The Nutcracker Suite

At Kupferberg Center for the Arts, *The Nutcracker Suite* returns in its other, concert-rooted form: Tchaikovsky’s familiar set of dances and character pieces, framed as music before it becomes spectacle. In New York, *Nutcracker* traditions were cemented by Balanchine’s mid-century staging, but the score has always had a parallel life in the city’s orchestral and community venues. Heard this way, the narrative recedes and the craft comes forward, especially in how each miniature establishes a place, a mood, and then moves on.