Photo courtesy of Long Beach Ballet.
A Christmas classic is getting an extra boost of holiday magic this year with a little help from Cal State Long Beach’s (CSULB) College of Engineering.
Continuing a beloved holiday tradition, the 35th Anniversary of Long Beach Ballet’s The Nutcracker will have seven performances at the Terrace Theater starting Saturday and will run through Sunday, December 24.
The ballet’s Artistic Director David Wilcox has gone above and beyond for this year’s production, which boasts a full symphony orchestra, a flying sleigh, a real live horse, on-stage pyrotechnics and a cast of over 200. The scenery was created by former Disney designers Elliot Hessayon and Scott Schaffer, Australian artist Adrian Clark designed the elaborate costumes and magician Franz Harary created the special effects.
Not to mention, a new feature made possible by a group of CSULB students and Mechanical Engineering Associate Professor Chris Beyer, a 7-foot, remote-controlled, steam cloud-producing cube has been designed to let the Nutcracker prince pop out from the top at “just the right moment,” according to the College of Engineering.
The story of this new addition to the ballet’s 35th Nutcracker starts two years ago, when Computer Engineering Lecturer Bob Ward asked Wilcox what he needed. Wilcox had been throwing around an idea for a “high-tech version of the human-powered box they’d used for decades,” according to the release.
The first students to work on the box graduated before it could be made stage-ready, when Beyer organized a new team to continue working on it in October. The students had to incorporate designs on the fly to resolve unforeseen complications, while the box’s size and 1-ton weight further complicated things. Alex Jackson, an electrical engineering senior, said it was quite the learning experience.
“It was a way to take all the theoretical things we’ve learned and apply them in a practical way. This project was perfect for that,” Mathew Cecil, a mechanical engineering senior, said.
The only ballet company in Southern California which performs The Nutcracker with a full symphony orchestra, the Long Beach Ballet is also one of only two companies in the country that uses two harps for their production to ensure it sounds exactly as Tchaikovsky intended.
“I like using the beauty of the classical art form of ballet, which has taken 500 years to develop to the level that it is today, to form a production that’s enticing and exciting,” Wilcox said in a statement. “It has pyrotechnics, it has magic; it’s got everything I can think of to make it thrilling. This production is not just for people who like ballet. You can hate ballet and you’ll still like this production.”
Show times are Friday, December 22 at 7:30PM, Saturdays, December 16 and 23 at 2:00PM and 7:30PM, Sunday, December 17 at 2:00PM and Sunday, December 24 at 1:00PM. Family-friendly ticket prices start at $34.00 – $78.00 with a special VIP Package also available. Discounts are available for children, seniors, and groups of 15 or more.
For more information the “Land of Dreams’ Nutcracker Luncheon this Sunday, where guests can meet Wilcox, the dancers and take pictures with Orion, the Nutcracker Prine’s white stallion, click here.
For tickets and more information, visit the link here.
The Terrace Theater is located at 300 East Ocean Boulevard.
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