STAGE

Ham for the Holidays The “Sequim Gay Men’s Chorus,” compensates with enthusiasm what it lacks in membership. The group is one of the madcap inventions of the comedy duo of Lisa Koch and Peggy Platt, who are offering Ham, their high-camp sendup of holiday traditions, for the 17th year. ACT Theatre, 700 Union St., acttheatre.org. $20–$45. Preview Nov. 30, opens Dec. 1. 7:30 p.m. Wed.–Thurs., 8 p.m. Fri., 2 & 8 p.m. Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. Ends Dec. 17.

DANCE

Universal Language Project & Karin Stevens Dance The forward-thinking music presenters collaborate with a dance troupe on two theater pieces: Saci—A Brazilian Folktale, with music by Jovino Santos Neto, and The Greater Trumps, which resets Stravinsky’s dry, snappy music for his chamber ballet The Soldier’s Tale to a contemporary, politically trenchant libretto by Doug Thorpe. Cornish Playhouse, Seattle Center, karinstevensdance.com. $15–$50. 8 p.m. Fri., Dec. 1, 2:30 p.m. Sat., Dec. 2.

CLASSICAL

Seattle Symphony Depending on whom you ask, Rachmaninoff’s Third may not be quite the hardest piano concerto in the repertory (some suggest Prokofiev’s Second, and there are passages in Max Reger’s that I can’t imagine how they’re possible), but it’s near the summit, and its sweep and grandeur make it irresistible—to pianists as a challenge, to audiences as a sonic and emotional wallow. Kirill Gerstein plays it this weekend; Johannes Debus also conducts Franck’s moody, alluring Symphony in D minor. Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., seattlesymphony.org. $22–$122. 7:30 p.m. Thurs., Nov. 30; noon Fri., Dec. 1; 8 p.m. Sat., Dec. 2.

Jeremy Denk One music professor of mine called the theme-and-variations movement in Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in E minor the most beautiful set ever written, and I tend to agree (at least in the piano repertory). For this recital Denk’s also chosen Mozart’s Rondo in A minor—the aching harmonic waywardness of which suggested where he might have gone musically had he not died at 35—and works by Prokofiev and Schumann. Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., seattlesymphony.org. $25–$123. 2 p.m. Sun., Dec. 3.

See all Seattle arts events for the week, and beyond, on our new-and-improved calendar.