New Jersey Ballet presents "Nutcracker"

MORRISTOWN - The magic of the holiday season returns to Morristown when the New Jersey Ballet presents its 43nd season of "Nutcracker," beginning Friday, Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m. through Christmas Eve. The ballet, with more than 100 performers and full orchestra, will run for 13 performances, Dec. 13th through 24th at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown. Tickets are $25 to $59.

"Nutcracker" at MPAC features a full orchestra under the direction of Gary S. Fagin. When the curtain rises, audiences in Morristown can expect the same special effects, brilliant dancing, glorious costumes, and magic and pantomime that delights New Jerseyans year after year, and inspires critics to praise the production as "a spectacle that never seems to age, magic that should go on and on."

New Jersey Ballet's "Nutcracker" is the longest-running original professional production in the state. It debuted at the Paper Mill Playhouse in 1971 with Edward Villella, then a star with New York City Ballet, as the Cavalier.

Today, after 800 performances, more than 4,000 dancers and over one million audience members, the New Jersey Ballet's "Nutcracker" is an established holiday favorite.

The heart of the production is the company is a troupe of 16 professional artists from eight countries - Brazil, Colombia, Hungary, Japan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Uruguay and the United States. They have toured on every continent with internationally renowned companies. Many have also performed with American companies such as Los Angeles Ballet, Carolina Ballet, St. Louis Ballet and international tours of Riverdance.

New Jersey Ballet's extensive performance schedule is made possible in part by support from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and by other generous corporate, foundation, and individual contributors. New Jersey Ballet's series at The Community Theatre is made possible In part by the F. M. Kirby Family Foundation. The company has been designated a Major Arts Institution by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for "artistic excellence, substantial programming, and broad public service," and was recently voted New Jersey's Favorite Dance Company in an online poll conducted by Discover Jersey Arts.

For more information on the New Jersey Ballet's "Nutcracker" at the Mayo Performing Arts Center, call 973-455-1607.