by Mark Edelman

As the holiday season arrives full of cool days and nights around the fireplace, it’s time once again to join your fellow revelers at some of the cornucopia of plays and musicals on stage this month in the DMV. As the pilgrims before us, you’ll be thankful you did.

SHE LOVES ME

Little Theatre of Alexandria

Now through November 7

In a fancy European perfume shop circa 1930, \co-workers Amalia and Georg respond to anonymous lonely hearts ad in the local newspaper, falling in love with their mystery correspondents. What happens when they discover the identity of their true loves makes for a most entertaining trip to the theater, compliments of Harnick and Bock, the composer and lyricist who graced us with Fiddler on the Roof. Tickets at www.thelitletheatre.com

FRIDA…A SELF PORTRAIT

Klein Theatre

Now through November 8

Brazilian playwright and actress Vanessa Severo weaves the story of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo through the lens of her own struggles as an artist in this Shakespeare Theatre Company presentation that’s been a hit in regional theaters around the country. All alone on stage, Severo conjures a whole host of characters from both Frida and her own life. Under the thoughtful guidance of director Joannie Schultz, clothing defines the fabric of two lives in this often touching journey of discovery. Tickets at www.shakespearetheatre.org.

HUNDRED DAYS

Keegan Theatre

Now through November 15

A new musical by folk-punk duet/ New York downtown darlings The Bengsons examines the eponymous time frame in the lives of a newly-minted couple contending with the fallout of earlier trauma on their budding romance. If you liked Once and/or enjoy Mumford and Sons and Avett Brothers music, the Keegan is the place to be. Bradley Foster Smith and Kylie Clare Truby play the winsome if sometimes over-the-top lovers under Christina Coakley’s sure-handed direction. Lucia Lanave guides the onstage band thru their paces with toe-tapping aplomb . Tickets at www.keegantheatre.com

MAMMA MIA

National Theatre

Now through November 15

ABBA fans rejoice! The musical that made “Dancing Queen” an earworm returns to the DMV on its current national tour and 25th anniversary. Will Sophie find out who her real father is just minutes before she does or doesn’t get married herself? Who cares? Tickets at www.broadwayatthenational.com

ARE YOU NOW OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN

Arena Stage

Now through December 6

Ripped from the headlines—the 50s, but could be today’s, sadly—this work of theatre verite shines the harshest of spotlights on the real-life tragedies visited upon some important American artists by the self-righteous monsters of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Tickets at www.arenastage.org

ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE

Signature Theatre

Now through December 20

Signature introduces Broadway composer Adam Gwon’s (Ordinary Days) new musical about embracing who you are and the life-saving power of art. When a closeted high school math teacher agrees to mentor a student for a theater competition in which they take on parts of Angels in America, their small town’s delicate balance is upset as the vise of intolerance begins to tighten around them. Tickets at www.sigtheatre.org

LES MISERABLES

Olney Theatre Center

Now through Jan 31

The shot heard round the world! Just as they’re doing today, Parisian students took to the barricades two hundred and twenty years ago to protest the struggles of the downtrodden and debased—the “miserables” of Victor Hugo’s epic novel. Caught up in that long ago moment were the young lovers Marius and Cosette and the noble Jean Valjean, who stands up for what’s good and righteous, even if it means stealing a love of bread to save the starving. Olney inaugurates its $32 million renovation with this Broadway—by way of Paris and London—spectacle. Tickets at www.olneytheatre.org

THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DEITY

Next Stop Theatre

November 5-29

The world of pro wrestling commands the spotlight in this satire by Pulitzer Prize finalist Kristoffer Diaz, book writer on Alicia Keyes’ Broadway musical Hell’s Kitchen. Macedonia “The Mace” Guerrero is a gifted body slammer who gets paid to throw fights with less talented performers. Will he finally get fed up, say nada and take his rightful place in the contest? Tickets at www.nextstoptheatre.org

MY ENGLISH PERSIAN KITCHEN

Atlas Performing Arts Center

Nov 12- Dec 6

Produced by Mosaic in association with Solas Nua, this new play chronicles one woman’s resettlement, first in England and then in Belfast, after fleeing an abusive husband and her home country of Iran. Longing for that homeland, she turns to her mother’s kitchen recipes for solace and strength, rebuilding both her life and her spirit. Talk about immersive theater—in this one woman show the traditional Persian ash-e-reshteh (noodle soup) will be prepared onstage! Tickets at www.mosaictheater.org.

HANUKKAH SPECTACULAR

Woolly Mammoth

Nov 14- Dec 13

The first filly to enter the paddock in this year’s holiday theatrical derby, this new piece drops us into the glass-walled pressure cooker of a midtown NYC talent agency where a group of Jewish artists are hard at work on the seemingly impossible task of making a commercially viable hit about Hanukkah. What starts as light comedy becomes a reckoning as lines between actor and character dissolve, writers short circuit and a director is forced to become in loco parentis. Sounds silly except for one name on the title page: David Cromer, MacArthur genius grant honoree, Tony® Award winning director of The Band’s Visit and many Broadway and off-Broadway hits including Dead Outlaw, and an impressive actor on his own (his work on season one of Showtime’s Billions will make you weep). With Cromer at the helm, this could be special. Tickets at www.woollymammoth.net.

WILDERNESS GENERATION

Studio Theatre

Nov 18- Jan 3

Four cousins return to the family homestead to pack up their grandmother’s house in Tidewater, Virginia. Over a weekend of board games and in-jokes, they crack each other up, spill secrets, and face some difficult truths about the choices their parents made for them. A new comedy from James Ijames (Fat Ham), this one tackles the layers of legacy within a family and asks whether preservation means holding on or learning to let in something new. Tickets at www.studiotheatre.org

CULT OF LOVE

Round House Theatre

Nov 18 to Dec 22

Four adult siblings and their partners carry secrets, resentments and competing ideas of what family demands with them on a Christmas visit home. As the singing and celebrating gives way to confrontation, old wounds reopen and new revelations emerge. It’s family Christmas fare if

you’re related to the Kardashians. Tickets at www.roundhousetheatre.org.

THE OLD MAN AND THE OLD MOON

Atlas Performing Arts Center

Nov 19 to Dec 13

The creatives behind Broadway’s recent Water for Elephants spin this fantastical family-friendly musical about the lunar caretaker’s epic adventure to pursue his true love across the sea. Towering ships, flying sharks, and an overstuffed hot air balloon figure in the Constellation Theatre production as characters chase their dreams and fight for what they hold dear.

Tickets at www.constellationtheatre.org.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Ford’s Theater

Nov 19 to Dec 31

Join the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future as they lead the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge on a journey of transformation and redemption. This music-infused production captures the magic and joy of Dickens’s Yuletide classic, with all of your favorite characters as well as an oh-so-precious children’s ensemble that will melt your heart. DC fave Craig Wallace returns to play Scrooge in this Ford’s Theatre tradition. Too bad old Abe couldn’t be there to enjoy the fun.

Tickets at www.fords.org

HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS— THE MUSICAL

Imagination Stage

Nov 21- Jan 3

The world’s most famous green menace is back in Bethesda in this musical adaptation of the baddie who threatened the nice folks of Whoville until he learned the true meaning of Christmas. Dr. Suess’s popular story comes to colorful life in this holiday musical for the whole family. Tickets at www.imaginationstage.org

FROSTY THE SNOWMAN

Adventure MTC

Nov 21- Jan 3

Wanna build a snow man? Be careful what you wish for, cause Frosty’s back, springing to life for one whole day of adventure before he melts away again. There may not be snow on the ground yet, but this snowman is ready for his wintertime romp, chock-full of chuckles and comic antics. Tickets at www.adventuretheatre-mtc.org

HELL’S KITCHEN

National Theatre

Nov 24- Dec 6

The Broadway musical by and about seventeen-time Grammy® Award winner Alicia Keys begins when seventeen year old Ali, searching for freedom, passion, and her place in the world, begins to rock the boat and her mother’s carefully-set boundaries in their apartment community at 43rd and Ninth Avenue in NYC. We meet Ali’s dynamic family, the neighborhood that helps her grow and her musical mentor in this story about finding yourself amidst the people who lift you up. The music—a mix of Keys’ greatest hits and new songs written exclusively for the show—is a soundtrack of rebellion, life, and love, all directed by Tony Award nominee Michael Greif, who brought us Rent. Tickets at www.broadwayatthenational.com

About the Author: Mark Edelman is a playwright who loves writing about theater. He is a lifetime member of the Broadway League and a Tony® voter. Catch his monthly podcast at www.onstagedmv.org.

Photo credits: She Loves Me by Matt Liptak; Hell’s Kitchen by Marc J. Franklin; Mamma Mia by Joan Marcus; Frida by Michael Brosilow; Hundred Days by Cameron Whitman