A festive Ferris Wheel, a Dream City, a flurry of snow, dancing dragons, dancing nuts, and dancing rats! It’s that time of the year for Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet to stage their spectacular annual production of The Nutcracker, with story set on the fairgrounds of 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Performances run from December 6-28, 2023, at the Lyric Opera House (20 N. Wacker Dr. in Chicago)

This ballet by choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, which premiered in 2016, invites the audience to … “journey inside Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair … when young Marie and her mother, a sculptress who is creating the fair’s iconic Statue of the Republic, host a holiday party, a surprise visit from the charming Great Impresario sets off a Christmas Eve dream of whirlwind romance and adventure. A must-see tradition boldly re-imagined for a new generation.”

Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker premiered in St. Petersburg, Russia, in December 1892, as workers on the Columbian Exposition grounds were constructing buildings and statues during the cold winter in Chicago. Wheeldon and librettist Brian Selznick re-imagine of the classic ballet. Marie and her family are Polish immigrants living in a worker’s shack on the fairgrounds, Drosselmeier is now “The Impressario” (Daniel Burnham) building the fair, and the part of the Sugar Plum Fairy is given to the golden Statue of the Republic. Instead of visiting the “Land of Sweets,” Marie tours the international villages of the Midway Plaisance. World’s Fair enthusiasts can find many delightful references to the great exposition in the story and spectacular costumes and scenic design.

For tickets, go to: https://joffrey.org/performances-and-tickets/24-25-season/the-nutcracker-3/