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New York Today: Times Critics Plan Your Holidays

Nearly overnight, pine groves have sprouted on the sidewalks, pop-up markets have settled into plazas, and chestnuts are roasting on your neighborhood halal cart.

The holidays have arrived in New York.

And soon your mom, sister or cousin from Kalamazoo may arrive, too. But before you break out the blowup mattress, you’ll want to have a few things in mind to do with your houseguests.

For suggestions, we asked Times critics and writers where they would take family members this holiday season.

Theater. Ben Brantley, a Times theater critic, recommends “The Play That Goes Wrong,” at the Lyceum Theater. “It’s a nonstop exercise in ineptitude, as an amateur troupe tries (and fails) to stage a country-house murder mystery,” he told us. “Though its anarchic hilarity may try the patience of urbane adults, kids revel in its calculated chaos.” Performances run through Jan. 14. [Tickets start at $50]

Comedy. Jason Zinoman, who writes about comedy, said that those looking for a holiday tradition with more glamour than the usual fare should check out Sandra Bernhard’s annual cabaret show, called this year “Sandemonium.” “In her inimitable comic style, she mixes jokes, songs and gossip in a baggy, digression-filled performance, a one-woman variety show.” Dec. 26 to 31. [$65]

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Classical music. Anthony Tommasini, the Times’s classical music critic, said two events came to mind, both organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. One is a concert by the Baltimore Consort “playing Yuletide fare, including old and new versions of Renaissance carols and dances,” he said. The performance is in a chapel at the Met Cloisters, and you can take the kids for $1 each. Dec. 3 at 1 and 3 p.m. [$65]. For a more mature performance, he recommends David Lang’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Little Match Girl Passion,” based on a Hans Christian Andersen story. “A beautiful, very sad, but finally life-affirming piece.” The Met encourages parents to bring children to this event as well. Dec. 22 at 7 p.m. [$65]

For kids. Laurel Graeber, who writes about children’s events, told us that “as a die-hard Dickens fan,” she recommends the Morgan Library & Museum’s Winter Family Fair. It centers on the Morgan’s annual display of the original manuscript of “A Christmas Carol” and the exhibition “Charles Dickens and the Spirit of Christmas.” School-age visitors can meet actors portraying some of the story’s main characters and attend dramatized readings of excerpts from the book, she said, while little ones can dress up in period-style costumes and watch a screening of “The Muppet Christmas Carol.” “It’s fun and it’s literary.” Dec. 3 from 2 to 4:30 p.m. [$20 adults, free for children 12 and under]

Fine art. Holland Cotter, a Times art critic, suggests “Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer” at the Met. The exhibition, he said, “is the once-in-a-lifetime show of the season. With more than 130 drawings by the beyond-famous artist, on loan from dozens of front-rank museums, it’s a monument to a monument, and absolutely gorgeous.” The exhibition runs through Feb. 21. [$25 suggested donation]

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