Theater Critic Picks

These are the 10 can't-miss shows in Dallas-Fort Worth theater for December

Some theaters have decked the halls and are offering holiday fare, while others are just as happy to present shows with year-round appeal. No matter which you're drawn to, there's plenty of choice.

Here are the 10 shows to see in order by start date:

Miss Saigon
Performing Arts Fort Worth, December 3-8
The acclaimed new production of the legendary musical from the creators of Les Misérables is an epic love story of a young Vietnamese woman and an American G.I. The production features stunning spectacle, a sensational cast of 42, and a soaring score that includes Broadway hits like "Last Night of the World," "The Movie in My Mind," and "The Heat is On in Saigon."

A Dean Martin Christmas
Casa Mañana, December 4-21
Enjoy with a cup of hot chocolate, spiked or not, and celebrate the stories and songs of the "King of Cool," including "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!," "Baby It's Cold Outside," and "Marshmallow World."

Cirque Holidays
WaterTowerTheatre, December 5-22
In partnership with Lone Star Circus, WTT is celebrating the diversity of holidays from around the world through a magical collaboration of theater and circus. Featuring international stars alongside Dallas' amazing and entertaining circus talent, the show will treat audiences of all ages to incredible acts ranging from hula hoops to death-defying trapeze stunts, all tied together with a charismatic host and hilarious clowns.

Black Nativity
Bishop Arts Theatre Center, December 5-22
For 16 years, Langston Hughes' story of the birth of Christ has transformed the Bishop Arts Theatre stage into a gathering that unites artists and audiences of different ages, backgrounds, and beliefs through the heart-stirring power of song, story, and dance.

Nuncrackers a-MEN!
Uptown Players, December 6-15
Dan Goggin's Christmas musical stars the nuns you love, this time played by men, plus Father Virgil and four of Mount Saint Helen's most talented students. This show is filled with wacky Nunsense humor as the sisters tape their first TV special in the Cable Access Studio built by Reverend Mother in the convent basement.

Have Yourself a Broadway Little Christmas
Mainstage Irving-Las Colinas, December 12-14
This revue brings together your favorite holiday songs made famous through Broadway shows and movie musicals. Be swept away by hits from Irving Berlin's White Christmas, Mame, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Songs for A New World, Holiday Inn, Broadway's Elf, and many more. The evening will conclude with a holiday sing-along as well as auction and raffle opportunities.

A Christmas Carol: The Radio Show
The Classics Theatre Project, December 12-21
It was just announced that TCTP favorite B.J. Cleveland will be doing a one-person version of the classic Dickens tale, written by David Alberts. Expect lots of crazy voices and a tireless performance from one of DFW's most tireless performers.

Gold, Frankincense, and Credit Card Debt: A ~~Christmas Holiday~~ December Sketch Comedy Show
Theatre Three, December 13-28
Co-presented by Bootstraps Comedy Theatre and directed by celebrated playwright Matt Lyle, this show has Dallas-Fort Worth's funniest comedians roasting Santa’s chestnuts until they're a delicious golden brown. Topics under the microscope for this show include holiday parties, Thanksgiving, marketing speak, White Elephants gone very wrong with sexy results, Crossfit, the power of holiday music over a person's sanity, snow in Texas, and the sick, unforgivable, cute lies we tell our children.

Dreams of Icarus
Outcry Theatre, December 20-29
Directed by Becca Johnson-Spinos and starring Logan Beutel and Dylan Weand, this play is a devised work created by the actors and director based on the classic Greek myth of Icarus and Daedalus.

The Color of Death
Pegasus Theatre, December 29-January 19
The only three-act Living Black & White Hunsacker adventure, this original from Kurt Kleinmann serves up act two in Techno-Color. Harry Hunsacker, would-be actor turned would-be detective, and his paid-by-the-hour-assistant and friend Nigel Grouse are enlisted by the Army in 1944 to join forces with Lt. Foster and go undercover to infiltrate a top-secret Nazi research lab in Bavaria.

WaterTower Theatre joins with Lone Star Circus for Cirque Holidays.

WaterTower Theatre presents Cirque Holidays

Photo courtesy of Lone Star Circus

WaterTower Theatre joins with Lone Star Circus for Cirque Holidays.

openings music theater

Season Announcement

Echo Theatre introduces Dallas audiences to a season of strangers in 2026

Photo by Julieta Cervantes

'The Roommate' was recently on Broadway.

It's a "Season of Strangers" for Echo Theatre this year, as the Southwest's premier company for promoting dramatic works by women+ focuses on how someone different than you can change your life.

The 28th season begins with the new musical Silhouettes by Jordan Ealey and Ari Afsar. This score-in-hand workshop was developed in the aftermath of the fall of Roe v. Wade, and examines a pivotal moment in American history through the intersecting lives of two women navigating the decision to have an abortion. Echo's managing and artistic director Kateri Cale directs, with Vonda K. Bowling as musical director.

In a joint statement, Ealey and Afsar say that Silhouettes was born from their need to process the emotional and political aftermath of Roe’s fall. “We continue to see that history is cyclical and equity is fleeting,” they say. “But when policy fails, art has the opportunity to step in. Silhouettes is a musical about choice, sisterhood, and intergenerational courage.”

They add that presenting the work in Dallas reflects their commitment to community-building in states like Texas, where bans and restrictions have made women and gender minorities particularly vulnerable. “We want this musical to be a safe and brave haven amid attempts to create a culture of fear and a reminder that people are not alone.”

It runs January 16-17, 2026, and admission is free, though a $20 donation is suggested.

The world premiere of You Must Wear A Hat by C. Meaker is next, and plugged-in Dallas theater fans might recognize the play from its reading at Kitchen Dog Theater in 2019.

Tuesday and Weeks make hats on the Great Barrier Reef, waiting for the world to end. It's described as "A play for two. And a rabbit."

C. “Meaks” Meaker (they/them) is a playwright, essayist, and teacher whose work often explores queerness, monstrosity, and the end of the world. Their plays have been performed and developed across the United States, including the Kennedy Center, Seattle Repertory Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, Annex Theatre (Seattle), Hub Theater (D.C.), Fat Theater Project (Chicago), and About Face (Chicago). They’re a two-year finalist for the Dramatist Guild National Fellows program and a recent finalist for the Jerome Hill Theater Arts Fellow.

You Must Wear a Hat runs February 27-March 14, 2026.

The season closes with The Roommate by Jen Silverman. The play was on Broadway in 2024 starring marquee names Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone.

In it, a divorced Midwesterner takes a roommate from The Bronx. A relationship evolves and secrets unfold into a darkly comedic exploration of life choices. It runs June 19-July 4, 2026.

All shows this season will be performed at the Bath House Cultural Center, 521 E. Lawther Dr., in White Rock Lake Park.

Tickets range from Pay-What-You-Can to $40, with discounts available for students and seniors.

Additional events this season include Cake by the Lake on April 21, Echo's free birthday party fundraiser that also launches its reading series, Echo Reads.

Echo Reads runs April through September, presenting six plays in six month. All plays will be performed on Tuesdays at 7:30 pm, and then read the next day at different venues around the city.

Echo Offstage Podcasts is going monthly. The free podcast series interviews women+ who are making art and making a difference.

And Echo is already teasing its 29th season, which will begin in the fall of 2026 and run the more traditional September through August instead of the calendar year.

The season 29 opener is a co-production, the company mysteriously hints, involving three Dallas theaters, two shows, and an internationally known writer. We'll all just have to wait and see what this intriguing production might be.

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Season Announcement

Echo Theatre introduces Dallas audiences to a season of strangers in 2026