Carols are wafting through the streets, the joyous Advent season is upon us, and of course the Christmas Show in England is full of colourful stage plays, musicals and concerts…We’ve rounded up a list of classic performance events during the Christmas period, whether you’re with friends or family, there’s a play for you!
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1. Ballet The Nutcracker
- Time: 2024.12.12-2025.1.12
- Address: Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, London
No Christmas is complete without the Nutcracker! This ballet, composed by Tchaikovsky, is a Christmas tradition and is known as the ‘Christmas ballet’. The Nutcracker is a charming and whimsical fairy tale in which a girl, Mary, receives a Nutcracker and dreams that it turns into a prince, starting a battle with an army of mice, before they travel through the Christmas tree forest to the Kingdom of Sweets, where they dance with the Snow Fairies.
Royal Albert Hall puts on an exclusive version of this Christmas show in England every year, and each year the line-up is so lavish that it’s tempting to look forward to this high-level treat for the senses!
2. Elf – The Musical Tour Christmas
- Time: 2024.11.6 – 2025.1.5
- Address: Dominion Theatre, 268-269 Tottenham Ct Rd, London
A Christmas Elf is a fun and joyful fairy tale about Buddy, who was raised as an elf after climbing into Santa’s pocket as a baby. As he grows up, he doesn’t fit in with the elves around him and decides to go on a journey to find his real parents.
The film version of this story is arguably a classic, and the musical, based on the film, with a score by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin, has been a big hit over the Christmas period with performances on Broadway and in many cities across the UK, including London’s West End, Newcastle, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and many more (click to see exact locations & times).
3. Christmas Classics Concert
- Time: 2024.12.8
- Address: Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, London
From ‘Jingle Bells’, ‘Christmas Overture’, ‘O’ Holy Night’ to “So Here It Is (Merry Christmas)”, you name it, classic Christmas songs, this concert will feature the Albert Orchestra!
As a prelude to the Christmas season, this concert is simply a call to arms for the Christmas spirit, with the Christmas tree glittering on the stage, the lights changing and the festive atmosphere ready for you to experience!
4. Peter Pan
- Time: 2024.12.6 – 2025.1.5
- Address: Milton Keynes Theatre, 500 Marlborough Gate
When it comes to favourite fairytale characters, Peter Pan must be at the top of the list, with his love of freedom, his unwillingness to grow up, and his passion for adventure and wonder. This charming and magical tale is a fairytale for children as well as adults.
From a play written by British novelist and playwright James Barrie, Peter Pan premiered in London in 1904, before going to Broadway and being adapted into a musical, film, TV series, animation and more. This year the musical returns to London’s West End with beautifully designed sets and costumes, aiming to present a grand and fantastic musical.
5. Messiah from Scratch
- Time: 2024.11.10
- Address: Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, London
Messiah is from the famous composer Georg Friedrich Handel, who is also recognised as one of the greatest composers of the Baroque period. The Messiah tells of the coming, birth, resurrection and judgement of Jesus, and as such is a classic performance of the Easter and Christmas seasons, having been performed 568 times at the Royal Albert Hall since 1872.
As the 50th anniversary of the performance of Messiah is approaching, this year the Royal Albert Hall has invited The Really Big Chorus and four internationally acclaimed soloists to bring us this special concert performance, with the support of the Festival Orchestra of Great Britain in a very lavish line-up.
6. A Christmas Carol
- Time: 2024.11.15 – 2025.1.4
- Address: The Old Vic, 103 The Cut, London
- Tickets: £19 – £162
If there’s any book that’s particularly good to read at Christmas, it has to be Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. It’s a traditional British family tradition to read Dickens’ Christmas story with the kids around the fireplace on Christmas night, but of course now we have even more options, such as seeing a play of A Christmas Carol.
There are a number of theatres in the UK that screen this classic Christmas play, and we recommend The Old Vic’s version from Jack Thorne, the writer of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
7. Hansel and Gretel (opera)
- Time: 2024.11.29 – 2025.1.5
- Address: Shakespeare’s Globe, 21 New Globe Walk, London
- Ticket Booking Link
The House of Sweets is also a famous fairy tale, which was included in Grimm’s Tales and is quite a bit of a dark fairy tale. The story follows the adventures of siblings Hansel and Gretel in the forest. They get lost in the forest and mistakenly enter a witch’s enchanted house, however the house is so wonderful that the walls are made of biscuits and studded with delicious sweets, and the witch’s aim is exactly to lure the children to come and then eat them.
The Candy House is reminiscent of a gingerbread house at Christmas and is quite fitting. This year’s Christmas production of Candy House the Musical is directed by Nick Bagnall, the director of the Shakespearean play Love in Vain, and is set to be a wonderfully entertaining show.
8. The Snowman
- Time: 2024.11.23 – 2025.1.4
- Address: Peacock Theatre, Portugal St, London
- Tickets: From £18 – Booking Link
The Snowman is a classic masterpiece by renowned British picture writer Raymond Briggs, a cosy tale of snowmen and childhood that has accompanied so many Christmases.In 1982, The Snowman was adapted into an animated short film, which was a huge hit and nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film.
The musical of the same name, The Snowman, is based on this heart-warming story and the set is a very lovely winter snowy scene with great dancing and lighting, light-hearted and very family friendly.
9. Home Alone in Concert
- Time: 2024.12.7
- Address: Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, London
- Booking Link
When it comes to Christmas films that can be watched over and over again, The Kid’s Life can definitely be counted. Since its release, the film has entertained many viewers with its full of childish fun and has become a childhood memory for a generation.
The Royal Albert Hall will bring a special performance this Christmas, written by the famous composer John Williams, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Crouch End Festival Choir performing classic pieces from the film, which is believed to bring a different audio-visual feast to British film fans and orchestra fans during the Christmas season.
10. Love Actually In Concert
- Time: 2024.12.15
- Address: Eventim Apollo, 45 Queen Caroline Street, London
Love Actually is a must-see film for many of our friends every Christmas, a moving British love story that brings together a romantic Christmas atmosphere. This film from 2003 has an all-star cast, with Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Keira Knightley and Emma Thompson …… all familiar British actors. The music in the film is even more impressive, ‘Love Is All Around’, ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’, every one of them is a familiar classic Christmas song~!
The Hammersmith Apollo Theatre combines film and orchestra to create the ultimate audio-visual experience, so if you like this film, don’t miss it!
