Columbus, OH

So, you are stuck in the middle of the holiday season. You’ve got about a zillion things to do and only half your presents bought and simply no time for yourself right now. Whoa, honestly, it sounds like it’s time for you to pause just take an evening to breathe and enjoy the Holiday season.

If you’ve never seen The Nutcracker live it is one of the things I honestly believe every lover of Christmas, ballet or family should do. This classic tale of a Christmas Eve dream is a musical and visual delight for every age.

While I certainly haven’t been able to see this every year, I have seen it enough to know that it is something you need to see more than once. When you go as a child you get something out of it that is different from what you get when you go as a young couple, or as new parents, or even as grandparents. You relate to the characters differently and take home something you missed the last time.

And the show is a truly new show each and every year with the new artists bringing out new and different emotions and expressions of the music than the artists from the year before.

Amazingly, The Nutcracker Suite was Tchaikovsky’s least favorite of his own works. Which goes to show that we can never tell what part of our lives will live on and what will fade away.

This year, Roger Moore, yes the one you are thinking of (Bond, James Bond) will be adding his own touch of delight to the holiday festivities by narrating this classic children’s tale.

The Nutcracker is a presentation of Ballet Met and is held each Christmastime at the Ohio Theater. If you’ve never been to the Ohio Theater, try to get there early to get a good look at the gorgeous archetecture, and marvel at the fact that Columbus nearly lost this piece of local history. Now a true landmark, the theater was close to destruction before an effort to “Save the Ohio” raised two million dollars for it’s restoration, a hefty sum in the early seventies. So get there early or linger a moment afterward to appreciate the beauty of the building and the decor that we so nearly lost some forty years ago.

(By the way, my favorite place to sit at the Ohio Theater is front row balcony. It’s my perfect view.)

BalletMet: The Nutcracker
Ohio Theatre
39 E. State St., Columbus

Dec. 8-9: Saturday 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sunday 1 p.m.
Dec. 14-16: Friday 7:30 p.m. Saturday 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sunday 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.
Dec. 19-23: Wednesday-Thursday 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sunday 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

614-229-4848
Tickets: $18.50-$64.50

Columbus, Ohio, OH, Ballet Met, CAPA, Ohio Theater, Tchaikovsky, Nutcracker, The Nutcracker Suite, ballet, Roger Moore