The Nutcracker
in Utah
Since 1955, Willam Christensen’s The Nutcracker has been the centerpiece of Salt Lake City’s holiday festivities. Tchaikovsky’s moving score, magical costumes, and fairytale sets combine to create one of the most visually stunning productions of The Nutcracker in the world today.
The New York Times’ chief dance critic, who called Ballet West’s The Nutcracker, “one of the best productions I’ve ever seen.”
Mr. C needs to make a decision
After the success of The Nutcracker in San Francisco, the ballet company faced both prosperity and tumult and the Christensen brothers would bicker over the division of salaries and the direction of the school. As the situation grew more acrimonious, another crisis affected Mr. C: His wife, Mignon, became ill, and doctors advised that the two needed to move out of the city for a slower pace of life. (Mignon would later be diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.) Wanting security and insurance for his wife, Mr. C reached out to Stanford, Berkeley, and other universities regarding teaching positions. Many schools made him offers, but all of them wanted to nestle the dance program into the physical education department, to which he responded, “I will not teach ballet alongside track or football.
Back home in Utah, the president of the University of Utah, Albert Ray Olpin, heard Mr. C’s vision and agreed that ballet should be taught in the department of fine arts. In 1951, Lew took over San Francisco Ballet and Mr. C and Mignon moved to Salt Lake City.
That fall, Mr. C launched what would become the very first accredited ballet department at an American university. In 1955, the University Theatre Ballet presented the first Utah production of The Nutcracker at Kingsbury Hall, with live music from the Utah Symphony under the baton of Maestro Maurice Abravanel.
Willam Christensen, often called the “God-father of American ballet,” established Ballet West in Salt Lake City with Utah’s “First Lady of the Arts,” Glenn Walker Wallace in 1963. His innovative choreography and commitment to bringing classical ballet to American audiences set the stage for his later work with Ballet West. When he established Ballet West, Christensen aimed to create a company that would not only preserve the classical ballet tradition but also nurture new talent and engage the local community.
When Christensen founded Ballet West in 1963, he brought with him his dedication to “The Nutcracker.” The company’s first performance of the ballet that year set the stage for a long-standing annual tradition.
The production is an audience favorite and continues to break attendance and revenue records for Ballet West. The Nutcracker has received critical praise from The New York Times’ chief dance critic, who called Ballet West’s The Nutcracker, “one of the best productions I’ve ever seen.”
In 2001, when Mr. C passed away at the age of 99, The San Francisco Chronicle dubbed him the grandfather of American ballet, and he is credited with rejuvenating dance in America. That renaissance is directly attributed to his Nutcracker dream, which continues to flourish today.
In 2017, Ballet West introduced a new production of “The Nutcracker” with updated sets, costumes, and special effects. This reimagined version aimed to captivate contemporary audiences while maintaining the essence of the classic ballet.
