Tom Hall

This year, there are 20 performances of this holiday favorite by five ballet companies and three symphony orchestras.

WGCU details the 19 Christmas shows onstage this holiday season at Southwest Florida community and equity theaters from Marco Island to Sarasota.

This week, three shows open and 12 continue their runs at Southwest Florida equity and community theaters.

For 15 years, Gulf Coast Symphony has opened the holiday season with “Deck the Halls” at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall. The symphony’s director and maestro, Andrew Kurtz, works hard to make the annual concert unique. He’s outdone himself this year with aerial violinist Janice Martin.

“Compositions” is on view in the Theatre Gallery at the the Alliance for the Arts. It features paintings and prose by Latino artist Julio Gonzalez Batista. He goes by Julio Julio.

This past weekend, Cypress Lake High School performed “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812.” The electropop opera based on a scandalous slice of Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace.” required a cast of 30, a multi-tiered set, dozens of period costumes that possess a rave, punk flair, and hundreds of lighting cues.

Reynier Llanes has been influenced by a number of factors: his grandfather's penchant for reading from Aesop's Fables every Sunday following dinner; his experiences fleeing Cuba by boat with 21 other emigrants; and the pandemic. His solo show, "Curious," is on view at BIG ARTS through December 15.

Florida Studio Theatre is celebrating the rebels, romantics and risk-takers who turned 88 keys into pure magic. From Billy Joel to Alicia Keys, from Ray Charles to Freddie Mercury, Three Pianos celebrates the piano legends who refused to play by the rules. Florida Studio Theatre’s Catherin Randazzo says the hit list is amazing.

“Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End” is a one-woman show that takes a comic look at the beloved humorist. Louise Cornetta will perform “Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End” at 7 p.m. on Nov. 28 at 2 and 6 p.m. on Nov. 29 and at 2 p.m. on Nov. 30.

“Swamped” is a new play by Adelaide Fisher and directed by Amanda Collins. Ghostbird Theatre Company will perform it behind the old gym on the FGCU Buckingham campus on November 21st and 22nd. As is typical of Ghostbird’s trademark site-specific shows, “Swamped” will require attendees to do a small amount of walking and bring their own chairs and mosquito repellent.