In the heart of "Christmas City USA," comes a show that embraces the spirit of the Christmas season: "Christmas City Follies XV," Dec. 4 - 21, 8 p.m. Thursdays - Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays (and Dec. 20), Touchstone Theatre, 321 E. Fourth St., Bethlehem.

The high-spirited, homegrown, vaudevillian variety show promises hilarity, sentiment, quirky characters, sketches and songs.

According to "Follies" director JP Jordan, who is Touchstone artistic director, the show changes each year. At the first rehearsal, the cast meets to discuss what ideas they have been thinking of since last year's performance, and they brainstorm new ideas.

Although the ensemble doesn't use the same script, they will build on previous characters and ideas for the latest show. This is Jordan's 10th year with the production and his seventh time as the director.

Jordan says the 15th annual production has an overarching theme of people feeling displaced and lonely during the holiday season, but within that people can come together and encourage one another to realize nobody is truly alone because we are all connected.

Even though the show is titled "Christmas City Follies," it is about more than just Christmas. The title is a frame of reference to Bethlehem as the Christmas City, but the show is about the holidays as a whole and deals with multiple holidays during the Christmas season. It plays on the theme of what it means to be an American and alive in this present time during the Christmas season.

"We look to have the whole emotional range of what goes on in the holidays," Jordan says.

Although it is never the same show twice, previous cast members are expected to reprise memorable characters such as Kwanzaa Panther, Christmas Mouse, Christmas Pirates and Justine.

There's also Touchstone founder Bill George's gloomy, cantankerous Old Guy; Mary Wright's silent, innocent literalist Little Red, and the doe-eyed musical Pajama Sisters.

The show also features carols (traditional and otherwise), personal stories, a featured spot for local community guests, a toy box full of holiday creatures and the "Shopping Cart Ballet."

Dave Fry, Lehigh Valley singer-songwriter, provides holiday-content entertainment, 7 - 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays in the Touchstone Café.

Jordan believes that with the Christmas season, many people experience a sense of warmth from being with friends and family.

"I think that warmth is in a way a sort of dream, an ideal, that children can experience much easier than adults," says Jordan.

"Sometimes we need to walk through a process and see a show, or experience something that allows us to feel and revel in those emotions again."

Ticket information: touchstone.org, 610 867-1689