What do you want from a Christmas play? If you're like most people, you want sparkly lights, a jolly Saint Nick with a real beard, tiny tots with their eyes all aglow, and a reminder of the true, commercial-free meaning of Christmas (brought to you by Coca-Cola). If the lobby smells like chocolate and peppermint, so much the better. You want the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping and year-end crunches at work to feel more like the wonder and excitement your kids lavish on the season. You want the kaleidoscopic bounty under the tree to mean more than a breath-shortening Visa bill. In short, you want some damn Christmas magic, thank you very much, and you'll get it from Miracle on 34th Street, Tacoma Little Theatre's big-hearted paean to the man with the bag.

Read Christian Carvajal's full review of Tacoma Little Theatre's Miracle on 34^th Street in the Weekly Volcano's Arts section.

TACOMA LITTLE THEATRE, MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET, THROUGH DEC. 23, 7:30 P.M. FRIDAY-SATURDAY, 2 P.M. SUNDAY, $12.50-$24.50, 210 N. I ST., TACOMA, 253.272.2281