The Moscow Ballet returns to the Chumash Casino Resort to perform its signature Great Russian Nutcracker in the Samala Showroom at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 18.
Tickets for the show are $25, $35 and $45. Children 8 and older are welcome to attend at regular ticket prices.
The Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker tells the beloved Christmas story of the girl who falls in love with a Nutcracker Prince — with Russian flair. Praised by The New York Times as “thrilling and expansive,” the 40 impeccably trained Russian dancers leap, spin and lunge as you have never seen before.
Audiences love the Christmas party with magical toys, battles with an evil Mouse King and a journey through the glittering Snow Forrest. Unique to Moscow Ballet productions, Russian folk characters Father Christmas and the Snow Maiden escort Masha (Clara) to the Land of Peace and Harmony where she and the Nutcracker Prince are honored by emissaries from heritages the world over; African, Russian, Asian, European and Hispanic.
Set to Pytor Tchaikovsky’s famous score, Moscow Ballet’s production features lavish costumes, nine hand-painted backdrops with 3-D ornamentation and fanciful, larger-than-life puppets designed by a Russian master.
In 1993, Moscow Ballet toured with the Great Russian Nutcracker for the first time in the U.S. and was welcomed with critical acclaim in cities such as Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Syracuse, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. The inaugural six-week tour was directed and choreographed by Stanislav Vlasov, a former soloist with the Bolshoi Ballet and well-known “Grand Dance Artist,” and it starred principal ballerina Lillia Sabitova.
It also featured the innovative rolling backgrounds first created by a St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music producer. Since then, the annual tour has increased to include more than 100 performances on the tour to cities from San Juan to Calgary, and from New York to California, traveling with two simultaneously touring companies of 40 dancers each.
Don’t miss an opportunity to see this Christmastime favorite performed by Principal Danseur Anatolie Ustimov and Principal Ballerina Alisa Voronova, who were both featured in Moscow Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet performance in the Samala Showroom on Nov. 6.
Located on Highway 246 in Santa Ynez, the Chumash Casino Resort is an age 18-or-older venue. Tickets for all events are available at the Chumash Casino Resort’s Club Chumash or online by clicking here.
— Mike Traphagen is a public relations specialist for the Chumash Casino Resort.