“The Nutcracker” is a beloved tradition for the holiday season, but it's also vital to the financial well-being of ballet companies all over the country. But with this year's pandemic closures, dance companies everywhere face an enormous threat. Jeffrey Brown…

When "The Nutcracker" premiered in America in the 1940s, the holiday show became a perennial favorite and a reliable moneymaker for big and small ballet companies around the country. Since then, Tchaikovsky's ballet has been re-imagined innumerable times, customized to…

The Nutcracker is the cash cow of ballets, with performances raising between a third to the entire amount of a company's annual budget. Companies big and small put their own spin on their productions to differentiate it from others nearby…

By Molly Finnegan