MOSCOW BALLET’S ‘THE NUTCRACKER’
3 p.m. Robinson Center Music Hall. $37-$191.
I have only vague childhood memories of what happens with the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Mouse King in the Land of Sweets (seriously, “The Nutcracker” must be our most psychedelic of holiday traditions), but Tchaikovsky’s gorgeous score is still stuck in my head all these years later.
The familiar music, lavish costumes, and kitschy production make for a family favorite that’s more spectacle than high art, and the Moscow Ballet, on tour with its 20th-anniversary production of “The Great Russian Nutcracker,” has a rep for going all-in on the Christmas schmaltz.
In addition to the Russian pros, local student dancers from DanceArts Studios will be on stage as various mice, snow maidens, butterflies, and the like.