-757-4676 or online at tix.com. Performances are Thursday and Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Seven Angels will once again host a New Year’s Eve Party Comedy Night at 6 pm and 9 pm, Stand Up Countdown, with Missy Hall, Frank Vignola and Richie Byrne for your entertainment delight. Tickets are $50 for either show and Seven Angels' bar will be open one hour before and during the show. Click the QR Code to purchase. Let Earlene and her special gang help you get into the Christmas spirit just in time to celebrate December 25th in style.

"MISS BENNET: CHRISTMAS AT PEMBERLY" A TRUE DELIGHT

Jane Austen, the author of such master works as “Pride and Prejudice,” has boasting rights to feel delighted. Thanks to playwrights Laura Gunderson and Margot Melcon, we are being treated to another installment about those vivacious and charming Bennet sisters, this time at the holidays with “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberly” thanks to the creative imaginations of director Sasha Bratt and the good folks at Playhouse on Park in West Hartford until Sunday, December 19. Love is in the air at the family estate, swirling romantically around the newest holiday tradition, a Christmas tree, thanks to the efforts of gracious hostess Elizabeth Darcy, Dakota Mackey-McGee, who is happily wedded to Fitzwilliam Darcy, Griffin Stanton-Ameisen. sister Jane, Kristin Fulton. is anxiously awaiting the birth of their first child with hubby Charles Bingley, Karim Nematt, while the youngest Bennet sibling, Lydia, does not enjoy the bliss of being wedded thanks to her choice of spouse Mr. Wickham. That leaves only the studious, book loving yet musically talented Mary, Sydney Torres, to find a mate and true love in the process. Enter the handsome young Lord, Arthur de Bourgh, Ted Gibson, who has just inherited a neighboring estate with the death of his relative Catherine, and has been invited to Pemberly to share the holiday spirit. The stage, sweetly created by Anna Brewster, with lovely costuming by Lisa Bebey, is now set for romance. Lydia, however, has plans of her own and flirts outrageously with the unsuspecting Arthur, while a comic twist explodes when Catherine’s daughter Anne, Moira O’Sullivan, arrives with her own unique take on her wedding agenda. Will Arthur be able to untangle all the Christmas lights that cause him to risk losing his perfect soul match Mary or will the gods work on his side to right the potential wrongs with both Lydia and Anne? For tickets ($40-50), call Playhouse on Park, 244 Park Road, West Hartford at 860-523-5900, ext. 10 or online at www.playhouseonpark.org. Performances are Tuesday at 2 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with matinees at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, followed by a talk back with the cast on Sunday. All patrons must be fully vaccinated, with proof and ID, and wear a mask. In the Christmas spirit, donate new books for children and teens until December 23 and shop in the playhouse lobby for family and friends. Acting classes for children from ages 2-18 are now registering. Visit www.PlayhouseTheatreAcademy.org for details. Come to this festive celebration set in 1815 and discover for yourself this well anticipated family reunion which corresponds with the audience’s welcome back, after a long absence, to live theater.

"IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE" A GRAND RADIO SHOW AT HARTFORD STAGE

What better time to root for angels to get their wings then this season of giving. Clarence the wannabe angel in training, for two hundred years and counting, is praying you are on his side in his quest. Do you remember George Bailey as the reluctant iconic hero of one of the season’s most beloved stories? Whether you have known George Bailey for decades or you are a brand new acquaintance, the Hartford Stage’s production of “It’s a Wonderful Life” is filled with care and affection, thanks to playwright Joe Landry and directors Melia Bensussen and Rachel Alderman. Until Sunday, December 26, you are invited to follow in George’s footsteps as he walks through his life in Bedford Falls, New York, an ordinary existence that he himself might describe as dull and without definition. Created as a 1940’s radio show, on Station WBFR, for Playhouse on the Air, the story by Philip Van Doren was originally a Frank Capra movie starring Jimmy Stewart. Here a troupe of talented actors – Michael Preston, Evan Zes, Gerardo Rodriguez, Jennifer Bareilles and Shirine Babb - play multiple roles as they create George’s life, up to the moment when he decides it isn’t worth living and the world would be better off if he had never been born. While Ebenezer Scrooge has his three ghostly visitations on Christmas Eve, George is blessed with only one: Clarence, the apprentice angel who is more than two centuries old and has yet to earn his wings. The hard working and dependable George, who saves his brother Harry from drowning, stops a pharmacist Mr. Gower from dispensing a prescription with poison, stands up to the town’s tyrant, Mr. Potter, helps a community live in homes rather than shacks and marries a fine woman Mary Hatch and raises three children, learns that he is not a failure in life and that he has friends who bless him. Terrific sound effects by Foley Artist Leer Leary are like another character. For tickets ($30 and up), call Hartford Stage, 50 Church Street, Hartford at 860-527-5151 or online at HartfordStage.org/its-a-wonderful-life. Performances are Tuesday to Sunday at 7:30 pm, with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 pm. Let your imagination soar as you listen to this tale of redemption and what it means to live a life of purpose.

MUSICAL "A CHRISTMAS CAROL" COMES TO THE LEGACY

What would the Christmas holiday be without a visit with that cranky cheapskate curmudgeon Ebenezer Scrooge? Luckily the Legacy Theater in Branford has opportunities galore for the magical and musical encounter until Sunday, December 12 with James Andreassi doing the honors as that Bah Humbug Master of the Miserly Scrooge himself. It is exactly seven years since his business partner Jacob Marley has left this earth and Jacob is back with a mortal warning for his old colleague: repent your stingy ways or else. Marley knows all-too-well the punishment that could be Scrooge’s as he himself has suffered. Scrooge is fated to encounter a trio of ghosts who will make him review the choices he has made in life to date, how he abandoned his love Belle for his greater desire for wealth, how he neglected family like his sister Fan and nephew Fred and how he refused to be charitable or to celebrate Christmas. On a creative set designed by Jamie Burnett, with period costumes by June Gold, much original music by director Keely Baisden Knudsen and musical director David Bell, we are invited into Scrooge’s narrow world and are privileged to watch it expand into a genuine appreciation for love and life as Scrooge repents his penurious ways and transforms himself into a grateful and giving man. Helping him along the way with song and dance and ghostly hauntings are Keely Baisden Knudsen, Chris Lemieux, Josiah Rowe, Emmett Cassidy, Betzabeth Castro, Kiersten Bjork, Emery Knudsen and Liviana Knudsen. This traditional tale has been adapted creatively by Keely Baisden Knudsen from a novella by Charles Dickens. For tickets ($ 60), call the Legacy box office, Stony Creek, Branford at 203-315-1901 or online at info@LegacyTheatreCT.org. Performances are Wednesday at 2 pm and 7 pm, Thursday at 2 pm and 7 pm, Friday at 8 pm, Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 pm. Remember your masks. Come early to be serenaded by The Royal Court Singers and enter the lovely holiday spirit of the performance. There is no Bah Humbug tolerated here.

IVORYTON PLAYHOUSE OFFERING "A CHRISTMAS SURVIVAL GUIDE" IN MUSIC

The holidays can be stressful and hectic for many people. Depression and loneliness can be major issues to overcome. What if you had help to make the transition more palatable and pleasant? The Ivoryton Playhouse is offering one such solution: “A Christmas Survival Guide” to ease your pain and discomfort. This merry musical guidebook by James Hindman and Ray Roderick is available until Sunday, December 19 and features many classic Christmas tunes that you will want to sing along to: "Jingle Bells,” " Frosty the Snowman,” “Silent Night”, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and many, many more. This wall to wall cavalcade of tunes is brought to you by Cory Candelet, Emma Flynn, Brian Michael Henry, Adrianne Hick and Corey Scheys, with Jill Brunelle as musical director on piano and Brian Feehan as director of the whole Christmas concert. Whether they are dressed for winter, as reindeer or in pajamas, at a holiday party, or driving in a one horse sleigh, this talented team is all in for a jolly and concerted effort to beat the holiday blues. One particularly effective song was a parody of AA Twelve Step Programs and A Partridge in a Pear Tree where the advice ranged from meeting with a therapist, reciting the Serenity Prayer, to taking karate lessons. Well, you get the idea. For tickets ($55 adults, $50 seniors, $25 students), call the Ivoryton Playhouse, 103 Main Street, Ivoryton at 860-767-7318. Go online for information to http://www.ivorytonplayhouse.org but not for tickets. Performances are Wednesday and Sunday at 2 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 pm and Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. Remember your mask and seating is socially distanced. The village will be illuminated by holiday lights, thousands of them. Whether you need help coping with the holidays or not, you will definitely enjoy all the songs and suggestions in this timely Christmas survival guide.

"THE LITTLEST CHRISTMAS TREE" GROWS MUSICALLY AND MAGICALLY IN MILFORD

The Christmas season is filled with angels and elves, candy canes and holiday stockings, reindeer named Rudolph and red and green ornaments. Santa is always center stage and this year is no exception. For Milford’s Pantochino Productions, however, the focus is on what is on Santa’s gift list this December. Santa wants a special holiday tree and he has entrusted his devoted elf Rolio to find it. While it's not the giant tree for New York City’s Rockefeller Center, it is still a big assignment and Rolio wants to get it right the first time. There are no do-overs when it comes to pleasing the Big Man with the Snowy Beard and the Jolly Laugh. Rolio is perfect in the hands of Rowan Simonelli, who takes his job seriously in this newest magical Christmas musical “The Littlest Christmas Tree," an original production with book and lyrics by Bert Bernardi, who also serves as devoted director, and music by Justin Rugg, a creative team that has garnered five Broadway World Awards for past original New Works and whose previous musicals are published, licensed and performed around the world. From Friday, December 3 to Sunday, December 19, “The Littlest Christmas Tree” will be performed at the Milford Arts Council, Railroad Avenue, Milford. Sets are by Von Del Mar, lighting by David Sexton, costumes by Jimmy Johansmeyer and sponsorship by Berchem Moses P.C. The North Pole is the most musical land in December as a friendly forest of trees compete to be Santa’s choice by coming to life in song and dance fashion. The show will star the talents of Mary Mannix, Jimmy Johansmeyer, Maria Berte, Shelley Marsh Poggio, Justin Rugg, Valerie Solli, Hazel Foley and Sierra DiMartino. For tickets ($25), go online to www.pantochino.com. Remember this is cabaret seating so you are invited to bring food and drink. Remember to wear your mask, covering your nose and mouth throughout the show. According to Bert Bernardi, who is the main man in the know, next to Santa Claus himself, “This is our first original musical since 2019 and we are so excited to be back with this exciting, funny and heartwarming new show. We can’t wait to bring families back to the theatre, and this show is the perfect holiday treat for all ages.” Take the gang to Pantochino Productions to begin a festive and fun holiday celebration.