Tickets available for Oakland Ballet’s ‘Nutcracker’ this weekend: ‘My message to our community is, we need you. We want you.’

“The Nutcracker” ballet has been performed at Christmastime for more than 100 years, but not quite the way the Oakland Ballet is staging it this weekend. 

“Graham Lustig’s The Nutcracker” isn’t set in the stuffy Victorian era, but in the looser early 20th century, when women had ditched their corsets and upped their hems, when they had sidestepped convention for free thinking. 

“A birth of intellectualism for women, when women were fighting for suffrage, riding bicycles and had a different position in society,” said Lustig, Oakland Ballet’s art director since 2010. “It was an empowering time period when a young girl could fall asleep and dream of her own destiny.”

Lustig choreographed the performance that carries his name which includes 22 professional dancers, as many as 40 student dancers, 39 members of the Oakland Symphony, and 45 musicians from the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir.

Lucia Lorenzo, 25, who plays a teenager in the opening party scene, among other roles, said the production is also unusual in giving children an opportunity to shine.

“Not only do we have the kids in the choir,” Lorenzo said. “There’s also a lot of kids in the ballet production. The kids are given a lot of different roles that they typically aren’t, and they get to experience this magic throughout the show, rather than just a couple scenes.”

The Oakland Ballet, like many arts organizations in the Bay Area, is still recovering in the aftermath of the pandemic. Audience attendance has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, which impacts revenue. 

Lustig said 65% of the nonprofit’s funding comes from fundraising, with the remaining portion dependent on ticket sales. He pointed out a troubling trend that impacts art production: Many corporate sponsors have withdrawn their support for the arts, creating additional financial stress.

“My message to our community is, we need you. We want you. We are here for you,  and we serve you,” Lustig said. “We want you to come and enjoy our performances, and we really request that you support all of your local arts organizations, not just the Oakland Ballet, but all of us in the arts.”

“The Nutcracker” plays an essential role in sustaining many troupes, said Tarik O’Regan, a San Francisco-based composer of classical, operatic and orchestral music, as well as ballet scores.

“I would go as far as to say that most ballet companies could not survive without their Nutcracker performance in the holiday season,” O’Regan said.“It is such an integral part of their budget.”

“The Nutcracker” has undergone changes in recent years, with many companies addressing its racist portrayals of Asians. 

“Fortunately, I never did that to begin with, so it wasn’t something that I needed to eradicate,” said Lustig, who has been recognized with the Oakland Ballet for creating the first Asian American ballet showcase in the nation. “I do know that those stereotypes have existed for many years, and I’m very glad to be part of a movement that helps to move the dial and broaden the conversation.”

The Oakland Ballet will perform the show at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday at the Paramount Theatre. 

Mieko Hatano, chief executive officer of the Oakland Symphony, is excited for children to experience the Paramount, which won an Art Deco Preservation Award in 2023.

“When we see kids walking into the theater for the first time off of Broadway, under the great marquee, and they enter into the grand lobby, inevitably, every kid looks up with their mouth wide open and their eyes big,” she said. 

Over 2,000 students from the Oakland Unified School District are expected to watch the dress rehearsal performance on Friday. Curtains will be open so students can get a look behind the scenes of the production. 

Ticket and other information about the performance is at oaklandballet.org.

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