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Nothing quite says Christmas season like a live holiday show that sets you back a few hundred dollars for tickets, refreshment costs and souvenirs. So here's a guide to three of the biggest shows, to make sure you find the show that best suits your taste and interest.

The Radio City Christmas Spectacular is the granddaddy of holiday shows in New York. For 77 years, the Rockettes have been high-kicking their way through the massive Radio City Music Hall stage straight to audience hearts and pocketbooks. The show has experienced a steady evolution over time but from one year to the next it doesn't change all that much. Why mess with success?

Newer innovations include a most welcome 3-D trip on Santa's sleigh from the North Pole to New York and a tribute to stagecraft with a double-decker bus tour through the ultra G-rated streets of Manhattan. It's most impressive and indeed trippy.

I have to say the simplest number, the precision march of the toy soldiers, is still my favorite. It's been entertaining the masses all these years for good reason. You may consider it too treacly, but like the Statue of Liberty and Broadway, you've got to do it at least once before you die.

Meanwhile, Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" is back on Broadway for a second year with a new cast, and it's as nostalgically wonderful as ever. Based on the 1954 film showcasing the crooning of Bing Crosby, it's full of classic Berlin tunes including the title number, "Sisters" and "Count Your Blessings."

Musical theater fans will delight in director Walter Bobbie's marvelous recreation of the sweetly sentimental work which features top notch singing and dancing from a gifted company, cast I'm happy to add,for their talents not their celebrity.

Finally, aimed at a younger crowd, there's Cirque Du Soleil's "Wintuk" at Madison Square Garden. It's a circus show that's got some very cool state-of-the-art effects. The acts are phenomenal if basic, featuring jugglers, aerialists, skateboarders, bikers and acrobatic dogs. The harmless, highly-inventive 90-minute show is designed to dazzle the kids and the kid in you.

Don't rush out of your seat at the end of "Wintuk," because a blizzard of snow confetti awaits. It's funny how such a simple thing can cast a cozy spell on a house, which proves in all three cases that a good show can make a cold city feel awfully warm.