Published November 29. 2025 02:02AM<\/p>\n
An annual Lehigh Valley holiday favorite celebrates its 26th anniversary when Touchstone Theatre presents \u201cChristmas City Follies XXVI,\u201d Dec. 4-21 in Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
\u201cChristmas City Follies\u201d has become a beloved Bethlehem tradition, known for its original sketches, characters and songs.<\/p>\n
Get a sneak preview of this year\u2019s \u201cFollies\u201d when Touchstone Ensemble members perform at Bethlehem\u2019s north side \u201cChristmas Tree-Lighting,\u201d 4:30 p.m. Nov. 28, Payrow Plaza.<\/p>\n
Touchstone Theatre will host the Downtown Bethlehem Association\u2019s \u201cLive Advent Calendar,\u201d 5:30 p.m. Dec. 1 to Dec. 23, Sun Inn Courtyard. Every evening, Touchstone actors will select a member of the audience to open the door and see what surprise awaits inside.<\/p>\n
The tree-lighting and Advent calendar are free and open to the public.<\/p>\n
Thousands of locals and tourists have made \u201cThe Follies,\u201d a family-friendly, vaudevillian show, an addition to their holiday festivities, knowing that they can expect something special every time.<\/p>\n
The best part of the variety-style show is that it is entirely made from scratch each and every year. Writers, actors and designers from Touchstone\u2019s Ensemble work each season to create a fresh and fun production directed by JP Jordan.<\/p>\n
Every year is a surprise, bringing brand-new stories to the stage while sprinkling in some recurring fan-favorite characters and scenes from past shows, such as Mary Wright\u2019s doleful Little Red and Bill George\u2019s inquiring Old Guy.<\/p>\n
This year will see the return of Lisa Jordan as an Ensemble member. Jordan recently stepped down from her role as managing director of Touchstone Theater after nearly 18 years, but is staying involved as a performer.<\/p>\n
Touchstone offers pay-what-you-will Thursdays for \u201cChristmas City Follies.\u201d<\/p>\n
The performance is 90 minutes with no intermission.<\/p>\n
\u201cChristmas City Follies XXVI,\u201d 8 p.m. Dec. 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 17, 18; 2 p.m. Dec. 7, 14, 21; 2 p.m., 8 p.m. Dec. 13, 20, Touchstone Theatre, 321 E. Fourth St., Bethlehem. 610-867-1689; http:\/\/www.touchstone.org\/<\/p>\n
\u201cCurtain Rises\u201d is a column about the theater, stage shows, the actors in them and the directors and artists who make them happen. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com<\/p>\n
CONTRIBUTED PHOTOFrom left: Bill George, Mary Wright, Dylan Gombos, Matt Prideaux, \u201cChristmas City Follies XXVI,\u201d Touchstone Theatre, Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
CONTRIBUTED PHOTOFrom left: Amber Charest, Matt Prideaux of Touchstone Theatre at Downtown Bethlehem Association\u2019s \u201cLive Advent Calendar.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published November 29. 2025 02:02AM An annual Lehigh Valley holiday favorite celebrates its 26th anniversary when Touchstone Theatre…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-47468","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}