Kansas City Ballet is honored to have been invited to bring our Nutcracker to the Nation’s stage at The John F. Kennedy Center to perform this week (Nov. 22 and 24-26, 2017). The undertaking of such an endeavor is not light work. There were many considerable tasks involved in accepting the opportunity, not the least of which was simply getting everyone and everything there. Never one to back down from a challenge, especially one as special as this, there have been months spent preparing.
Logistics
It will take four semi-trailer trucks and many hours on the road to get all of the sets and production pieces to D.C. Kansas City Ballet General Manager Kevin Amey also spent hours arranging flights for all the members of the company and artistic and production staff.
Music
Kansas City Ballet Music Director Ramona Pansegrau spent many, many hours re-orchestrating our Nutcracker score for the larger National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center. Among other additions, they have two harpists instead of one. These scores will only be used during this run.
Children’s Cast
Kansas City Ballet Artistic Director Devon Carney and Kansas City Ballet School Principals Kimberly Cowen and Racheal Nye auditioned hundreds of children in D.C. and have spent countless hours preparing materials to assist the D.C. stagers during rehearsals until Kimberly and Devon could be there to rehearse them with our company.
Read more about this trip from The Kansas City Star. Hear more at KCUR.
