On December 19 at 6 pm New York City Ballet will mark a milestone in the history of its landmark production of George Balanchine’s The NutcrackerTM, the 2000th performance of the ballet.
This production, which premiered on February 2, 1954, at the City Center of Music and Drama in New York, helped to establish The Nutcracker and its score as perennial favorites in the United States. The Company has performed the ballet in New York City every year since its premiere.
Set to Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky’s glorious score, George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker™ features choreography by Balanchine, scenery by Rouben Ter-Arutunian, costumes by Karinska, and lighting by Mark Stanley, after the original design by Ronald Bates. The production includes the Company’s entire roster of more than 150 dancers and musicians, as well as two alternating casts of 50 children from the School of American Ballet, the official school of New York City Ballet.
Highlights of this world-renowned holiday production include a one-ton Christmas tree that grows from 12 to 40 feet, an onstage snowstorm, and hundreds of elaborate costumes, including one for Mother Ginger that measures nine feet wide and weighs 85 pounds. The production’s grand finale involves one million watts of lighting, the most used in any New York City Ballet production.
For this 2000th performance, special casting surprises will include 17 different dancers in the roles of the Sugarplum Fairy, Her Cavalier, and Dewdrop.
Tickets are currently on sale through the NYCB website at www.nycballet.com, as well as at the New York State Theater box office and through Center Charge at 212-721-6500. For more information about tickets to any New York City Ballet performance, call 212-870-5570 or visit www.nycballet.com. The New York State Theater is located on the Lincoln Center Plaza at Columbus Avenue at 63rd St.
