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The New York City Ballet Presents The Nutcracker


This year, the New York City Ballet presents the holiday classic George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker through Saturday, January 4, at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

To read an interview with NYC Ballet Principal Dancer Sara Mearns, who plays the Sugarplum Fairy, click here.

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, evident by the now countless versions of the ballet performed all over the country. NYCB’s beloved production is seen by more than 100,000 people annually.

NYC Ballet's The Nutcracker
Photo: Paul Kolnik

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 more than 125 children, in two alternating casts, 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.

NYC Ballet's The Nutcracker
Photo: Paul Kolnik

Ticket prices start at $29 and New York City Ballet also offers a Sweet Seat VIP Package, which includes a premium center Orchestra seat, a keepsake photo taken with a character, a complimentary souvenir book, and 15 percent off purchases at the NYCB Gift Shop. Plus, for every two Sweet Seat tickets purchased, audience members will receive a coupon for one complimentary keepsake photo with a character from the show.

Tickets are currently on sale through the NYCB website here, at the theater box office and by phone at 212-496-0600. The David H. Koch Theater is located on the Lincoln Center Plaza at Columbus Avenue & 63rd Street.

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