Christmas comes but once a year, and so does A Charlie Brown Christmas, the Charlie Brown-iest of seasonal theatrical spectacles. Based on the Emmy- and Peabody-winning 1965 animated television special inspired by artist Charles M. Schulz's classic Peanuts comic strip, which ran from 1950 to 2000, A Charlie Brown Christmas has been an evergreen holiday event since 2013.

Set amid the wintry delights of Schulz's Minnesota childhood, A Charlie Brown Christmas finds the Peanuts gang working out the true meaning of Christmas for themselves in a world devoid of adult supervision. And if, like the musical's title character, you suffer from unfulfilled seasonal expectations, you'll find a natural palliative in composer Vince Guaraldi's jazzy score, which has sold more than four million copies since its initial release thanks to the irrepressible swing of songs like "Linus and Lucy," "Skating" and "Christmas Time Is Here."