Among the many selections this season to put you in the holiday spirit are three long-time favorites returning to the NYC stage, offering a range from wild and hot concerts to a beloved classic play. And if you can’t make it to the live shows, you can still see two of them via streaming and one t hroughout the new year in a regular monthly residency. The 15th Annual Joe Iconis Christmas Extravaganza– For a decade and a half, writer, composer, lyricist, performer, and Tony nominee Joe Iconis has brought his self-described “merry band of musical theater punks” to his home-away-from-home at 54 Below, for a wild night of celebration, Yuletide cheer, and chosen family, in an unforgettable original show, directed by John Simpkins, that takes place not just on the stage but throughout the entire space and fully immerses the audience in song, skits, shenanigans, and such iconic characters as elves, reindeer, angels, Santa and Mrs. Claus, the Holy Family, and English ragamuffins, for a full two-and-a-half-hour cabaret concert that defies boundaries. This year’s show – which will also be livestreamed on Sunday, December 14, at 7 pm – will feature special guest star Annie Golden and a fabulous roster of more than 50 Family members – Hannah Bank, Liz Lark Brown, Aaron Clark Burstein, Carolyn Byrne, Gerard Canonico, Sarah Cetrulo, Harrison Chad, Bill Coyne, Laura Dadap, Michaela DeJoseph, Giovanny Diaz de Leon, Katrina Rose Dideriksen, Zeth Dixon, John El-Jor, Seth Eliser (Saturday shows only), Vince Fazzolari (7 pm shows only), Mathew Fedorek, Omar Garibay, Danielle Gimbal, Madeline Glave, Alan H. Green (Sunday at 11 pm only), Morgan Siobhan Green (Saturday and Sunday only), Amy Jo Jackson, Ian Kagey, Dennis Michael Keefe, Jaz Koft (11 pm shows only), Sarah Koury (11 pm shows only), Lorinda Lisitza, Lauren Marcus, Kelly McIntyre, Devon Meddock, Eric William Morris (7 pm shows only), Jeremy Morse (7 pm shows only), Kevin Michael Murphy, Marco Porras, Ana Riley-Portal, Macon Prickett (Friday shows and Sunday at 11 pm only), Rob Rokicki (7 pm shows only), Philip Romano, Mike Rosengarten, George Salazar (Friday and Sunday at 7 pm only), Jackie Sanders, Brooke Shapiro, Lena Skeele, Philip Jackson Smith, Brent Stranathan, Lili Thomas, Lilly Tobin, Vinnie Urdea, Jason Veasey (Saturday shows only), Ryan Vona, Jared Weiss, Sean-Michael Wilkinson (Friday shows and Sunday at 7 pm only), Jason SweetTooth Williams, and Alyssa Wray (Friday at 11 pm only) – along with the multi-talented Iconis at the piano, playing and singing, introducing the hilarious segments, and performing in some of them. The 15th Annual Joe Iconis Christmas Extravaganza plays Friday through Sunday, December 12-14, 2025, at 7 pm (doors open at 5:30) and 11 pm (doors open at 10), at 54 Below, 254 W 54th Street, cellar, NYC. For tickets (priced at $40.50-112, including fees, plus a $25 per person food and beverage minimum), or to join the wait list (the 7 pm shows are currently sold out), go online. For livestream tickets (priced at $29, including fees), click here. Please note that the livestream is in real time, only on Sunday, December 14, starting at 7 pm, and will not be available on demand following the live performance. Boy Band Brunch: Holiday Edition – The Boy Band Project, a rotating quartet of musical theater triple threats reimagining the biggest hits of the most popular boy groups from the ‘80s to the present with a masterful combination of harmony, humor, and homage, is steaming up the season with a special holiday edition of their monthly Boy Band Brunch residency at City Winery New York City that is sure to melt the snow, heat up the house, and warm the cockles of your heart (and other parts). The December show will feature Chris Messina, Nic Metcalf, Zach Schanne, and founder, producer, and host Travis Nesbitt, embodying the boy-band archetypes of the Sporty One, the Bad Boy, the Sensitive One, and the Boy Next Door, bringing their hot moves, hot vocals, and hot looks to the stage and around the audience at The Loft for an interactive concert that is – you guessed it – hot, hot, hot! The live performance is enhanced with videos from the height of the boy-band era, their own original Christmas hit “Jingle My Bells,” and BBP merch for sale before and after the concert that make the perfect stocking stuffers (though you’ll undoubtedly want to keep your purchases for yourself, not give them away, so you should probably take home more than one of each). If you can’t make it to City Winery this month, you can look forward to upcoming installments of the Boy Band Brunch, and you can check out their touring schedule around the US and the world on the BBP website. Boy Band Brunch: Holiday Edition plays on Saturday, December 20, 2025, at 11:30 am (doors open at 10:30), at City Winery New York City, The Loft, Pier 57, 25 11th Avenue, NYC. For tickets (priced at $37.40, including fees, plus a $25 per person food and beverage minimum), go online. For upcoming dates, click here. A Christmas Carol – Now in its thirteenth year at the Merchant’s House Museum (a fully preserved 1832 home and National Historic Landmark with the original period furnishings and family belongings intact), Summoners Ensemble Theatre presents an intimate 70-minute version of the Charles Dickens classic, directed by Rhonda Dodd, co-adapted with actor John Kevin Jones from the 19th-century English author’s own script, and set during Dickens’ month of sold-out performances in NYC in December 1867. Staged in the house museum’s Greek Revival sitting room, with a seating capacity of 40, Dickens – portrayed on alternating dates by Jones and Vince Gatton, dressed in formal Victorian-style attire and assuming a British accent – directly addresses and makes eye contact with the audience, reads from a vintage copy of his book, enacts the story, and embodies the range of legendary characters, while actively moving around the space and transporting us to the era of Ebenezer Scrooge and Tiny Time, in an ambiance of flickering candles and lavish Christmas decorations.   For an additional fee of $35 on select dates through December 26, and strictly limited to an audience of 20, Jones leads A Holiday Reception with Mr. Dickens, performing the 1823 American poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (more commonly known as “’The Night Before Christmas”), raising a cup of Smoking Bishop mulled wine or chilled cider to toast the holiday season, and allowing access to the 19th-century family room, kitchen, and garden (weather permitting), as bell ringer Natalia Paruz presents a selection of holiday carols. For those who can’t experience the authentic event in person, you can watch unlimited rental views of the filmed performance and share it with your friends and family at no extra charge.  A Christmas Carol plays through Saturday, December 27, 2025, at Summoners Ensemble Theatre, performing at The Merchant’s House Museum, 29 E 4th Street, NYC. For tickets (priced at $89.90-147.19, including fees), go online. To access the film, available through January 1, 2026 (priced at $25), click here. The post Three annual Christmas favorites that are wild, hot, and classic return to NYC live and streaming appeared first on DC Theater Arts. ...read more read less