Although people of the Jewish faith don’t celebrate Christmas, plenty of festive activities are on tap at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City this month. Christians are invited to experience the holidays from a Jewish perspective.
The Jewish Nutcracker. Follow Rebecca and the Nutcracker on their magical journey from Bubbe’s house to the Land of Nosh in “The Jewish Nutcracker.” Performances will be held at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. on December 8. Guests can meet the performers, create holiday crafts and nosh on latke following at a tea party following the 11 a.m. performance (tickets sold separately).
Acclaimed Author Series. Author Beth Kander brings her spicy, frightening and funny novel “I Made it Out of Clay” to the series at 7 p.m. on December 19 . Nothing is going well for the main character Eve as her lighthearted rom-com life swiftly mudslides toward something much darker.
The Dreidel Players Present… Best Hanukkah Show Ever!. A passionate, not-quite-ready-for-primetime theater troupe bands together to create the world’s most ambitious Hanukkah show in “The Dreidel Players Present… Best Hanukkah Show Ever!” Along the way, this motley crew might just discover the true meaning of Hanukkah, even if they can’t figure out quite how to spell it. This production plays The White Theatre stage on December 28 and 29.
Ring in the New Year with Vivaldi, Weinber and Tchaikovsky. On January 1, Kinnor Philharmonic will celebrate Hanukkah and ring in 2025 with internationally acclaimed cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper. With a musical mission of performing music of repressed Jewish composers, Ms. Cooper will perform Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s “Fantasy” for cello and chamber orchestra, along with Vivaldi’s “Winter” and Tchaikovsky’s virtuosic “Rococo Variations.”
Tickets and additional information on the Jewish Community Center and its programs, check out www.TheJKC.org.
–Alan Goforth