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What: Nutcracker Delights, a theatrical and dance retelling of the classic ballet
When: 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Where: Bellevue Little Theatre, 203 Mission Ave., Bellevue
Tickets: $10 available at door or by calling 551-4200
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What: The Nutcracker, Creighton University Dance Company production
When: 7:30 p.m. today through Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Lied Education Center for the Arts, 24th and Cass Streets
Tickets: $12, $10 senior citizens and $5 students and faculty; call 280-1448
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What: Great Russian Nutcracker, Moscow Ballet production of the classic ballet
When: 7:30 p.m. Monday
Where: Omaha Music Hall, 17th and Davenport Streets
Tickets: $25.50 to $65.50; call (800) 745-3000
It's a fantasy world of beautiful ballerinas, mean-spirited mice and heroic toy soldiers.
Tchaikovsky's “The Nutcracker” is without question the most popular ballet in the history of dance. Omaha Theater Ballet's “The Imperial Nutcracker,” which runs through Sunday at the Orpheum Theater, gets most of the attention in Omaha. But the metro area boasts several other worthy “Nutcrackers.”
Nutcracker Delights, Saturday and Sunday, Bellevue Little Theatre. This terrific production mixes community theater and ballet to tell the Nutcracker's backstory. Julian Adair, founder of Omaha's Adair Dance Academy, derived her story from E.T.A. Hoffmann's “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” the 1816 short story that was the source of the Tchaikovsky ballet.
Tchaikovsky's ballet tells the story of Clara, a 19th-century child who has a Christmastime vision of the Kingdom of Sweets. Adair's story begins in the present day and focuses on Clara's great-granddaughter Marie.
In “Nutcracker Delights,” Marie finds her great-grandmother's journal in the attic and learns about the inventive watchmaker Drosselmeyer, the selfish Princess Pirlipat and the Mouse King. She also discovers the secret of the Mouse King's curse.
This large production features Tchaikovsky's score and also includes Christmas carols and some narration.
Great Russian Nutcracker, Monday, Omaha Music Hall, 17th and Davenport Streets. This Moscow Ballet production features exquisite dancing and gorgeous costumes. The ballet is mostly traditional but does feature an original setting for Act 2, moving it from Tchaikovsky's “Land of Sweets” to the “Land of Peace and Harmony.” There is also a new character, Christmas Dove, and a fantasy clock with the wings of an owl that cast a shadow over the battle between toy soldiers and mice. Moscow Ballet principal artists Ekaterina Bortykova and Akzhol Mussakhanov star as Masha and the Nutcracker Prince.
The Nutcracker, through Sunday, Lied Education Center for the Arts. Creighton University's Dance Company presents this traditional Nutcracker. A young girl, Clara, is given a Nutcracker Doll by her uncle Drosselmeyer. She falls asleep and dreams she saves the Nutcracker from the Mouse King during a fierce battle.
Contact the writer:
444-1076, john.pitcher@owh.com
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