It’s a huge year for the Nashville Ballet‘s special holiday production. This is their 10th year performing Nashville’s Nutcracker.
Nashville’s Nutcracker runs from Dec. 2 through Dec. 23 at TPAC’s Jackson Hall and this is a big year! To commemorate the 10th anniversary, they’re adding more magic to the show.
Nashville Ballet premiered The Nutcracker in 1989 but was reinvented as Nashville’s Nutcracker in 2008. With the new production came a new, unique concept. They incorporated Nashville’s history alongside updated choreography, sets, costumes and even on-stage magic tricks!
Since it began, Nashville Ballet Artistic Director and CEO Paul Vasterling’s original take on the classic has become a treasured part of Nashville’s holiday season.
“I added a few surprises for this anniversary year as a special way of saying thank you to the community for making us a part of their holiday tradition,” he explains. “For the first time, it’ll snow on the audience during the iconic snow scene. Another big addition is the debut of a new youth cast role, the Dancing Bear Cavalry, which allows us to welcome even more young dancers on stage with us.”
Nashville’s Nutcracker will feature a youth cast of 296 young dancers from the School of Nashville Ballet and the community along with 54 members of Nashville Ballet’s professional dance company. Sixty members of the Grammy Award-winning Nashville Symphony will perform the celebrated score from Tchaikovsky. It will be a must-see holiday performance.
The story starts at the 1897 Centennial Exposition in Nashville with Clara and her Uncle Drosselmeyer. They met a cast of characters from faraway lands but it’s the wooden Nutcracker that changes it all. When her uncle gives her the Nutcracker on Christmas Eve, it comes to life as a handsome prince. The prince leads Clara on an amazing adventure. When Clara returns home, the audience has to decide whether it was all a dream — or not.
Tickets for the event start at $35 and are available at the TPAC box office or by calling (615) 782-4040. They can also be purchased at the Nashville Ballet’s official website.
