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Dec. 18--TAMPA -- If Tchaikovsky made royalties off "The Nutcracker," he could afford to fire Donald Trump.
His beloved music for the ballet is, after all, a box-office hit every December, when thousands of productions of all shapes and sizes waltz through the holidays.
Sure, "The Nutcracker" is sweet as chocolate for some ears, but it sets a wonderland tone for families that love its childlike spectacle, melody, colorful dancers and falling snowflakes.
The curtain rises this week on four performances by the visiting Orlando Ballet at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, with music by the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra in the pit.
"It's a beautiful production," boasts Alicia Farinella, a spokeswoman with the company. "It's been five weeks in rehearsal."
Based on the story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" by E.T.A. Hoffman, the ballet was first performed on this day -- Dec. 18 -- in 1892 in St. Petersburg, Russia. By the 1930s, it slipped into the repertoire of American troupes, becoming obligatory the week before Christmas.
Today, it rules the holiday roost, so much so that some companies have a love-hate relationship with the ballet. They embrace the surge of ticket sales but tolerate its all-too-familiar sights and sounds. To keep a fresh perspective, many professional troupes each year create new choreography, sets and lighting around Tchaikovsky's score.
"In Europe, ballet companies survive off government subsidies, but in America, 'The Nutcracker' is what keeps ballet companies alive," Farinella says. "It's what they need to keep going throughout the year."
The Orlando Ballet follows the traditional tale of Clara and her wooden prince but injects its own humorous twists into the action. When the Mouse King character is wounded, for instance, the other mice give him "mouse-to-mouse" resuscitation and carry him off on a stretcher.
The company adds another twist by including onstage more than 100 children not only from Orlando, but also Tampa. This is part of a strategy of expansion: If Orlando Ballet is to evolve into a regional group, it needs to develop a Tampa audience. Inviting local children into a production is a guarantee parents and friends will attend the show.
The company comes back in May with "Swan Lake" and plans to return the following year with a more ambitious offering.
"With Tampa, we saw a city that has the means to present outside companies," Farinella says. "Our goal is to go into the Tampa market and to present a full season."
ON STAGE
The Nutcracker
WHAT: Orlando Ballet and Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Sunday
WHERE: Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Morsani Hall, 1010 N. MacInnes Place, Tampa
HOW MUCH: $18.50 to $54.50; (813) 229-7827
Reporter Kurt Loft can be reached at kloft@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7570.
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Copyright (c) 2006, Tampa Tribune, Fla.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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