Join us for the holidays as the Gelsey Kirkland Academy brings their version of the perennial holiday classic to the Schimmel. Set to Tchaikovsky’s iconic and emotional score, The Nutcracker is a richly symbolic story about a young girl’s journey through fear and darkness to the light of love, guided by her godfather, Drosselmeyer. Marie’s transformation from child to princess to marriage with the ideal prince begins with an unlikely gift from her godfather at a Christmas Eve party: an ugly doll that cracks hard nuts. Follow Marie as she is menaced by dark forces and ultimately rescued by the Nutcracker who leads her up the Christmas tree into the land of snow and beyond…into his kingdom.