<B>'Nutcracker' is lively fun</B><BR>By JANET DESCUTNER for The Register-Guard<P> <BR>Eugene Ballet Company opened 2001's "Nutcracker" at the Hult Center on Friday to an enthusiastic, youthful crowd decked out in holiday chiffon, velvet and sparkly embellishments.<P>The kids cut their teeth as future arts patrons on Toni Pimble's all-live, enthusiastically performed dance/music/theater extravaganza, in which talents of dancers from EBC and Eugene School of Ballet also sparkled.<P>Well played by the Eugene Opera Orchestra under the baton of Robert Ashens, and equally well sung by its youthful chorus directed by Sandra Brown Williams, they enjoyed the all-too-rare pleasures of seeing and hearing both of these lively arts "live."<P><A HREF="http://www.registerguard.com/news/20011223/2c.cr.review.1223.html" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A><BR>