Three separate productions of A Christmas Carol open in New York between now and the end of November. Same book, same ghosts, same ending. The price of a seat runs from $30 to a number I am not going to put in a headline.
Here is what each one actually is, what it costs, and which one I would send you to.
The 1832 house: A Christmas Carol at the Merchant's House
Merchant's House Museum, 29 East 4th Street. November 24 to January 3. Seventy minutes.
Dickens read this story aloud for money, in rooms roughly this size, to audiences dressed roughly like the furniture. The Merchant's House is a preserved 1832 row house in NoHo, and the performance happens in the parlor by candlelight. There is no set, because the set is the building.
Tickets run $50 to $130, which looks steep next to a $30 child seat downtown until you notice how few of them exist per performance. There is also a separate $35 Christmas Reception with Mr. Dickens at select performances, capacity limited.
If you have seen a Carol before and want the version that is unlike the others, this is it. If you are bringing a restless nine-year-old to a candlelit parlor with no intermission, reconsider.
The big one: A Christmas Carol at PAC NYC
Perelman Performing Arts Center, 251 Fulton Street. November 20 to January 3. Two hours with a fifteen-minute intermission.
This is the Jack Thorne adaptation, conceived and directed by Matthew Warchus, co-directed by Thomas Caruso — the production that has been running in one city or another for a decade now, with the mince pies and the handbells and the entrances through the audience. Andy Karl is Scrooge. Jesse Aaronson plays Bob Cratchit, Tamika Lawrence is the Ghost of Christmas Present, Anne L. Nathan is Christmas Past.
The useful fact: $30 child tickets for ages 5 to 17 at select performances, up to four per production. They are will-call pickup only, non-transferable to adults, and every child has to be physically present at pickup. Transaction fees apply on top.
PAC NYC has also scheduled audio-described, ASL-interpreted, open-captioned, touch-tour and relaxed performances across the run, plus post-show discussions on December 10 and 17. That is a more complete access slate than most Broadway houses manage, and it is the reason this is the one I would take a mixed-age group to.
The family musical: A Christmas Carol the Musical
The Players Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street. November 29 to December 30. Seventy minutes, no intermission. Ages 8 and up.
The smallest room of the three and the one built for kids — a Sunday 11 AM family matinee is open to all ages, which is a polite way of saying nobody will glare at you if the four-year-old talks. Seventy minutes with no interval is the right shape for that audience and most producers do not have the nerve to do it.
Prices were not posted on the production's own calendar when I checked this morning, which on MacDougal Street usually means they are low and move with demand. Check before you commit, and compare against the PAC child ticket.
The Broadway alternative, if you want the feeling without the ghosts
It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play — Broadhurst Theatre, 235 West 44th Street. November 4 to January 3. Ninety minutes, no intermission.
Andrew Rannells as George Bailey, Megan Hilty as Mary, Tituss Burgess as Clarence, Harry Hamlin as Potter, Lisa Rinna as Violet. One caveat worth knowing before you buy a specific date: Hilty is out of select performances between November 6 and December 20. If she is the reason you are going, check the date.
Tickets start at $77, with most of the early calendar at $77, $90 or $116. No lottery and no rush posted as of this morning — which, for a Shubert house, is the kind of thing that tends to change once previews settle. We track that on the lottery hub, and the pattern is in this week's piece on Wanted and 860.
And the one everybody actually buys
The Christmas Spectacular at Radio City runs November 4 to January 4 at $65 to $520, and TDF rates its TKTS availability as "rarely," which is the politest possible way of saying do not wait. It is not a Carol and it is not a play. It is an institution with a Rockette-shaped revenue model, and if that is your tradition, nothing in this post is going to talk you out of it.
The short version
- Cheapest confirmed door: the $30 child ticket at PAC NYC, if you have a child between 5 and 17 and can collect in person.
- Cheapest adult seat: $50, in the parlor at the Merchant's House, for seventy candlelit minutes.
- Best for a group with a wide age range: PAC NYC, on the access slate alone.
- Most likely to grow a cheap door later: It's a Wonderful Life at the Broadhurst.
- Buy now or regret it: Radio City.
None of the three Carols has posted a lottery or a rush. That is normal for a limited holiday run with fixed capacity, and I would not hold out for one. If a discount appears it will show up on the hub, and if you want the mechanics of how those doors usually open, the full system is here.
Eating before any of these: downtown is covered in the off-Broadway food guide, and the Broadhurst is on 44th, which is the block-by-block guide's home turf.
