The Deal

• for two tickets to see Maryland Youth Ballet Presents The Nutcracker (up to value)
• Where: Robert E. Parilla Performing Arts Center - Montgomery College
• Seating: general admission
• Door time: 30 minutes before showtime
• Ticket values include all fees.<p>

Showtimes

• Friday, December 27, at 1 p.m.
• Saturday, December 28, at 1 p.m.
• Saturday, December 28, at 5 p.m.<p>

The value of this deal is based on regular ticket prices and doesn’t reflect child, student, or senior discounts.

The Nutcracker

Based on a novel by 19th-century romantic fabulist E.T.A. Hoffman, The Nutcracker weaves a magical tale of holiday adventure around one of the most recognizable scores in the ballet repertoire. It begins when young Clara receives a nutcracker from her godfather, a wizardly toymaker named Drosselmeyer. Sneaking downstairs to see the toy after everyone else has gone to bed, she suddenly finds herself caught in the middle of a pitched battle between the toys and an army of mice. After saving the nutcracker with a well-thrown shoe to the Mouse King’s head, Clara and her now-living prince venture into the Land of Snow and the Land of Sweets to celebrate. Throughout their adventures, Tchaikovsky’s dazzling inventiveness propels the dances of nimble flowers, regal fairy queens, and seasonally confused vampires. The “Waltz of the Snowflakes” floats weightlessly above the angelic voices of a youth choir, whereas the “Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy” tiptoes to the haunting, music-box chimes of a celesta. A medley of exotic national dances—including a Spanish bolero and Russian Trepak—add to the phantasmagoric celebration before the whole dream ends, as all dreams must.

Initially unpopular when it premiered in Russia, The Nutcracker languished for decades with a reputation as one of Tchaikovsky’s lesser works. In the Maryland Youth Ballet’s rendition, the performers amp up the spectacle with effects such as a growing Christmas tree and an enormous cannon that fires at the villainous mice.