“A Christmas Memory”
December 1-18 at Park Theater
The Whale Theater, in association with Tectonic Theater (Moisés Kaufman, artistic director); will present Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory” as a live radio play at the intimate Park Theater in Hudson featuring Broadway veterans Marceline Hugot and Jeffrey Binder. Joining the actors will be a cellist performing original underscoring and a Foley artist helping to bring the story to life with sound effects. The performance will be followed by a second act featuring a cabaret of beloved holiday classics. Get your tickets.“Miracle on South Division Street”
December 2-18 at Shadowland Stages
Meet the Nowaks, a Polish-American and very Catholic clan living amidst the urban rubble of Buffalo’s East Side in the 1960s. The neighborhood is depressed, but Clara, the family matriarch, happily runs her soup kitchen and tends to the family heirloom—a shrine to the Blessed Mother, which adjoins the house. This neighborhood beacon of faith commemorates the day when the Blessed Virgin Mary materialized in Clara’s father’s barber-shop. As the play opens, a family meeting—run by daughter Ruth—has been called to divulge her plans to go public with the family miracle by creating a one-woman play about the sacred event. During the course of the meeting, the family’s faith is shaken to the very core when a deathbed confession causes the family legend to unravel.
Pierre Kwenders
December 9 at Tubby’s
Congolese-Canadian musician and DJ Pierre Kwenders got his musical start as a member of a Catholic choir in his adopted hometown of Montreal. With two EPs and as many albums (Jose Louis and the Paradox of Love appeared earlier this year) under his belt, Kwenders, who plays at Tubby’s this month, is well known for his work with the Moonshine collective, which produces popular parties all over the globe. Dancers and diggers of hip-hop, electronica, Afropop, and world music, mark your calendars accordingly. With Booker Stardrum and Nkodia. (Bitchin Bajas and Clarice Jensen visit December 3; Che Chen of 75 Dollar Bill and others jam December 7.) 7pm. $18. Kingston.
Pokey LaFarge
December 9 at the Egg
It would be entirely believable to learn that Pokey LaFarge literally stepped out from the yellowed pages and sepia-toned artist photos of a 1930s or ’40s record catalog. The 39-year-old roots singer-songwriter puts a now-time spin on old-time country, blues, Western swing, folk, rockabilly, and early jazz and looks hella stylish doing it—like if Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, Woody Guthrie, Rudy Vallee, and Eddie Cochran hung out or something. He had to postpone his much-awaited return to the Egg’s American Roots and Branches Series due to the you-know-what. But back he is here. (Jorma Kaukonen revisits December 13; the McKrells celebrate Christmas December 17.) 8pm. $29.50, $34.50. Albany.
Paige Turner: Drag Me to Christmas
December 9 at Revel 32 in Poughkeepsie;
December 10 at Rosendale Theater
New York City’s drag Showbiz Spitfire is back to make your holiday season merry and bright with an evening full of jokes, songs, and yuletide cheer produced by Big Gay Hudson Valley. The New York Times writes: “Paige Turner is the ultimate theater queen and always gets everyone to sing along.” The show features over-the-top song parodies and holiday classics from Mariah Carey, Bing Crosby, and Paige Turner’s own Christmas album.
Into the Light
December 10 at Rosendale Theater
Into the Light, is a magical, multicultural pageant that has thrilled audiences of all ages, that tells the story of a young girl named Lucia who journeys around the world to find light in the darkest time of the year. Featuring Arm-of-the-Sea Theatre’s giant puppets with The Vanaver Caravan’s holiday songs, dances, and music traditions the performance celebrates many of the world’s traditions for bringing light, joy and beauty into the darkest part of the year. Through dance and music Into the Light honors such holidays as Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Yule, Winter Solstice, Sankta Lucia (Sweden), and Diwali (India).
Darlene Love
December 11 at Bethel Woods
It’s the holiday season for real when 2011 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Darlene Love is making the rounds. Love first hit the pop world as the lead singer of the Phil Spector-produced trio the Blossoms, who were credited as the Crystals on 1962’s history-making hit “He’s a Rebel”; her solo recording of the same year’s “He’s Sure the Boy I Love,” also credited to the Crystals, was another smash. She found a whole new generation of fans in the 1990s via her annual Christmas appearances on “The Late Show with David Letterman.” Love brings the yuletide cheer to the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel on December 11 at 7pm. $74-$144.
