Nashville Ballet to Perform New Version of Nutcracker

Audiences can expect a new twist on Nashville Ballet’s production of the Nutcracker this winter, as the company takes a chance on its biggest revenue-producer.

Tinkering with the classic comes with some financial risk for the company. 65 percent of its earned income comes from its Nutcracker performances.

Artistic director Paul Vasterling says he’s been working on the new version for three years.

“The fine line that I walked as I was conceiving this production was to keep the traditional parts of the Nutcracker – so the snow scene, the Sugar Plum Faerie, the balletic parts that people are used to seeing, and that have become sort of traditional parts of their holiday time.”

Vasterling says last year Nashville Ballet retired its old version of the Nutcracker, which ran since 1989.

The new version will be set at the Tennessee Centennial Exhibition in 1897, the year Nashville’s replica of the Parthenon was built.

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Vasterling says Nashville Ballet’s development of the new version parallels the city’s growth.

“The company now – since 1989 when [the old] production was done – has grown, and the city is much bigger. We’re sort of growing our production and our production values with the city.”