Theater Shows Extended Past Christmas Week

When it comes to the holidays for Washington theater-goers, Christmas isn’t over yet.

There’s still plenty of theatrical goodies available, for latecomers, or late gifting, going even past the new year, with regular runs finishing up, and some shows being extended.

It’s not just Yuletude shows—but those oddities, funny and serious, appealing and different that this season has to offer.

Yes, there’s still a chance to see “A Christmas Carol” at Ford’s Theatre with Edward Gero through Dec. 31. Indeed, there’s still a chance to see another kind of Scrooge—also through the end of 2015—at the Keegan Theatre on Church Street in Dupont Circle with “An Irish Carol,” which is about the travails and  troubles of a wealthy Irish pub owner who gets to take a deep look at his troubled life.

Elsewhere, there’s lots of music, music and musicals, a number of shows extending their runs and others completing theirs, a list that has something for everyone.

At the Kennedy Center, there’s something from Broadway, and something that’s hopefully going to Broadway.

There’s  the road company of “Matilda the Musical,” a smash Broadway hit that manages to be both heart-warming and dark, in the inimitable fashion of author Roald Dahl, who created the title character of a much put upon and long-suffering girl named Matilda, who has some special powers, lots of courage and energy, with which she combats her criminally-minded parents and a dire and monstrous school director named Mrs. Trunchbull played with grand relish (and mustard) by Bryce Ryness.  This may be the first big and splashy musical about abuse and bullying, but the production, directed by Matthew Warchus and choreographed spectacularly by Peter Darling, with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin and a book by Dennis Kelly, brings it off. It’s fast moving—with terrific sets and a cast headed by several Maltidas over the course of the run.  It’s good to go at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House until Jan. 10.

Also at the Kennedy Center at the Eisenhower Theater is the pre-Broadway run for the  Americana-Folkish new musical “Bright Star” with music and book by Steve Martin and music and lyrics by Edie Brickell.  A charmer that imagines a South full of rustic folks and would-be novelists, it’s fueled by banjo, guitar and fiddle music. It contains a great centerpiece performance by Carmen Cusack, who stars as a woman who published a literary magazine in North Carolina after World War II and has a big, and romance-fueled secret.  Through Jan. 10.

Three big musicals are having their runs extended, especially the Signature Theater’s production of “West Side Story,” directed by James Gardiner. It was already scheduled to run through Jan. 24 and has already garnered another extension through Jan. 31, because it’s become a truly hot ticket.  The Stephen  Sondheim-Jerome Robbins-Leonard Bernstein musical about rival gangs in New York comes to modern times again a la Romeo and Juliet, yes it does, with songs like  “Maria” and “Tonight” fueling the proceedings.

Out at Olnery, Jerry Whiddon is directing the Olney Theatre production of the swell musical about wise guys—all right, Broadway gamblers—showgirls and a salvation army lady—called “Guys and Dolls.” It gets a second extension, through Jan. 10.  “Luck Be a Lady,” indeed.

“Kiss Me Kate” features not only Petrucchio, Shakespeare, Kate, swell theater and broadway guys and dolls, but music and songs by Cole Porter, and direction by Alan Paul, who has brought his gifts to a series of musicals at the Shakespeare Theatre Company.  “Kiss Me Kate” has been extended through Jan. 10  at Sidney Harman Hall.

Let’s not forget the Chicago Neo Futurists, the heroes of Chicago’s underground theatre community, who’ve landed again at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre with their distinct style of audience-friendly-and-involving comedy (be prepared to be a part of the show), which touches on a set of topics (changing every night) with a complete skit.  In their production, “Too  Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind,” the troupe races the clock to perform 30 miniature plays in 60 minutes, giving new meaning to fast and furious as it applies to the theater.  Funny, topical, frantic, full of surprises, it’s a new year kind of show which may look exactly like a futurist show.  Through Jan. 3, known as Sunday.