California Nutcracker Ballet

Productions number well over 50 with most companies producing a minimum of two shows. You can easily go nuts for this classic holiday ballet based on the novel by German author Ernst Theodor Amadeus (E.T.A.) Hoffmann, Nutcracker and Mouseking. Here's the Nutcracker Story summary.

California claims the oldest, tallest and biggest trees in the world, all worthy of our attention during the holidays when trees become shrines sparkling like diamonds and hiding priceless gifts under their branches. Another holiday symbol, The Nutcracker ballet, combines the centerpiece Christmas Tree with classical orchestration, dazzling costumes and seasoned to emerging talents showcased in hundreds of stage presentations in California. If you're wondering how this holiday tradition began, you can thank California's San Francisco Ballet for becoming America's first professional ballet company in 1933, then introducing the first American premier of The Nutcracker in 1944!

In addition, each year California is graced with The Great Russian Nutcracker, which has been renamed Nutcracker Magical Christmas Ballet. Tapping into the talent of ballet dancers who transition from stage & spotlights to behind the scenes— teaching, creating new choreography and running ballet schools, many of The Nutcracker ballets in California are world-class!

California Nutcrackers