FOR RELEASE ON                                                               CONTACT: MELISSA CARROLL
May 22, 2007                                                                      CASSIE PATTERSON MCCLUNG
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Houston Ballet Celebrates 20th Anniversary
of The Nutcracker

From November 23 – December 29, 2007, Houston Ballet will bring Texas its most joyous holiday gift with the twentieth anniversary of its beloved production of Ben Stevenson’s The Nutcracker. A wonderful ballet for the entire family, The Nutcracker is the perfect way to introduce young children to the power and beauty of classical dance. Tchaikovsky’s magical score, Desmond Heeley’s fairytale scenery, and Ben Stevenson’s vibrantly theatrical staging combine to create one of the most visually stunning productions of The Nutcracker in the world today. 

The Nutcracker tells the story of a little girl named Clara who is given a magical nutcracker doll on Christmas Eve. She encounters the frightful rat king before embarking on a journey though the Land of Snow and the Kingdom of Sweets. Young and old alike will experience the production’s many special effects, including the Christmas tree that “grows” to forty feet, 200 pounds of “snow” falling during the snow scene, and the firing of a canon on stage.  Molly Glentzer, dance critic for the Houston Chronicle, wrote, “You’d have to be a Scrooge not to surrender to the spirit.”

In 2007, Houston Ballet will celebrate two milestones: the 20th anniversary of its beloved production of The Nutcracker and of the opening of the Wortham Theater Center, the state-of-the-art facility built for Houston Ballet and Houston Grand Opera. Moving into the Wortham in 1987 allowed Houston Ballet to greatly expand the number of performances of The Nutcracker that it gave each season, rising from eleven in 1986 to twenty-nine in 1987 to thirty-two in 2007. The unveiling of Houston Ballet’s magical new production of The Nutcracker launched a Texas holiday tradition that continues today with over 1,000,000 people having attended the production since its premiere. The Nutcracker also plays a key role in Houston Ballet’s financial picture, generating over $2.7 million in revenues in 2006.