STAGE TUBE: Sneak Peek at The Joffrey Ballet's THE NUTCRACKER

The Joffrey Ballet celebrates the 26th annual presentation of Robert Joffrey'sThe Nutcracker, Chicago's most popular holiday tradition and America's #1 Nutcracker, in a 23-performance engagement at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, 50 E. Congress Parkway, December 6 - 28, 2013. Check out a sneak peek below!

The Chicago Philharmonic, led by Joffrey Music Director Scott Speck, provides live accompaniment of the classic score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky for every performance.

Joffrey Ballet Co-Founder Gerald Arpino also contributed to Robert Joffrey's version, having choreographed the Land of the Snow scene, which closes Act I, and the Waltz of the Flowers in Act II.

The full Joffrey company is joined onstage by 118 young dancers from the Chicagoland area - dancing as Party Girls and Boys, Polichinelles (Mother Ginger's children), Battle Mice and Mounted Mice, Soldiers, Snow Tree Angels and Dolls - and young vocalists from five different local children's choirs perform the choral parts from the magical Snow Scene, including singers from the Anima Young Singers of Greater Chicago, the Barrington Children's Choir, the Jones College Prep High School Treble Choir, the Pro Musica Youth Chorus and the Providence-St. Mel School Choir. The choirs also delight audiences with popular seasonal selections in the Auditorium Theatre's main lobby one half-hour prior to curtain and during intermissions at every performance.

The annual production schedule of Robert Joffrey's The Nutcracker is as follows: Friday, Dec. 6, 7 pm; Saturday, Dec. 7, 2 pm and 7 pm;Sunday, Dec. 8, 2 pm; Thursday, Dec. 12, 7 pm; Friday, Dec. 13, 7 pm; Saturday, Dec. 14, 2 pm and 7 pm; Sunday, Dec. 15, 2 pm and 7 pm;Thursday, Dec. 19, 7 pm; Friday, Dec. 20, 7 pm; Saturday, Dec. 21, 2 pm and 7 pm; Sunday, Dec. 22, 2 pm and 7 pm; Monday, Dec. 23, 2 pm and 7 pm; Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2 pm; Thursday, Dec. 26, 2 pm and 7 pm; Friday, Dec. 27 at 2 pm; and Saturday, Dec. 28 at 2pm.