CARDIFF THEATRICAL SERVICES, LTD.
A close up of the Christmas tree in Act I of The Nutcracker by set designer Tom Pye.
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urtain up on the glow and oh-so-pretty snow. It’s finally time to crack open a whole new Nutcracker because, as Atlanta Ballet Artistic Director Gennadi Nedvigin says, every generation deserves its own. Nedvigin, a Bolshoi-trained artist, became the fourth artistic director in the company’s 89-year history two seasons ago. He last danced with San Francisco Ballet, and moved to Atlanta knowing he'd help oversee an all-new Nutcracker ballet. Young people who grew up attending its predecessor, a storybook production staged for 23 seasons, are starting to bring their own kids to the holiday classic. The retired version was set against rich, jewel-toned backdrops that evoked 19th-century Russia. It blended clever comedic moments and ethereal classical ballet sequences with thrilling pas de deux. Nedvigin’s new, $3.7 million staging, choreographed by Russian-born dancer Yuri Possokhov, returns to the original source material: German author E.T.A. Hoffmann’s 1816 fantasy story “Nutcracker and Mouse King.” It places the opening Christmas Eve party scene in a small German village. With dream-versus-reality notions, along with toy soldiers, snowflakes and such, The Nutcracker opens its imagination wide to artistic invention. But its central story line often remains: a magical uncle figure brings handmade toys to children at the party. Among them is a nutcracker,
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