Detroit holiday things to do 2022: Scrooge, Cirque du Soleil, return of Noel Night

Tragic Victor Hugo hero Jean Valjean and Frankie Beverly and Maze will be joining Tiny Tim and the Sugar Plum Fairy for the holidays in Detroit this year.

All are part of a festive lineup of entertainment events that kicks off Nov. 18 with the return of "A Christmas Carol" to Meadow Brook Theatre and the Magic of Lights to Pine Knob. Beverly and Maze will be joined by the Isley Brothers for an old-school soul and R&B show on New Year's Eve at the Fox. And because no holiday season in southeast Michigan is complete without a musical, the Broadway in Detroit folks are bringing back a touring production of the beloved "Les Miserables," based on Hugo's 1862 novel about romance and revolution in 19th-century Paris.

Also in the Christmas mix are the welcome return of Noel Night to Midtown Detroit and the Cultural Center, Cirque du Soleil's first-ever holiday show and a fresh-from-Broadway jukebox musical based on the life of Tina Turner.

The holiday rush is on, so now is the time to start making plans for a fun outing or two with friends and family. The days at the end of the year seem to fly by, and before you know it, we'll be making toasts to 2023 and humming "Auld Lang Syne."

TicketSmarter: You can get tickets for many of these events here.

A Dickens of a time

An underpaid office worker who’s not getting an end-of-year raise, a boy with no health insurance for his mobility problems, a greedy business owner haunted by apparitions of his guilt. Who knew an 1843 novella by Charles Dickens would have such relevance in 2022 America? “A Christmas Carol” has remained a classic because it speaks to the true meaning of the season of giving, and there is no better place to enjoy its message than at the special 40th anniversary holiday stage production at Meadow Brook Theatre running from Nov. 18 through Christmas Eve. We’re betting the Ghost of Christmas Present already has his tickets.

Meadow Brook Theatre, 378 Meadow Brook Road on the Oakland University campus, Auburn Hills. 248-377-3300. $36 and up.

Rockin' around the Christmas tree

TSO's grand spectacle, which is like a stadium rock production with a yuletide twist, long ago became the most successful holiday tour in U.S. box office history. This year's edition is an updated installment of the outfit's 1999 special, "The Ghosts of Christmas Eve," centerpiece of a show that will also feature the standard array of TSO hits. As always, $1 from each ticket will go to area charities. Note: Along with these two Detroit shows, Trans-Siberian Orchestra is hitting Toledo (Dec. 2) and Grand Rapids (Dec. 4).

3 & 7:30 p.m. Dec. 29, Little Caesars Arena, 2645 Woodward, Detroit. $49 and up.

The first Noel Night (in a while)

After two years of pandemic cancellation, Noel Night is back on Dec. 3. The celebration held across Detroit’s Cultural Center is a giant open house with shopping, crafts, performances and free activities for the whole family. The venues who’ll be participating run the gamut from Wayne State University to the Detroit Historical Museum to restaurants, shops, breweries and more. Just consider it a holiday party where heavy coats and warm mittens are chic and everyone is invited. (Plus, you don’t have to make awkward small talk with your boss or relatives!) Details are still arriving, but the fun is set to run from 5 to 9 p.m. for Cultural Center hours and 5 to 10 p.m. for Midtown Detroit hours (south of Warren Avenue).

Details at noelnight.org.

Chip Davis rolls on

University of Michigan music alum Chip Davis transformed the sound of Christmas in the '80s with his Mannheim Steamroller project, moving millions of records by putting a new-age, "Fresh Aire" twist on holiday classics. At 35 years and counting, Mannheim Steamroller bills itself as the longest-running live show in the history of the concert industry, and Davis — now 75 — remains the creative engine driving it all.

8 p.m. Dec. 10, Fox Theatre, 2211 Woodward, Detroit. $25 and up.

A soulful new year

A pair of Detroit's most-loved R&B institutions will join forces to ring in 2023 with fans at the Fox. Frankie Beverly and Maze will roll back the years with a set of silky soul, while Ron and Ernie Isley tap their own decades-long catalog of R&B standards — back in the city where the Cincinnati-bred group briefly made a mark with Motown Records in the '60s.

9:30 p.m. Dec. 31, Fox Theatre, 2211 Woodward, Detroit. 313presents.com. $94 and up.

Rolling on the tour circuit

The life and music of Tina Turner, the brash-voiced singer from Nutbush, Tennessee, is celebrated in "Tina: The Tina Turner Musical," which recently wrapped its Broadway run and hit the U.S. tour circuit. The musical follows Turner's career from her inauspicious origins in the rural South, through the tumult of her years with Ike Turner, and on through her breakthrough as a beloved global diva in the 1980s.

Dec. 6-18, Detroit Opera House, 1526 Broadway, Detroit. $35 and up.

Waltzing flowers, dancing fairies

If it’s time for the Christmas countdown, there must be sugar plum fairies galore coming to a venue near you. “Nutcracker! Magical Christmas Ballet” will be in Detroit on Dec. 11 for three performances at the Fox. It’s a holiday tradition that children love for the acrobatic dancing and fun touches like the Rat King and his rodent army and grown-ups revisit for the exquisite score by Tchaikovsky. The production features an international cast that includes Ukrainian dancers, who are from a corner of the world sorely lacking in the peace and harmony that the ballet celebrates.

Fox Theatre, 2211 Woodward Ave., Detroit, 313-471-7000. $35 and up.

One more tour, one tour more

The megahit musical, which arrived on Broadway in 1987, about Jean Valjean’s search for redemption after serving 19 years of hard labor for stealing a loaf of bread — intertwined with the story of revolutionary idealists seeking a better world in 19th-century France — returns to Detroit’s Fisher Theatre from Dec. 20 through Jan. 8. Pro tip: This may be the show's umpteenth tour, but it’s worth seeing every time. With a masterpiece of a score and a rousing narrative about the power of empathy and forgiveness, “Les Mis” is more than a great show. It’s a testament to humanity.

Fisher Theatre, 3011 E. Grand Blvd., Detroit. $45 and up.

And all through the house

Inimitable Canadian performance troupe Cirque du Soleil will spend the holiday season in Detroit reinventing a holiday classic with “’Twas the Night Before … ," its first-ever Christmas show. From Dec. 15 through Dec. 26, audiences can follow young girl's journey into a fun-house version of Clement Clarke Moore’s poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas," meeting colorful characters during a wild adventure with lessons about friendship, sharing and yuletide magic.

Fox Theatre, 2211 Woodward Ave., Detroit. $26.50 and up.

A Christmas from days gone by

The Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village will bustle with revelers, carolers, fiddlers and more during Holiday Nights, taking place Dec. 2-4, 9-11, 15-23 and 26-28. An annual tradition for more than two decades, the evening celebration finds Greenfield Village’s more than 80 acres decked out for the season during an event that recalls the magic of Christmases past. Bonfires, roasting chestnuts, horse-drawn wagons and a Main Street filled with shops, food and warm beverages await visitors — and each night ends with a fireworks display.

The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, 20900 Oakwood Blvd., Dearborn. thehenryford.org. $22.50 and up for members, $26.25 and up for others.

Buddy the human elf is back

Broadway hit “Elf the Musical” will delight audiences at during its Nov. 22-27 run at the Fox Theatre. Adapted from the 2003 movie starring Will Ferrell about an orphaned human boy who's raised as an elf by Santa and his helpers at the North Pole, the show was described a “endearingly goofy” by USA Today. Four cast members in this year's touring production have southeast Michigan ties: Troy native Caitlin Lester-Sams, Fowlerville’s Christopher Smith, former Dexter resident Jo Davis and ensemble member Emily Ann Stys, who hails from Romeo.

Fox Theatre, 2211 Woodward Ave., Detroit. $40 and up.

Drive-through oohs and aahs

One of metro Detroit’s newest holiday traditions, Magic of Lights, will illuminate the Pine Knob Music Theatre grounds beginning Nov. 18 and running through New Year's Eve. The drive-through light display employs digital animations and LED technology to present holiday-themed scenes and characters. New this year are a Prehistoric Christmas section, mega tree displays and Mattel's Waving Christmas Barbie, which is 32 feet tall. Magic of Lights provides safe family fun from the comfort of your car!

Pine Knob Music Theatre, 33 Bob Seger Drive, Clarkston. 313presents.com. $20 and up..

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit holiday things to do 2022: Scrooge, Noel Night, more