Tag archives: The Nutcracker
The two theatrical performances that utterly rocked my world and riveted my attention came from UCSB Arts & Lectures dance offerings. Dorrance Dance’s inventive jazz-fueled take on The Nutcracker proved that the old Christmas chestnut can be changed into a charming and cutting-edge work. MOMIX’s Alice showed that the creative mind of artistic director Moses […]
The ballet, The Nutcracker, is a perennial holiday favorite for its recognizable melodies and a touching storyline set during the Christmas season. This story is an introduction to a multisensory concept that I just put to the test, and with delicious results: Does pairing Tchaikovsky’s sweeping music with wine heighten your enjoyment of it? Or […]
Does Santa Barbara really need another performance of The Nutcracker? What with the long-running productions from Festival Ballet (December 14-15 at the Arlington) and State Street Ballet (December 21-22 at the Granada) – both of which feature large casts, special guest stars and a live orchestra – plus myriad one-offs from several smaller dance schools […]
The annual invasion of local productions of The Nutcracker doesn’t begin until mid-December, as Festival Ballet and then the State Street Ballet roll out their full-fledged renditions of Tchaikovsky’s Christmas classic. But this weekend brings a tasty holiday appetizer, especially for the tots and teens, as State Street Ballet Academy presents Rudolph, the charming holiday […]
Everybody was clearly going nuts about State Street Ballet’s colorful production of The Nutcracker at the Granada with hardly a seat to be had to watch Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece. Accompanied by the Opera San Luis Obispo Grand Orchestra under substitute conductor Lee Mills, as well as State Street Ballet Academy students and professional track trainees, the […]
A Christmas ‘Unicorn’: And Now for Something Completely Different… It would be hard to imagine something more polar opposite from a Christmas show than Bulletproof Unicorn, a one-woman show from Los Angeles-based comedian and singer-songwriter Stacie Burrows rife with dark humor about trying to fix her dysfunctional family that culminates in her estranged, alcoholic brother […]
Some folks spend all year looking forward to the holidays just so they can watch The Nutcracker once again. Others don’t care if they never hear Tchaikovsky’s classic again. There’s no doubt on which side State Street Ballet founder Rodney Gustafson resides. “I’ve seen our production so many times,” said Gustafson, who just returned to […]
Following the imposition of stricter protocols to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the area’s only planned live performance of The Nutcracker, a Concerts in Your Car production from Ventura Ballet, was canceled. Musician and theater impresario Hershey Felder, though, performs a pandemic pivot to point his next streaming production, Hershey Felder, TCHAIKOVSKY, toward the composer’s score […]
Like the proverbial phoenix, the Montecito bling emporium, Silverhorn, which closed its doors after 30 years at 1155 Coast Village Road, has returned to the ritzy rue at 1235 Coast Village Road. The new 1,100 sq ft store, which complements owners Michael and Carole Ridding‘s boutique at the Biltmore, enables customers to see the company’s […]
Dreamtime Continuum has been one of Santa Barbara’s most eclectic ensembles since Sudama Mark Kennedy first formed the group way back in 1994 as an outlet for his all-encompassing world music approach that he came by naturally as the son in a diplomatic family. The group underwent a few personnel changes over the years and […]
Last year, Isabel “Izzy” Fuentes achieved what is just about every teenage ballerina’s dream – getting cast as Clara, the girl who gets to go on a fairy tale journey with the come-to-life title character of The Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky’s famed Christmastime ballet, danced every December by Santa Barbara’s State Street Ballet. Then came the Thomas […]
A few months before the fires and the terrible mud slides in Montecito, I wrote to Santa Barbara County South Coast Maintenance Superintendent Randy Carnahan and attached a picture of the cracked asphalts on the surface of Channel Drive and asked that it be repaired. He responded that he would place it on the repair […]
As always, Festival Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker – at the Arlington on Saturday and Sunday – is performed by a huge cast and backed by a full orchestra conducted by Elise Unruh playing Tchaikovsky’s iconic score. Kids of all ages who are attend the company’s school are augmented in a big way by several […]
