If the commercials on TV aren’t proof enough that the Holidays have officially hit, you need look no further than the programming on area stages. Those Christmas shows pack ’em in and pay the bills, so let’s take a look at some of them:

A NEW SCROOGE AT DTC: You’ll be seeing a new face playing that most familiar of Christmas characters in Dallas Theater Center’s A Christmas Carol. DTC company member Sean Hennigan takes over the role of Ebenezer Scrooge from Robert Langdon Lloyd, who played the part the last four years. And he’s about to find out what a grind it is. “How do you do it twice daily? That’s now one of the things I’m going to find out. The last time I was asked to do this many performances, I was quite a bit younger,” he tells dallasnews.com. Remember – if you’re going to see the show, it’s at the Kalita Humphreys, not the Wyly.

SHOWS FOR KIDS: Adults and kids make a nice team when they partner up to save Christmas in Casa Manana’s Santa Claus is Coming to Town (dfw.com) … Nancy Churnin of dallasnews.com and Mark Lowry of theaterjones.com both recommend the pair of holiday shows at Dallas Children’s Theater. Of Santa’s Holiday for Strings, Lowry writes, “Not only is the show a delight for kids and the parents and grandparents, but it showcases deft displays of puppetry techniques, from marionettes and black puppetry, to rod and shadow puppets and digital and object manipulation.” Of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Churnin writes, “good luck keeping eyes dry in the second act.” The show features two casts, meaning that 92 kids hit the stage. How do you keep track of all those little ones? Jerome finds out in this KERA radio story.

SHOWS FOR ADULTS: … Nye Cooper has become North Texas’ No. 1 elf after starring in The Santaland Diaries at both WaterTower Theatre and now at Contemporary Theatre of Dallas. “Few actors could make this much heavy lifting look as effortless and sharp as Cooper does,” says theaterjones.com … The performances outshine the material in Theatre Too’s Another Night Before Christmas says Lawson Taitte in his dallasnews.com review. “Fortunately, the plot gets more interesting, and the songs more amusing, as the show progresses,” he writes. … Country music lovers will dig Circle Theatre’s world premiere of A Lone Star Christmas Carol, but hardcore theatergoers might feel the musical strays too far from the source, says theaterjones.com.