Saturday, December 3

Mario Enrique Figueroa Jr. (GONZO247), the man behind the first graffiti museum in the country, seems to be everywhere. Not content to rest on his laurels from producing October's HUE Mural Festival, and still in the process of ramping up The Graffiti and Street Art Museum of Texas for next year's launch, Figueroa joined dozens of other artists in painting 52 of the 194 football helmets for the traveling Touchdown Tour. It's part of an initiative presented by the Houston Super Bowl Host Committee and the Mayor's Office of Special Events, bringing the excitement of football to neighborhood venues. The next stop on the tour is this Saturday at Moody Park, with games, exhibits, food and fun. Can't make it? The Helmet Wall will also be on display during Super Bowl LIVE, the 10-day fan festival in and around Discovery Green, scheduled for January 28 through February 5. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. December 3, Moody Park, 3725 Fulton. The tour continues with four more stops around town from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. December 10 and January 7 and 14. For information, visit housuperbowl.com/touchdown-tour. Free. — Susie Tommaney

Crumpet the Elf has returned in all his green-velvet-with-yellow-and-orange-trim-costumed glory. And as once again envisioned by Alley Theatre company member Todd Waite, that is some very tall glory. The Santaland Diaries (not for kids) is once again playing out on the downstairs Neuhaus stage at the Alley. Based on the book by David Sedaris, it tells the story of an unemployed fan of soap opera stars who takes a job at Macy’s during the Christmas season as one of the elves assisting Santa. Along the way he meets an assortment of parents, children and co-workers — not all of them warmhearted — as he negotiates the season while helping kids sit on Santa’s lap. 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. December 3. Continuing 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. December 10 and 17; 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and December 18, 20 and 27; 2:30 p.m. December 4, 11, 24 and 31. Through December 31. 615 Texas. For information, call 713-220-5700 or visit alleytheatre.org. $30 to $50. — Margaret Downing

The CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend fans are clearly divided into Team Josh and Team Greg, as Rebecca Bunch’s heart careens between both paramours. Spoiler alert: It doesn’t look like Greg (Santino Fontana) is returning for season three, though the talented performer (he voiced Prince Hans in Frozen) stays busy with other pursuits. In his first year at the helm of the Houston Symphony’s Very Merry Pops, Principal POPS Conductor Designate Steven Reineke is putting his own stamp on the festivities, this year with the help of Fontana and his wife, actress/singer Jessica. The concert, mixing sacred and secular, includes standards such as “O Holy Night” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” Reineke’s own “Holiday Hits Medley” and soon-to-be classic “Yes, Virginia.” Reineke admits it’s “a bit of a sing-along,” but there’s an important question at heart — why doesn’t the spirit of the season last? “You’re walking down the street; people may be a little friendlier, might smile or shake a hand a little more readily,” says Reineke. “Why can’t we live like this all year?” 8 p.m. December 2 and 3; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. December 4. Jones Hall, 615 Louisiana. For information, call 713-224-7575 or visit houstonsymphony.org. $25 to $138. — Natalie de la Garza

Buckle up, Santa. With apologies to Rudolph, we do want to inform you there’s no need for that antiquated sleigh this year. As the saying goes, out with the old and in with the new. Soup up the ride with the Houston Pride Band and tool around town with its upcoming concert: Yuletide Ride. The most wonderful time of the year just wouldn’t be complete without the music that makes the season so cheery. And adding a 740 horsepower engine wouldn’t hurt. Yes, Sunny 99.1 plays the music ad nauseam, and one can’t crank up the beats without a tricked-out sound system, but there’s no substitute for the real thing: a live band playing all the best hits of the holidays. Get into the mood with the band as it moves and grooves with all the favorites, including Christmas, Hanukkah and other holiday melodies. 7 p.m. December 3. The MATCH, 3400 Main. For information, call 832-356-7476 or visit houstonprideband.org. $5 to $10. — Sam Byrd

Next up for Da Camera's Jazz Series is the return of vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, who has been quite busy since her Houston debut two years ago. She caught our attention when she received a Grammy nomination for her album, WomanChild, in 2014, and she sealed the deal this year when she took home the win for Best Jazz Vocal Album with For One to Love, an eclectic round-up that includes five original compositions as well as her own take on rarely recorded jazz and blues compositions. She's talented (past winner of the Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition), she's stylish (she must have inherited her love of hats from her French mother) and she'll be performing in Houston for one night only, joined onstage by jazz virtuoso Aaron Diehl, bassist Paul Sikivie and drummer Lawrence Leathers. 8 p.m. December 3. Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas. For information, call 713-524-5050 or visit dacamera.com. $37.50 to $67.50. — Susie Tommaney

If you and your dog resemble each other, you might have a shot at winning the pet owner lookalike contest at the SPCA's iWalk for Animals event. Other contests include best costume and best kisser (we're not sure about that one), and proceeds from the 5K Canine Caper and 1K Pup Strut help support SPCA's lifesaving programs and services. iWalk for Animals runs from 8 to 11:30 a.m. December 3, with the 5K Canine Caper beginning at 9:15 a.m. and the 1K Pup Strut starting at 9:30 a.m. Houston SPCA's iWalk for Animals, Memorial Park, 7575 North Picnic Lane, 713-869-7722, HoustonSPCA.org. Free (donations accepted). Click here to register for the event. — Susie Tommaney

They've mashed up Beatles tunes with traditional Christmas songs four years in a row and, instead of presenting The White Christmas Album 5, the talented performers over at The Music Box Theater have changed things up (albeit only slightly) when planning this year's A Very Beatles Holiday Concert. Using Beatles songs as inspiration — not as nutty an idea as you might imagine — these singing actors wrap us in cheer, good will, wintry nostalgia and goofy comedy, all while singing their hearts out. The great ones would be Rebekah Dahl, Brad Scarborough, Kristina Sullivan, Cay Taylor and Luke Wrobel. Per person onstage, the entertainment quotient is enough to populate any Ziegfeld show, three or more Andy Williams variety hours or a double-CD K-Tel reissue. Wrapped in incomparable musicality and beribboned in solid craftsmanship, this Fab 4/Fab 5 show is a gift you won’t return. 7:30 p.m. December 3. Continuing 2 p.m. Sundays (no performance on Christmas); 7:30 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and December 15, 21 and 26 (no performance Christmas Eve). Through December 30. 2623 Colquitt. For information, call 713-522-7722 or visit themusicboxtheater.com. $27 to $37. — D.L. Groover and Susie Tommaney

Sunday, December 4

There’s no place like home for the holidays. As for the Gay Men’s Chorus of Houston and the Bayou City Women’s Chorus, they invite us all to gather at their home for a winter celebration titled Ring! A Holiday Concert. The nearly 40-year-strong vocal group is singing all the best tunes of the season, and they’ve brought a few friends along for the ride. The Houston Heights Orchestra makes a cameo, joining the handbell sounds of the Houston Bronze Ensemble. Pencil in the date on the calendar because Gay Men’s Chorus of Houston Director Kenneth Clayborne tells us it’s a not-to-be-missed show. “We use this holiday concert to utilize memories and emotions for our world, and we’re using the vessel of music to bridge our lives to come together for the holidays.” 3 p.m. December 4. Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church, 2025 West 11th. For information, call 713-521-7464 or visit bcpahouston.org. $10 to $20. — Sam Byrd

Forget holiday cards. Send your loved ones a text this year; it’s what the current generation is likely to do. It’s also the idea behind the newest addition to the Houston Tidelanders’ repertoire — “Text Me A Merry Christmas.” This weekend, about 40 members plus four quartets of the all-male a cappella group are performing this song, alongside favorite holiday classics in its Annual Christmas Show. “The real joy of what we do, particularly in this time of year, is being able to share our love for the music, our love for the season with our audiences,” says Jim Halcarz, who has served as president for the past two years. As the Houston chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society, the chorus is celebrating its 70th anniversary of entertaining audiences with a variety of tunes, from ’60s doo-wop to Broadway to pop hits, all in the barbershop style. 2 and 7 p.m. December 3 at Sugar Land Baptist Church, 16755 Southwest Freeway, Sugar Land. 2 p.m. December 4 at The MATCH, 3400 Main. For information, call 713-223-8433 or visit tidelanders.com. $20 to $35. — Lawrence Elizabeth Knox

Whether you’re a Scrooge or a Tiny Tim, the 43rd Annual Dickens on the Strand Victorian Holiday Festival could be the elixir to any “bah, humbug!” sentiments. “It initially started as a potluck dinner. Just something to bring attention to the Strand district, which was not as it is now,” says Will Wright, marketing director for the Galveston Historical Foundation. That simple event now includes street performers, craft vendors, great food and unique events like Albert’s Whimsical Whisker Revue and the Victorian-era bed races. “There’s a ton going on,” says Wright. “As crowd favorites go, the costume contest is always super-popular. There’s a beard and mustache competition on Saturday. And parades.” And, Wright notes, a word to the wise. “If you come in costume, you get in for half-price,” he whispers, adding, “I’m biased, but being at Dickens in costume is the only way to experience it.” 5 to 9 p.m. December 2, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. December 3, noon to 6 p.m. December 4. 2300 Strand, Galveston. For information, call 409-765-7834 or visit galvestonhistory.org. Free to $15. — Vic Shuttee

Monday, December 5

This year, the Duke is dropping by River Oaks Chamber Orchestra’s Yuletide: Annual Christmas Concert and Coffee, and he’s going to make it swing. ROCO’s Brass Quintet is performing Duke Ellington’s jazz interpretations of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite. George Chase, trumpeter and concert programmer for the quintet, says, “It’s a uniquely Ellingtonian take,” a composition in which Tchaikovsky’s “Marche miniature” becomes the “Peanut Brittle Brigade [March]” and the “Arabian Dance” becomes the “Arabesque Cookie.” The concert is held inside the mirrored spiegeltent at Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens, which Chase says adds seasonal elegance. “It hearkens back to an earlier era, a time of authenticity,” says the trumpeter. “The smell of shoe polish, the smell of wood and leather and the touch of glass — tactile things — it envelops the senses.” 10 a.m. December 5. 6003 Memorial. For information, call 713-665-2700 or visit rocohouston.org. $55. — Katricia Lang