The Nutcracker®
The holiday season comes to the stage in our annual performance of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®, a tradition unlike any other. Cross swords with the Mouse King and dine with the Sugar Plum Fairy in this quintessential celebration of the season, brightened by the eternal Tchaikovsky score.
Recommended for ages 4 and older.
Presented by
Performances By Date
▲ School Matinee Performance
◆ Sensory Friendly Performance
The Nutcracker is an add-on to subscriptions.
We strongly urge patrons to purchase tickets directly through our website to avoid the risks of tickets sold by fraudulent second-party vendors. When you purchase a ticket through us, you are directly supporting Philadelphia Ballet and ensuring you receive the best tickets at the best price. We look forward to seeing you in the theater!
It is difficult to overstate the depth and breadth of the artistry and influence of choreographer, George Balanchine. Called the ‘Father of American Ballet,’ he combined a reverence for the classical training he received as a boy in St. Petersburg with ferocious originality and commitment to modernism. He and his many brilliant collaborators, including Sergei Diaghilev, Igor Stravinsky, Georges Rouault, and Karinska, among many, many others, transformed ballet into a 20th century artform. Balanchine’s influence as a teacher is every bit as paradigm-changing as the repertoire he created. When our own founder, Barbara Weisberger (herself a protégée of Balanchine) conceived of Philadelphia Ballet, Balanchine insisted, “But first, a school.”
The music of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky constitutes one of the pillars of the orchestral repertoire and the very foundation of classical ballet. Tchaikovsky’s unforgettable melodies, inventive harmonies, and ground-breaking orchestrations make his music both loveable and eternal. Ballet audiences are fortunate to hear not only the works he intended for dance, such as Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, but also a wide variety of orchestral pieces that have been choreographed by great dance-makers, such as George Balanchine.
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