Check out our top shows for the holiday season in Washington, DC.
Washington, DC is never lacking outstanding theatre, whether epic Broadway shows, engrossing dramas or bold fringe offerings. BroadwayWorld is rounding up our top recommended theatre every month.
We understand the importance of choosing the perfect show, especially for new theatregoers. That's why our experienced editorial team meticulously reviews a wide range of productions each month. We consider various factors including a producer's track record, audience reviews, and overall production value, to bring you the very best recommendations for the following month.
See what the experts recommend! Check out our editorial team's top picks for the best shows to see in Washington, DC for the holiday season.
Shakespeare Theatre Company - November 30, 2024 through December 29, 2024
By Tom Stoppard Directed by Carey Perloff Produced in association with The Huntington A Jewish family grows and struggles over the course of nearly 60 years, beginning with their initial assimilation into Viennese culture, negotiating the outbreak of two World Wars through to the aftermath of the Holocaust. Traversing decades of joy and strife, the family strives to maintain their delicate bonds of shared history. Directed by celebrated playwright/director Carey Perloff, in a new arrangement she crafted with Stoppard, the Tony and Olivier Award-winning play Leopoldstadt offers “an intensely personal family drama” (Variety) for the holiday season.
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Arena Stage - October 18, 2024 through November 24, 2024
Emmy Award winner John Leguizamo stars as Nelson Castro, a Colombian-American laundromat owner grappling with a failing business and buried secrets. When his son Nick returns from a mental wellness facility after a traumatic incident, Nelson's world unravels. Committed to protecting his family and business, he tackles racial and identity challenges to achieve his dream, proving his success. In this gripping tale of resilience, Nelson must navigate morality's murky waters to salvage his future. Will he emerge victorious, or will his past consume everything he holds dear?
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Studio Theatre - November 13, 2024 through December 22, 2024
It’s midsummer in the mid-seventies—the second wave of feminism is cresting somewhere while two very different women are thrown into one another’s orbit in college-town Ohio. Iconoclast artist Diana looks down on faculty wife Alice, but their young daughters’ friendship forces them together. Featuring two tour-de-force performances by DC favorites Holly Twyford and Kate Eastwood Norris, David Auburn’s (Proof) recent Broadway hit traces each woman’s growing disquiet with the compromises they’ve made, and the transformative power of a friendship at the right time.
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Arena Stage - October 31, 2024 through December 15, 2024
Data is Matthew Libby's intriguingly suspenseful and relevant new play that takes you behind the locked doors of Silicon Valley. Its protagonist is Maneesh, a brilliant entry-level programmer at Athena Technologies, a data-mining firm. Content to work in the low-stress environment of User Experience, Maneesh has a crisis of conscience when he is offered a transfer to the more-central Data Analytics team, and learns the true nature of Athena's highly controversial and secretive work. Torn between idealism and survival, Maneesh is forced to come to terms with his unique American identity, all while learning the extent to which Athena is willing to go to hide its secrets.
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Riverside Center for the Performing Arts - November 20, 2024 through December 29, 2024
One of everyone's favoite shows returns to the Riverside stage for the perfect Christmas experience. Enjoy the excitement, memories, and joy of Christmas as our spectacular cast of singers and dancers present the very heart and essence of the holiday season running from Wednesday, November 20 through Sunday, December 29, 2024. Escape the cold, the hustle, and the stress by warming your Christmas spirit at Riverside Center with this glittering celebration of everything that makes this “the most wonderful time of the year!” This is the perfect show for holiday parties, family gatherings, special events, school field trips and that romantic date night.
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The Kennedy Center - Eisenhower Theater - Now through December 01, 2024
Following a decade touring the world as one of the most successful magic shows in history, the Champions Of Magic team is back with an explosive all-new show featuring thrilling and mind-bending illusions. Fusing their skills in grand-scale magic, a flair for spectacle, and undeniable showmanship, this interactive, high-energy show is sure to entertain the entire family. Combining their signature humor with groundbreaking magic, this team of illusionists presents a brand-new production unlike anything that has come before.
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Arena Stage - November 30, 2024 through December 29, 2024
In Ken Ludwig's thrilling adaptation of Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile, Hercule Poirot becomes entangled in a web of deceit and desire aboard a cruise ship on the Nile River. When a murder occurs among the passengers, Poirot springs into action to unmask a killer who could strike again at any moment.
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The Keegan Theatre - December 04, 2024 through December 31, 2024
An original work by Keegan favorite Matthew J. Keenan, AN IRISH CAROL is an homage to Dickens’ classic – told as only the Irish can. This comic and touching play, set in a modern Dublin pub, follows one evening in the life of David, a wealthy pub owner who has lost touch with his own humanity in the interest of self-protection and material success. But on this Christmas Eve – challenged by a voice from the past, provoked by those in the present, and faced with the reality of a lonely future – David’s life may change forever.
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Kennedy Center [Opera House] - December 17, 2024 through January 05, 2025
CREATED BY THE EMMY®-WINNING WRITER FROM “SCHITT’S CREEK,” this hilarious new musical flips the script on the greatest love story ever told. & Juliet asks: what would happen next if Juliet didn’t end it all over Romeo? Get whisked away on a fabulous journey as she ditches her famous ending for a fresh beginning and a second chance at life and love—her way. Juliet’s new story bursts to life through a playlist of pop anthems as iconic as her name, including "Since U Been Gone‚" "Roar," "Baby One More Time," "Larger Than Life‚" "That’s The Way It Is,“ and "Can't Stop the Feeling!"—all from the genius songwriter/producer behind more #1 hits than any other artist this century. Break free of the balcony scene and get into this romantic comedy that proves there’s life after Romeo. The only thing tragic would be missing it.
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The Kennedy Center - Eisenhower Theater - December 17, 2024 through January 05, 2025
Winner of three Tony Awards® and the Olivier Award for Best Play, the Broadway and West End sensation Life of Pi is “an exhilarating evening of theater” (The Wall Street Journal). Based on the novel that sold more than 15 million copies and became a worldwide phenomenon, Life of Pi is an epic story of perseverance and hope that speaks to every generation and “gives new life to Broadway” (The Today Show). After a shipwreck in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a 16-year-old boy named Pi survives on a lifeboat with four companions—a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a Royal Bengal tiger. Told with jaw-dropping visuals, world-class puppetry, and exquisite stagecraft, Life of Pi creates a breathtaking journey that will leave you filled with awe and joy.
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