AMARILLO, TEXAS -- It's time once again for sugar plum fairies to dance in your head, because this year's holiday production of The Nutcracker kicked off Friday night.
This is the 36th year The Lone Star Ballet is presenting The Nutcracker. It's a great holiday tradition of a young girl's dreams at Christmastime.
No matt how old you are, The Nutcracker takes it's guests into a magical place of sugar plum fairies, orange slice and gumdrop princesses.
"This is a gift we've been given and it's a very special that we give it away, as well. We feel very blessed to be a part of all of this," said Vicki Mclean, Lone Star Ballet Director of Dance.
But for the production to come off smoothly, there's a lot of preparation that goes into the production.
"We have been in rehearsal since about October 12th, around then, mid October until this week when we opened. We rehearse basically every night, most of us are there five nights a week to six nights a week," said Josh Bates, Circle of Excellence of Lone Star Ballet.
"We have 140 people in the cast. And so what I have to do is break up that group of people into various rehearsal times," said Mclean.
The Nutcracker was revamped in 2007, and this year, fans of the ballet will notice new costumes, and even an added scene.
"Some of the parts that are new this year, we have princesses for the sweet scenes. So there's an orange slice princess, a gum drop princess, peppermint and candy cane. So I'm an orange slice princess, and we have pretty new tutus."
The people with The Lone Star Ballet say pulling off this production is a lot of work, but feel lucky to be able to put a smile on so many faces with it.
Both young and old agree, escaping to The Nutcracker's world of make believe is a sweet treat.
You can get your tickets for the show by calling Panhandle Tickets at 378-3096.
