Holiday delights: ‘A Christmas Carol,’ A Christmas Story'and more

This holiday season brims with special delights. Those below all bring a unique gift of wonder — and memories to cherish!
“A Christmas Carol” at the Merchants House Museum (29 East 4th Street) stars gripping, glorious actor John Kevin Jones in a stunning solo performance that shares Charles Dickens tale of how miserly, dyspeptic Ebenezer Scrooge came to see the light that changed his life — and those of all he had carelessly ill-treated.
In 60 minutes, with the rich backdrop of the restored 1835 mansion setting a bygone time, we discover anew in this adapted wonder that time hasn’t changed the need for connectedness and caring. Jones — with spot-on timing, wit and passion magically takes on the roles of the books many main characters. Watching their miserable lives mended as Scrooge’s panic miraculously leads to his new understanding and humility brings a fresh message of hope in our own turbulent times. Brilliantly directed and stage-managed by Jones’ long-time co-adapter Rhonda Dodd — this “A Christmas Carol” is a don’t miss holiday treasure. (Through Dec. 20. Tickets and schedule at 800-838-3066 or brownpapertickets.com/event491449 )

‘A Christmas Story’ plus!

With the charming “A Christmas Story, the Musical” having returned to Madison Square Garden through Dec. 29 there’s a special opportunity to enhance its wonders for your children with a Dec.16 visit with the musical’s fabulous star Dan Lauria and young members of the cast. Critic Peter Filichia will talk with Lauria about his career and delightful collection of children’s stories dubbed “The Godfather Tales,” which will be read by some of the musical’s young stars. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Society of Illustrators, 128 East 63rd Street. It’s all free — but RSVPs are required at BookEventRSVP@cox.net. For tickets to “A Christmas Story, the Musical” call 866-858-0008 or www.theateratmsg.com/achristmasstory

‘After Midnight’ swings!
Joy is the keyword for the way a visit to the new hit musical “After Midnight” will make you feel as you dance and sway in your seat at Broadway’s Brooks Atkinson Theater. With the Jazz at Lincoln Center All Stars on an onstage bandstand, the entire theater is electric with the hot, sweet sounds of the Harlem Jazz Clubs of the 1920s and ’30s in this musical tribute. A troupe of fabulous high-flying dancers and singers (Adreane Lenox, Fantasia Barrino, Dule Hill and a score more) put a special spotlight on the venerated Duke Ellington’s music and arrangements among the 25 numbers that add up to a night of rocking serendipity. Fabulously directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle — it may be cold outside but it’s hot! hot! hot! at 256 West 47th Street. Tickets at (212) 745-3000 or ticketmaster.com.

For theater buffs: ‘And Away We Go!’
Terence McNally’s newest play, a sprawling love letter to the playwright’s lifetime passion for all things “theater” has the effect of a night spent drinking margaritas. I came away with a giddy glow, but a bit dizzied by this awesome undertaking, which takes us back to the theater’s formative years in ancient Greece, on to early birthings in England, France and Russia — with a memorable later way-stop at the disastrous debut of “Waiting For Godot” in Miami in 1965.
The whirlwind tour with a delightful cast shifting to and fro from performers in long-ago productions to the ongoing travails of a contemporary troupe of talents who have barely survived their struggle to continue doing what they do for love it’s appropriate that “And Away We Go” begins with a prologue where each of the troupe literally kisses the stage before divulging personal tidbits. These were often focused on their most and least favorite roles (the play’s wit positively shone in the latter!)
Although the evening begins with a matinee at the Dionysus Festival in 458 B.C. Athens, what stays with us is the ongoing passion of the performers for the career that’s chosen them. There’s their collective awe of playwrights — perched atop a special mental mantle well above the mix of on and off stage rivalries, romances and audience rudeness. And much later in “And Away We Go” an ironic, applause-drawing nod to the patrons and donors without whom contemporary major theater— and especially repertory and regional theater — could not survive.
One of the play’s most moving moments is, in fact, the despair of an actor from the contemporary company whose life’s dream of playing Lear is crushed when the production runs out of funding. McNally is so intimate with the tales of the hopes, dreams and optimism in the face of failure, the disappointments and dissatisfied rude audiences that one can only admire — in this long night’s journey — the playwright’s pride in and desire to share the guts it takes to pursue a “life upon the wicked stage.” A lasting pleasure trip for devoted theater-goers, currently extended to Dec. 21. (The Pearl Theater, 555 West 42nd Street, tickets at 212-563-9261)