Everything old is new again. Empires rise and fall, fad diets come and go, but one thing you can always count on is that the end-of-year dance card will be defined by The Nutcracker.
There will never be another ballet more intimately associated with Christmas than the immortal tale of a young girl, Clara, and the wooden toy soldier that transports her to a magical dream realm called “The Land of Sweets.”
But just because you’ve seen the ballet before doesn’t mean you know how it will be staged this time. Three of Central Florida’s most pedigreed Nutcrackers return in 2026, and each has modified the source material just enough to keep the experience feeling fresh. Here’s what’s coming:
Central Florida Ballet will celebrate the 25th anniversary of its A Christmas Nutcracker Tale with a major first: live orchestral accompaniment provided by the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestras, who’ll play the celebrated Tchaikovsky score under the direction of Charles Watford. The curtain will rise on Thursday, November 19, and Friday, November 20, at 7 p.m. in Steinmetz Hall at Dr. Phillips Center.
There’ll be some new faces (and feet) on the stage as well. Guest artists will include Saaya Pikula Mason of City Ballet of Houston and Khen Kurulkar of New Orleans Ballet Theatre. They’ll dance the roles of Snow Queen and King, respectively, and the leads in the Act II “Spanish” sequence.
One thing that won’t change, however, will be the emphasis on show-biz spectacle that has garnered national attention for CFB. Pyrotechnics, fiber-optic illumination and daring acrobatics will provide a visual dimension far above and beyond the parameters of traditional dance.
And if you want to feel a little high-tech yourself, you’ll be able to take part in a silent auction that’ll have the audience bidding on donated items and experiences directly from their phones.
The Nutcracker is by definition a multicultural affair. But Orlando Community Arts keeps extending its representational palette with Clare and the Chocolate Nutcracker (Saturday, November 28, 7 p.m., Walt Disney Theater at Dr. Phillips Center).
This globetrotting version reimagines Clare (not Clara) as a girl from Harlem who receives the uniformed mechanical toy at a family holiday party then goes to sleep and dreams of it becoming a handsome prince. The globetrotting journey they subsequently undertake visits locales not accounted for in the original text, including Africa, Brazil and the Caribbean.
In this year’s Clare and the Chocolate Nutcracker, writer/producer Beverly Page has widened the focus to include the Pacific islands, with dancers from Winter Park’s popular Aloha Productions Luau representing the dance traditions of Hawaii. Also expect more background animation and a new addition to the show’s puppetry component.
Puppeteer Anthony Lewis was commissioned to create a backpack puppet that measures approximately 14 feet tall to be used in the show’s “Caribbean” scene. Built by Lewis and Malcolm Simon, the puppet takes its inspiration from a costume that’s popular among participants in the annual Trinidad and Tobago Carnival.
Finally, it’s year four for Orlando Ballet’s The Nutcracker (December 4 to 27, multiple times and performances, Steinmetz Hall at Dr. Phillips Center), which arrived in 2023 with a $3.6 million price tag and sumptuous sets and costumes to match.
This year’s dance will, for the most part, continue the winning formula created by Orlando Ballet Artistic Director Jorden Morris, with an extensive role for animatronic toys, puppets (including marionettes) and set pieces such as snow globes of all sizes.
Morris’s vision, though, was forward-facing from the start: Replacing the traditional Arabian dance with a “Desert Princess” scenario that’s truer to actual Middle Eastern cultures was one of several changes intended to eschew outmoded stereotypes.
What’s particularly notable about this year’s presentation is that there’ll be more of it. The run—a perennial sellout—will now extend beyond Christmas Day (with three more opportunities to catch it after the last mouthful of figgy pudding has been scarfed) and the number of family-friendly performances has grown from two to nine.
Those abbreviated presentations will allow parents and their kids to enter and exit the theater as needed and feature a bit more muted lighting and sound to cater to more sensitive constitutions.
Dr. Phillips Center is located at 445 South Magnolia Avenue, Orlando. For more information, call 844.513.2014 or visit drphillipscenter.org.
