Guide to the Holidays: Merry go-round

Happy holidays, dear readers! As our gift to you this year, rather than the traditional 11 pipers piping or 10 lords a-leaping (you hardly even used the eight maids a-milking we gave you last year) we decided to offer you and yours 12 holly-jolly happenings to tide you over till our New Year’s Guide. Whether you fancy the perennial classics or irreverent reinventions or you just want to tie one on (and we ain’t talking bows and presents), you should find something to make your days a little more merry and bright.

---

12 Bars of Christmas Crawl

4-11 p.m. Dec. 14
Pretty Please Social Room
104 Flaming Lips Alley
xmasok.eventbrite.com
$16-$20

In all the holiday hubbub, we too often forget the true meaning of Christmas: gettin’ hella hammered in ridiculous outfits. This pub crawl is a perfect excuse to don your gaudiest sweaters, seasonal costumes, footy pajamas or whatever other ridiculousness you can think of and hit a dozen local bars. But be sure to pace yourself; the only thing worse than coal in your stocking is activated charcoal in your stomach.

A Charlie Brown Christmas: Live on Stage

2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Dec. 8
FireLake Arena
18145 Old Rangeline Road, Shawnee
firelakearena.com | 405-273-1637
$20-$35

See Charles Schulz’s classic 1965 animated holiday special performed by a cast of live actors with the original dialogue and musical score and try your best not to weep openly in front of all the children present when Snoopy and company spruce up that tiny tree and sing the “oooohs.” Good grief.

Christmas with the Crawfords

8 p.m. Nov. 29-Dec. 28
The Boom
2218 NW 39th St.
theboomokc.com |405-601-7200
$25

Spend the holidays with Mommie Dearest herself at this holiday musical by Richard Winchester and Mark Sargent set during a 1940s Christmas Eve broadcast from the home of Joan Crawford (Kitty Bob Aimes). Expect a plethora of cheeky cameos from the stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age including Judy Garland, Ethel Merman and, of course, Bette “Baby Jane” Davis. No wire hangers!

Deck the Hall With Buddy Holly

7-10 p.m. Dec. 7
The Auditorium at The Douglass
600 N. High Ave.
auditoriumatdouglass.com | 405-652-9541
$15-$35

In January 1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper began their Winter Dance Party Tour, which ended tragically on Feb. 3 when all three performers were killed in a plane crash. Oklahoma-based tribute band Buddy Holly and The Legends of Rock and Roll recreate the now-historic Feb. 2 Clear Lake, Iowa, Winter Dance Party concert and perform hits by Elvis Presley and classic holiday favorites at this ’50s revival show.

Handel’s Messiah

7 p.m. Dec. 8
Civic Center Music Hall
201 N. Walker Ave.
canterburyokc.com | 405-594-8300
$15-$62

Hear baroque composer George Frideric Handel’s famous work played by a full orchestra including harps, horns and a wind section from Oklahoma City Philharmonic and sung by the Canterbury Voices choir featuring more than 160 members. Hallelujah!

Holiday Reindog Walk & Puppy Parade

10 a.m. Dec. 7
Earlywine Park
3101 SW 119th St.
Search “reindog” at runsignup.com
$35

When Tom Waits sang, “I am a rain dog, too,” did he actually mean he was a puppy dressed as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer? Let’s assume so because this parade of “reindogs” — featuring a prize for best dressed pup and benefitting OU Medical Center’s Volunteer Program and Pet Therapy Pals — is likely the cutest sight you’ll see this holiday season, and, yes, we are including your children when we say that.

It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play

Nov. 29-Dec. 22
The Pollard Theatre
120 W. Harrison Ave., Guthrie
thepollard.org | 405-282-2800
$15-$20

Playwright Joe Landry reimagines Frank Capra’s 1946 film classic as a radio play in Pollard Theatre Company’s new annual holiday tradition. Last year, Pollard artistic director W. Jerome Stevenson told Oklahoma Gazette that the radio-play staging, which includes sound effects created live onstage, “eliminates some of the noise … to give you the essence of the story itself.”

Jane Austen’s Christmas Cracker

Dec. 5-21
Oklahoma Shakespeare
2920 Paseo St.
okshakes.org | 405-235-3700
$10-$20

A theatrically enhanced interactive holiday party, Erin Woods’ original play invites audience members to mingle with 18th-century author Jane Austen and some of her most beloved characters; era-appropriate costumes encouraged.

Lyric Theatre’s A Christmas Carol

Nov. 29-Dec. 24
Lyric at the Plaza
1727 NW 16th St.
lyrictheatreokc.com | 405-524-9312
$25-$68

Charles Dickens’ classic holiday ghost story suggests all it takes for a one-percenter to become more compassionate is multiple visits from supernatural beings and a touch of time travel. Lyric’s perennially popular retelling of this sweetly optimistic tale features Broadway actor Dirk Lumbard returning for his fourth year as Ebenezer Scrooge. God bless us, every one!

Oklahoma City Ballet’s The Nutcracker

Dec. 14-22
Civic Center Music Hall
201 N. Walker Ave.
okcciviccenter.com | 405-594-8300
$20-$80

See Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s world-famous ballet about young Clara’s magical adventures with the Nutcracker Prince with staging by OKC Ballet artistic director Robert Mills and a live soundtrack provided by Oklahoma City Philharmonic.

Opolis Holiday Program

8 p.m. Dec. 20
Opolis
113 N. Crawford Ave., Norman
opolis.org | 405-230-0311
$7

In the tradition of holiday variety shows, this local celebration features music, comedy and poetry from local favorites Samantha Crain, LABRYS, Beau Jennings, James Nghiem and more. Don’t forget to bring clean socks and gloves to donate to Homeless Alliance.

RACE Dance Company’s Hip-Hop Nutcracker

Dec. 6-7
Visual and Performing
Arts Center Theater
Oklahoma City Community College
7777 S. May Ave.
racedance.com | 405-410-4978
$10-$20

In an interview with Oklahoma Gazette last year, RACE Dance Company founder and executive director Hui Cha Poos said this annual but ever-evolving show is her attempt at adapting Tchaikovsky’s 1892 classic ballet “so that it [is] a little more relatable” to modern life with updated choreography and soundtrack and a cast of dancers including students from local schools.