Chief Dance Critic of the N.Y.Times, Alastair Macaulay, discusses the history of NUTcrackers! Too bad James Kudelka’s Nutcracker never made his list. Tip: Don’t forget to check out the beautiful audio slideshow.

I notice that the Christensen brothers and San Francisco Ballet are not mentioned...typical. Willam Christensen choreographed the first full length Nutcracker in the United States in 1944 in San Francisco. Lew Christensen's full length version first appeared in 1954. The east coast seems to always take the credit for introducing this ballet to the US and re-introducing it to the world, but it really is a west coast creation! Balanchine got the idea from the Christensen brothers! Here is a link to the history of the Nutcracker in San Francisco:

http://veenet.value.net/~cchris/Nutcracker.html

Pacific Northwest Ballet opens the 2007 edition of The Nutcracker with choreography by Kent Stowell, sets and costumes by Maurice Sendak, on the day after Thanksgiving -- Friday, November 23, 2007 -- with a matinee performance at 2:00 p.m. and an evening performance at 7:30 p.m. Here is a link to The Nutcracker section of the PNB website:

PNB Nutcracker

Casting is now available for the first weekend of performances:

Nutcracker Casting