BOSTON BALLET’S THE NUTCRACKER
TAKES THE STAGE FOR ONE FINAL SEASON
WITH CURRENT SETS AND COSTUMES

New England’s Favorite Tradition Presented November 25 – December 31, 2011
Boston Ballet’s The Nutcracker Returns in 2012 with New Sets and Costumes

BOSTON, MA – Monday, November 7 – Boston Ballet presents Mikko Nissinen’s The Nutcracker, voted in 2009 as ‘;The Best-Loved Nutcracker in the U.S.’, November 25 – December 31, 2011. State Street is the presenting sponsor of the 2011 production of The Nutcracker. All 40 performances take place at The Boston Opera House, 539 Washington Street, Boston. Boston Ballet and The Nutcracker will make over 30 special appearances at events throughout the community during the holiday season. Nearly 250 Boston Ballet School students from across New England will dance in this year’s production.

This season’s presentation of The Nutcracker marks the final season the current sets and costumes will take the stage. Following this season, the current costumes and sets will be retired and Boston Ballet’s The Nutcracker will return to the stage entirely reimagined with new sets and costumes in 2012.

2011 is the final year of the production featuring the spectacular sets designed by Helen Pond and Herbert Senn, and intricate and whimsical costumes by David Walker and Charles Heightchew. The current costumes and sets were finalized in 1995 and debuted to great acclaim. More than 300 new costumes were built or completely refurbished that year, as well as the iconic 42-foot Christmas tree with 1,000 flame-proofed sculptured branches, and the larger-than-life 16-foot chaise and 12-foot chair. The Boston Globe wrote in 1995, “[the production’s] play with scale [is] a tangible evocation of a child’s imagination.” As for the costumes, designed by the late David Walker, he experimented with rows of pleated tulle on the mice costumes, the dark blues and purples on Drosselmeier’s stunning cape, and used playful effects such as hidden hula-hoops within the garments to bring the children’s costumes to life.

For more information about The Nutcracker including Nutcracker events around Boston, Nutcracker blogs, videos and images of the production visit www.bostonballet.org