Christmas is usually a time when such holiday chestnuts as “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “A Christmas Carol” are trotted out by area community theaters.

This year, however, regional stages will be filled with holiday revues – shows that tend to ditch plot in favor of more music.

Here’s a sample of what’s to come.

“The 1940s Radio Hour”

“The 1940’s Radio Hour” is both a nostalgic tribute to the Golden Age of Radio and a commemoration of Christmas celebrations past.

The play, about the final broadcast of an insolvent New York station in 1942, features not only Christmas music of the period but jazz standards as well, including “That Old Black Magic, “Blue Moon,” “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and “Strike up the Band.”

“The 1940’s Radio Hour” opens today at Arena Dinner Theatre, 719 Rockhill St.

Director Wayne Schaltenbrand, who is old enough to have experienced the tail end of that aforementioned Golden Age, says the play is great at recreating the way old-time radio was put together: the live sound effects, the seat-of-the-pants line readings, the desperate improvisation, the giant microphones.

“Basically it’s not really what you can call a first-rate station,” Schaltenbrand says. “It’s, like, all the characters have quote-unquote day jobs. They’re the people who are referred to in the saying, ‘Don’t lose your day job.’ ”

Schaltenbrand says there are some dramatic subplots (the resident crooner has a problem with alcohol, for example).

But the show really isn’t about plot. It’s more an evocation of an era.

There are even renditions of actual commercial jingles that might be familiar to older patrons, he says.

“It’s a very nostalgic show,” he says. “It’s fun.”

Information: 8 p.m. today, Saturday, Monday, Dec. 4, 5, 11, 12, 18 and 19; 2 p.m. Dec. 13; $35; 493-1384

“The First Presbyterian Theatre Christmas Revue”

When First Presbyterian Theater decided to do a revue this holiday season instead of a straight play or a narrative musical, the venue knew it had an ace up its sleeve.

Rob Martinez.

Martinez is a local music collector who own 16,000 Christmas songs in various formats.

“We call him the Christmas guru,” director Joel Scribner says. “If you need to know anything about almost any kind of popular music regardless of the historical context, he will likely know the answer.”

Scribner put Martinez in charge of choosing the music, and Martinez came up with some atypical fare.

For example, a rendition of “Good King Wenceslas” about the difficulty of finding a parking space in December and a version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” about the pressure on husbands to find good gifts for their wives.

Martinez went so far as to contact legendary comedian Stan Freberg to get his permission to recreate Freberg’s work of “audio theater” called “Green Christmas.”

“It’s an incredibly hard-hitting satirical look at how Christmas has been commercialized,” Scribner says.

Scribner says this might be the first time the piece has been performed live for an audience.

“The First Presbyterian Theater Christmas Revue,” which opens Thursday at First Presbyterian Theater, is divided into two parts: a silly and spirited first half and poignant and spiritual second half.

The cast of 30 includes local folk singer Marnee, Scribner says.

Information: Preview performance, 7:30 p.m. Thursday; First Presbyterian Theater, 300 W. Wayne St.; $10; 422-6329; ends Dec. 20

“Christmas at the Starlight”

In such Shakespeare masterworks as “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Love’s Labours Lost” and “Hamlet,” there is a dramatic device called a “play within a play.”

It refers to when the characters in the play you are watching put on their own play for each other.

“Christmas at the Starlight” is a new genre. A supper club within a dinner theatre.

“Christmas at the Starlight,” which happens Dec. 11 and 12 at First Assembly of God Church, is an original theatrical work from pastor Bob Parrent.

It’s about a nightspot in the late 1940s where headliner Gloria Sutton sings bravely on despite the fact that she fears her flying-ace husband was shot down.

Meanwhile, the other employees at the club go about their business in comedic and dramatic ways.

The play has faux waiters serving fake food, but the real patrons can avail themselves of a full dinner buffet.

“Christmas at the Starlight” is full of Christmas music of a secular and spiritual nature and the narrative never overpowers all the standards.

Mark Van Cleave Jazz Orchestra, a local 20-piece big band, will be on hand to provide considerable verisimilitude.

Parrent says he was looking for something new to do this holiday season and finally decided he just needed to write it himself.

“It’s hard to find some fresh musical theater material to do at this time of year,” he says. “I hadn’t found anything I really liked, and I’d had this idea kicking around my brain for a while.”

Parrent says tickets are going fast.

Information: 7 p.m. Dec. 11 and 12; $16; First Assembly of God, 1400 W. Washington Center Road; 490-8585

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