New York Theatre Ballet Presents THE NUTCRACKER 12/11-19

This holiday season take your pre-school children to a ballet they will love: the enchanting hour-long version of Keith Michael's The Nutcracker, presented by New York Theatre Ballet. Youngsters feel like they are part of the show from the moment Uncle Drosselmeyer steps on stage and greets them to the grand finale, complete with professional baton twirler Diana Reed, who keeps everyone on the edge of their seats.

Preschoolers are particularly welcome as this Nutcracker is an ideal "starter ballet" and created for children ages 2 to 12. It is also the city's only hour-long, professionally danced Nutcracker. Buy tickets early! There are just 12 performances of this time-honored classic at Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th Street (between Madison & Park avenues) on:

Sat & Sun, December 11& 12 @ 11:00 am, 1:00 & 3:30 pm
Sat & Sun, December 18 & 19 @ 11:00 am, 1:00 & 3:30 pm
Tickets are $35 for children and $40 for adults (includes a $1 per ticket facility fee) and can be purchased at www.nytb.org, Ticketmaster (800-982-2787) or the box office, 55 East 59th Street (212-355-6160).

The ballet's one-hour length makes Keith Michael's The Nutcracker the perfect show for families with small children to enjoy on a December weekend in Manhattan. The theater is a short walk from the city's finest holiday shopping, Rockefeller Center and the magnificent window displays. Florence Gould Hall is an intimate venue that seats 400, which ensures good seats for everyone.
New York Theatre Ballet is known for its "pint-sized" ballets that are perfect for young children's short attention spans, while entertaining the entire family with style and substance. Kelly Ripa, who took her young children to an NYTB show a few seasons ago, exuberantly praised NYTB on Live with Regis & Kelly as "rich, beautiful and culturally rich." NYTB tours nationally and is the most widely seen chamber ballet company in the United States.

Bright new costumes were designed by Metropolitan Opera's Resident Costume Designer Sylvia Taalsohn Nolan and colorful sets, based on the English Toy Theatre of the early 19th Century, were created by Gillian Bradshaw-Smith.

The Nutcracker is the first ballet in New York Theatre Ballet's Once Upon A Ballet series, which continues with Cinderella (Feb 12 & 13), Exquisite Little Ballets featuring dances by Agnes De Mille, Lotte Goslar, and Antony Tudor (April 9 &10), and Sleeping Beauty (May 14 & 15). A subscription to all four Once Upon A Ballet performances is $112 per child; $140 per adult & a subscription to any three ballets is $87 per child; $108 per adult.

The Once Upon A Ballet series is made possible in part with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional funding has been provided from the COPD Foundation and The Street Corporation for The Nutcracker. Additional funding has been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts for Sleeping Beauty.