FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 25, 2017 MEDIA CONTACT: Gary Tucker 206.441.2426 GTucker@PNB.org The Nutcracker at our theater is for children young and old. That is, for children and for adults who are children at heart. Because, if an adult is a good person, in his heart he is still a child. In every person the best, the most important part is that which remains from his childhood. -- George Balanchine PNB's production of George Balanchine s The Nutcracker is the perfect blend of masterful choreography, visual splendor, and orchestral triumph. Ian Falconer's designs are both whimsical and bold. His use of color is unmatched and his reverence for Balanchine's storytelling is evident in every scene. Bravura dancing pairs perfectly with Tchaikovsky's majestic score, making this production a winner. If you see only one ballet a year, this is it. -- PNB Artistic Director Peter Boal PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET PRESENTS November 24 December 28, 2017 Marion Oliver McCaw Hall 321 Mercer Street, Seattle Center Seattle, WA 98109 SEATTLE, WA Pacific Northwest Ballet s sparkling production of George Balanchine s The Nutcracker returns to Seattle Center s McCaw Hall for 35 performances November 24 through December 28, 2017. Featuring eye-popping colorful sets and costumes by author/illustrator Ian Falconer (Olivia the Pig), Tchaikovsky s timeless score performed live by the mighty PNB Orchestra, and the beloved story of Clara and her Nutcracker prince, PNB s production is a delight for audiences young and old. Tickets to this year s run may be purchased through the PNB Box Office at 206.441.2424, online at PNB.org, or in person at 301 Mercer St. 2017 marks the 125th anniversary of The Nutcracker. On November 14, PNB shines a spotlight on the classic ballet, with a special studio presentation taking an in-depth look at the ballet s origins, including a comparison of dances from the original 1892 St. Petersburg production and Balanchine s classic 1954 version. For more information, see Special Events, below.
2017 NUTCRACKER PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE Day Date Times Friday Nov. 24 7:30pm Saturday Nov. 25 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm Sunday Nov. 26 12:30 pm & 5:30 pm Friday Dec. 1 7:30 pm Saturday Dec. 2 2:00 pm* & 7:30 pm *Benefit performance See Special Events, below. Sunday Dec. 3 12:30 pm & 5:30 pm Friday Dec. 8 7:30pm Saturday Dec. 9 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm Sunday Dec. 10 12:30 pm & 5:30 pm Thursday Dec. 14 7:30 pm Friday Dec. 15 7:30 pm Saturday Dec. 16 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm Sunday Dec. 17 12:30 pm & 5:30 pm Wednesday Dec. 20 7:30 pm Thursday Dec. 21 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm Friday Dec. 22 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm Saturday Dec. 23 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm Sunday Dec. 24 12:30 pm Tuesday Wednesday Dec. 26 Dec. 27 12:30 pm & 5:30 pm 12:30 pm & 5:30 pm Thursday Dec. 28 12:30 pm & 5:30 pm TICKET INFORMATION Ticket range: $29 - $190 ($26 - $171 for children 12 and under. All ages require a ticket for admission, including babes-in-arms.) Prices are subject to change. See Special Events below for pricing info regarding the Nutcracker Benefit performance. Tickets may be purchased through the PNB Box Office: Phone - 206.441.2424 In Person - 301 Mercer Street at Seattle Center Online - PNB.org Tickets are also available subject to availability 90 minutes prior to each performance at McCaw Hall. In-person ticket sales at the McCaw Hall Box Office are subject to day-of-show increases. Advance tickets through the PNB Box Office are strongly suggested for lowest prices and greatest availability. Don t get ripped off during the holidays: Be mindful of unauthorized third-party online ticket resellers when ordering tickets for PNB s production of George Balanchine s The Nutcracker. Order directly through PNB.org or 206.441.2424 for peace of mind. Bring a Group to the Show and Save! From a familial flock of 15 to a throng of 3,000 of your closest cohorts, The Nutcracker is the perfect way to celebrate the holiday season! Groups save 15-25% off regular prices (depending on date, time, and section), receive personal ticketing assistance, priority seating, and have access to McCaw Hall facilities that may be rented for private parties. For more information or to
purchase tickets, use PNB s online group form at PNB.org/Group or contact Group Sales Manager Julie Jamieson at 206.441.2416 or JulieJ@PNB.org. Please note that all discounts are not valid on lowest-priced tickets, are taken off the standard ticket price only, and may not be combined with other offers. The show must go on! Pacific Northwest Ballet is committed to honoring its performance calendar. Performances will not be cancelled for any reason: twisters, swine flu, Seattle traffic, etc. All ticket sales are final and there are no refunds or exchanges. In the unlikely event that the status of a performance does change, an announcement will be posted on PNB.org. Get The Pointe The Pointe is PNB s exclusive mailing list for ballet fans between the ages of 20 and 40. Members of The Pointe receive information about special events and flash sales just for them. Born between 1977 and 1997? Get the Pointe! Visit PNB/ThePointe for more information. TeenTix PNB is a proud participant of TeenTix. TeenTix s members may purchase tickets to the Thursday, December 28, 12:30 and 5:30 pm performances of The Nutcracker, on a firstcome, first-served basis, subject to availability, day-of-show only, starting 90 minutes before showtime. No TeenTix companion tickets are available for these performances. For more information and membership, visit TeenTix.org. SPECIAL EVENTS Studio Presentation: The Nutcracker at 125 Tuesday, November 14, 5:00 pm Celebrate the 125th anniversary of The Nutcracker with an hour-long look at the ballet s origins, including a comparison of dances from the original 1892 St. Petersburg production and Balanchine s classic 1954 version performed by Pacific Northwest Ballet. With PNB Company dancers and artistic staff. Tickets are $25, available through the PNB Box Office. Opening Weekend Festivities Celebrate opening weekend of The Nutcracker (Nov. 24-26) and kick off the start of the holiday season with crafts and activities, magicians, dance classes, and more. Free with admission. Nutcracker Benefit Performance Saturday, December 2, 2:00 pm Join PNB in a new holiday tradition The Nutcracker Benefit. The performance you love, plus added delights for audience members, all while raising much-needed funds to benefit PNB. Enjoy the matinee performance of The Nutcracker with lobby entertainment and crafts, preshow and intermission specials on delicious beverages and treats; and a keepsake souvenir Nutcracker memento to cherish for years. All Benefit tickets purchased include a charitable donation that is fully tax-deductible. Visit PNB.org/Nutcracker/Benefit. Listen to the Ballet PNB partners with Classical KING FM 98.1 to bring listeners some of the world s most popular ballet scores, featuring the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra direct from McCaw Hall. Tune in for a live broadcast of George Balanchine s The Nutcracker on Saturday, December 2 at 7:30 pm. Only on KING FM, 98.1 fm or online at KING.org/listen.
See the Ballet and Play the Instruments Classical KING FM 98.1, in collaboration with Music Center Northwest, will host their everpopular Instrument Petting Zoo at The Nutcracker matinees on December 2, 3, 9, and 16. Stop by and get a feel for the instruments that make Tchaikovsky s beautiful score come to life! Free with admission. Nutcracker Suites at McCaw Skip the lines and bustle of the lobby at intermission! Treat you and yours to an enchanted intermission experience in the SAVOR McCaw Hall Nutcracker Suite. The Nutcracker Suite takes the stress out of intermission and adds to the memorable wonder of your day at the ballet. There s a range of activities awaiting you: a Build-a-Cupcake experience in partnership with Cupcake Royale; hot cocoa, sweets, and light appetizers presented by SAVOR Executive Chef John Roberts; activities and photo opportunities; and coffee, tea, wine, beer, and sparkling wine for the adults. Nutcracker Suites are $30 per person (includes applicable tax and service charge); performance tickets sold separately. (There are no Nutcracker Suites at the Dec. 2 matinee and Dec. 9 evening performance.) To purchase, visit PNB.org/NutcrackerSuites. FAQs for PNB Kids Visit PNB.org/Community/PNB-Kids for helpful hints and frequently asked questions about attending the ballet with children. ABOUT THE PRODUCTION George Balanchine s The Nutcracker Ballet in Two Acts, Four Scenes, and Prologue Based on E.T.A. Hoffman s tale, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (1816) Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (The Nutcracker, Op. 71, 1891-1892, with an excerpt from The Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66, 1889) Choreography: George Balanchine The George Balanchine Trust Staging: Judith Fugate with Peter Boal and Garielle Whittle Scenic and Costume Design: Ian Falconer Lighting Design: James F. Ingalls Original Production Premiere: December 6, 1892; Imperial Ballet, St. Petersburg, choreography by Lev Ivanov Balanchine Production Premiere: February 2, 1954; New York City Ballet Pacific Northwest Ballet Premiere: November 27, 2015 When George Balanchine staged The Nutcracker for New York City Ballet in 1954, it was the six-year-old company s most ambitious project to date. The choreographer spent more than half of the production s $40,000 budget on the Christmas tree, infuriating Morton Baum, chair of New York City Center s finance committee, which had put up the money. Baum asked, George, can t you do it without the tree? to which Balanchine replied, The ballet is the tree. Balanchine had danced in the Maryinsky Theater s production in St. Petersburg as a child. His roles included soldier, mouse king, little prince, and the lead in the hoop dance, which had been choreographed by its original interpreter, Alexander Shiryaev, for the 1892 premiere. Those first performances of The Nutcracker in 1892 St. Petersburg received mixed reviews. Critics complained the music was too symphonic and the ballerina (the Sugar Plum Fairy)
wasn t given enough to do. Yet, the ballet endured and the suite of musical numbers subsequently drawn from Tchaikovsky s complete score for performance in the concert hall was immediately popular. The composer was particularly delighted by his use of the celesta, the heavenly keyboard instrument newly invented in Paris, for the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Although Balanchine s 1954 Nutcracker established the ballet as a perennial holiday favorite and became the model for many subsequent productions, the ballet had been danced in the United States since 1940, when Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo performed Alexandra Fedorova s staging of a one-act Nutcracker in New York City. The production subsequently toured the country throughout the 40s and 50s, giving many Americans their first experience of The Nutcracker. The first full-length Nutcracker in the U.S. was choreographed for San Francisco Ballet by Willam Christensen in 1944, only to be replaced in 1954 with a production by Willam s brother, Lew Christensen. When New York City Ballet moved to the newly built New York State Theater in 1964, the Nutcracker scenery was completely redesigned to take advantage of the larger space. That same year, a young Judith Fugate, newly enrolled in the School of American Ballet, danced the role of Clara for the first time. She would continue in the role for four seasons before moving on to other parts, eventually joining New York City Ballet and adding the leading roles of Dewdrop and the Sugar Plum Fairy to her repertory. In 2015, Fugate took on the role of repetiteur, joining Peter Boal and Garielle Whittle to stage Balanchine s Nutcracker for Pacific Northwest Ballet. Peter Boal was accepted into the School of American Ballet in 1975. He first performed in Balanchine s Nutcracker as a Party Boy. Fugate was his first stage mother and held his hand tightly as she pulled the nervous ten-year-old onstage. He moved on to the role of the Little Prince, and then Bed Boy, an uncredited part for a confident teenager who steers Clara s magic bed. Boal joined New York City Ballet and continued to move through the range of Nutcracker roles, eventually performing as Cavalier to Fugate s Sugar Plum Fairy. In 2014, Boal returned to New York City Ballet as a guest artist to perform the role of Herr Drosselmeier. Pacific Northwest Ballet has its own Nutcracker history, which now intersects with Balanchine s. In 1975, Pacific Northwest Dance, as the company was then called, acquired Lew Christensen s Nutcracker, performing the work for eight seasons. In 1983, under artistic directors Kent Stowell and Francia Russell, the Company presented a new production with choreography by Stowell and scenic and costume designs by famed children s author and illustrator Maurice Sendak. The Stowell and Sendak Nutcracker contributed significantly to the Company s identity, holding the stage for 32 seasons. In 2015, PNB acquired George Balanchine s iconic production, blending Peter s Boal s personal history his New England childhood and his 30-year involvement with the Balanchine Nutcracker as both a student and professional dancer with the future of the Company. New designs by another renowned children s author and illustrator, Ian Falconer, carry the Balanchine staging forward into the 21st century, while the staging by Fugate, Boal, and Whittle ensures the heritage of a tradition reaching back to 1892 and the grandeur of the Imperial era. [Excerpted from program notes by Doug Fullington. For complete notes and Artist bios, visit PNB.org/Nutcracker.] It takes a village to build a holiday tradition: Pacific Northwest Ballet s production of George Balanchine s The Nutcracker is made possible with ongoing support from Title Sponsor Alaska Airlines. Principal sponsorship support for the 2015 PNB premiere of George Balanchine's The Nutcracker was made possible through the generosity of Pam & Dan Baty. Additional major support was provided by Patty Edwards, Carl & Renee Behnke, and Peter & Peggy Horvitz,
along with donations from over 900 other individuals. Star Sponsor is Chihuly Studio. The works of George Balanchine performed by Pacific Northwest Ballet, including George Balanchine s The Nutcracker, are made possible in part by The Louise Nadeau Endowed Fund. FUN FACTOIDS 99.97% of PNB s production of George Balanchine s The Nutcracker was built entirely by artisans, craftspeople, carpenters, painters, and animators in Seattle, WA. Over 50 drapers, stitchers, first hands, milliners, dyers and painters built the costumes. PNB s shop was not large enough to accommodate the number of costumers required, so some of the costumes were constructed at the Seattle Children s Theater and Seattle Repertory Theatre costume shops. There are 154 costumes in the show, not counting duplicates (i.e., multiple versions of the same costume, for different-sized dancers playing the same role Sugar Plum Fairy, Cavalier, Dewdrop, etc.) Clara s party dress and Drosselmeier s coat lining required 10 light coats of red paint for each stripe. Each Snow skirt has nine layers of various fabrics. There are 56 points on each skirt. There are 174 velvet diamonds and 322 jewels on the Harlequin costume. The Harlequin s partner, Columbine, has 160 velvet diamonds and 272 jewels. 640: Black pompoms on the eight Polichinelle costumes. 760: Petals on the Waltz of the Flowers costumes. (19 costumes, including extras.) 10 feet and 60 pounds: The width and weight of Mother Ginger s skirt. 175: Number of snaps on the Mother Ginger costume. 4,000: Holes cut by hand to create the lace doily tutus and headpieces for the Marzipan costumes. 300: Jewels hand-sewn on the two Arabian (peacock) headpieces. 500: Yards of tubular horsehair used for the Party Mothers hairpieces. 1,428: Cabochons sewn onto the Spanish women s costumes. 2,568: Appliques machine-sewn on the seven Spanish dresses. Sewing the Nutcracker doll required a 16 long needle. Eagle-eyed audience members may spy one gold tooth on the Mouse King. Speaking of mice: Seventeen mice (eight adult mice, eight young mice, and the seven-headed Mouse King) were built by Erik Andor and a team of fabricators in his Pioneer Square studio. 98 yards of fur have been used to create the mice. They have a total of 230 whiskers. Each adult tail consists of 25 segments. Each ear is made up of six pieces. Laid end-to-end, the mice s upper lips total 782 inches. For more information, visit EncoreArtsSeattle.com/making-mice-erik-andor 35 men and women in the PNB Scene shop built and painted the sets and props. There are 22 painted drops. 3,000 square yards of fabric were used in the creation of the scenery. 343 gallons of paint were used in the painting of the scenery. The corridor scrim at the top of the show depicts Nutcracker historical figures Alexander Dumas, E.T.A. Hoffman, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov, George Balanchine, and Lincoln Kirstein.
An actual walnut was used to model the construction and painting of the Nut Boat. It took 400 hours to build the Christmas tree. At its full height it stands 40 feet. There are 450 lights on it. 30 cubic feet of snow will be deployed during the Act I Snow scene, per performance. One of the delightful highlights of PNB s production of George Balanchine s The Nutcracker is the animated video that accompanies the overture. (For an excerpt, click here.) Created by Straightface Studios located in the Interbay neighborhood of Seattle, the three-and-a-half minute video takes audiences on a flight through the woods and a New England town, up to the front steps of the Stahlbaum home. The town was inspired by antique mid-19th Century maps and satellite images of New England. The terrain covers 372 sq. miles and there are over 1.5 million trees, 8,540 bushes, 287 buildings, and seven mice. In 2016, Straightface created a second video to play during the first act violin solo following the Party scene. This video integrates live-action ballet dancers into a computer-generated world. The prominent Christmas star that appears in the Snow scene at the end of Act I is presented by renowned artist Dale Chihuly. Winter Star, from Chihuly s popular Chandelier series, debuted as part of the artist s iconic Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem 2000 exhibition, and has also been exhibited at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (near London) and New York Botanical Garden. And finally: Amusements Gift Shop at McCaw Hall has stocked its counters and shelves with 18,000 ornaments, 2,500 nutcrackers, 4,400 plush animals and dolls (around 2,000 of them wearing tutus), 1,400 t-shirts, 600 tiaras and 200 magic wands for shoppers attending the show. # # # Pacific Northwest Ballet s production of George Balanchine s The Nutcracker is made possible with ongoing support from Title Sponsor Alaska Airlines. Principal sponsorship support for the 2015 PNB premiere of George Balanchine's The Nutcracker was made possible through the generosity of Pam & Dan Baty. Additional major support was provided by Patty Edwards, Carl & Renee Behnke, and Peter & Peggy Horvitz, along with donations from over 900 other individuals. Star Sponsor is Chihuly Studio. The works of George Balanchine performed by Pacific Northwest Ballet, including George Balanchine s The Nutcracker, are made possible in part by The Louise Nadeau Endowed Fund. Pacific Northwest Ballet s 2017-2018 season is proudly sponsored by ArtsFund and Microsoft. Season support also provided by 4Culture and Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. PNB media sponsorship is provided by The Seattle Times and KOMO 4. Publicity Contact Gary Tucker, Media Relations Manager 206.441.2426 / GTucker@PNB.org / PNB.org/press Schedule and programming subject to change. For further information, please visit PNB.org. PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET 301 Mercer Street Seattle, WA 98109 206.441.2424 PNB.org