Storytellers will entertain kids in the lobby a half-hour before each performance, and one child ages 7 to 12 will be chosen for the role of guest soldier and get to dance onstage with the pros. The other two Nutcrackers on the boards this weekend are performed by children's troupes, with the help of some adult guest stars. For the third Nutcracker , dance lovers must travel farther afield, to the Sahuarita Auditorium in Sahuarita, off I-19 and Helmet Peak Road. Lisa Baker DiGiacomo directs the 58 dancers in this traditional production, with an adult actor and magician rounding out the cast. Show times are 7 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday, December 4 and 5.
Tickets are available at the door.
For more information call 326-7887. The Nutcracker version to be performed the second weekend in December changes the geography from Eastern Europe to the American desert. A Southwest Nutcracker , staged by Tucson Regional Ballet, is a regional delight that's quickly become a new Tucson tradition. In the hands of artistic director Linda Walker, coyotes and cacti replace rats and Christmas trees, Zorro metamorphoses out of Drosselmeyer, and a Prickly Pear Fairy supplants the Sugar Plum. Children and teens take most of the parts, but reprising the lead roles of Prickly Pear Fairy and her Caballero are Anne Derieux and Charles Newton.