Weekend Theatre: Dec. 4–7

We here at Seattlest have been seeing more shows than ever lately, so to help you keep up with the best theatre, dance, and performance, we've started running down the weekend's best shows every Thursday, with info on tickets, show times, and reviews.

OPENINGS
ACT kicked off their annual production of A Christmas Carol last Sunday, and last night Seattle Rep's You Can't Take It With You opened (both reviewed tomorrow). Plus, this Friday the holiday theatre season keeps going with the opening of both Black Nativity at Intiman (in previews tonight, opening Friday) and Pajama Men playing up at Annex Theatre.

RECOMMENDED

• boom @ Seattle Rep. Just extended through Dec. 21! "boom has a Twilight Zone set-up played—to the hilt—for laughs. We'd call it a "hilariously profane romp through the Apocalypse" but we get paid for writing ad copy, and besides, there's something intransigent in the play that resists snappy descriptive slogans. It keeps leading you down old roads that somehow open onto new horizons you haven't considered." [Read the review.] Tues.–Sun., 7:30; weekend matinees at 2:00. Tix $10–$40
• The Adding Machine @ ACT. "[S]eriously, you need to go see this play: It's rare that we leave a play so blown away by the production and performances that the only fault we can find is with the script itself, and even then we're debating whether its considerable strengths make up for its flaws."[Read the review.] Thurs.–Sun., 8 p.m. Tix $20–$25

ALSO PLAYING

• Nutcracker @ PNB 25th anniversary. "Music that twinkles, an audience of little girls with velvet headbands and stars in their eyes. Even if we've seen it 25 times, it's still a story about innocence, so it's like a full moon every time." [Read the review.] Thurs.–Sun., various times. Tix $27–$115
• Island of Misfits @ NextStage/Hugo House. "Buried under the avalanche of over-writing that is Island of Misfits is a very funny parody of the stop-motion holiday classic Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town." [Read the review.] Thurs.–Sun., 8 p.m. Tix $10

Chelsey Rives as Jo and Nick Garrison as Jules in boom by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb and directed by Jerry Manning. Photo © Chris Bennion, 2008.