GLEN ELLYN, Ill. - Von Heidecke's Chicago Festival Ballet (CFB) marks its 25th anniversary production of "The Nutcracker" with four performances at the McAninch Arts Center (MAC), located at 425 Fawell Blvd., Saturday, Dec. 20 at 2 and 7 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 21 at 1 and 5 p.m. New Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Maestro Kirk Muspratt, will Tchaikovsky's classic "Nutcracker" score live for this production marked by dazzling sets and costumes and spectacular dancing.
"The MAC performances are especially important for us this landmark year, because the MAC was the site of our very first production of 'The Nutcracker' a quarter century ago," says Kenneth von Heidecke, choreographer for the production and founder and artistic director of Von Heidecke's Chicago Festival Ballet. "The Nutcracker," featuring the exquisite music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, is a classic holiday fairy tale ballet in two acts. As a family's Christmas Eve party ends, a dream takes the young daughter Clara to a magical world where she meets the Sugar Plum Fairy, the Snow Queen, dancing snowflakes and many other enchanting characters. Von Heidecke's 25th Anniversary staging of "The Nutcracker" will feature dozens of local Chicago and Chicago suburban dancers as Tea, Hot Chocolate, Dolls, Waltzing Flowers and Snowflakes plus local children as Angels, Party Children, Mice and Toy Soldiers. They will be joined by guest artists in principal roles including former Joffrey Ballet company member Michael Anderson (Uncle Drosselmeyer), former Hubbard Street dancer Jamy Meek (Nutcracker Prince), and former River North Dance Chicago company member Jeffrey Wolf (Mouse King), former Joffrey Ballet dancer and Houston Ballet principal Randy Hererra (Snow King, Cavalier, and Arabian), and former Luna Negra Dance Theater and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago dancer and acclaimed choreographer Autumn Eckman (Snow Queen, Sugar Plum Fairy and Arabian).McAninch Arts Center (MAC) at College of DuPage is located 25 miles west of Chicago near I-88 and I-355, and houses three performance spaces (the 780-seat proscenium Belushi Performance Hall; the 186-seat soft-thrust Playhouse Theatre; and the versatile black box Studio Theatre), plus the Cleve Carney Art Gallery, classrooms for the college's academic programming and the Lakeside Pavilion. The MAC has presented theater, music, dance and visual art to more than 1.5 million people since its opening in 1986 and typically welcomes more than 75,000 patrons from the greater Chicago area to more than 230 performances each season.
The mission of the MAC is to foster enlightened educational and performance opportunities, which encourage artistic expression, establish a lasting relationship between people and art, and enrich the cultural vitality of the community. For more information about the MAC, visit AtTheMAC.org. You can also learn more about the MAC on Facebook at facebook.com/AtTheMAC or on twitter at twitter.com/AtTheMAC. McAninch Arts Center (MAC) is supported in part by the College of DuPage Foundation. Established as a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit charitable organization in 1967, the College of DuPage Foundation raises monetary and in-kind gifts to increase access to education and to enhance cultural opportunities for the surrounding community. For more information about the College of DuPage Foundation, visit cod.edu/foundation or call 630.942.2462.Videos