Photo gallery: A backstage pass to the ‘Nutcracker’ ballet

The story of “The Nutcracker” is loosely based on a fantasy story about a girl named Clara, who is given a nutcracker on Christmas Eve that she accidentally breaks.

Later that evening, Clara checks on her broken nutcracker and is greeted by the toy having grown to life-size, battling with a mouse king and his armies. After her nutcracker beats the mouse king, the nutcracker takes Clara to a world of imagination and wonder. In the end, the young girl chooses to stay there rather than return home.

“The Nutcracker” premiered in Europe in 1892 to provide family entertainment to audiences. Ballet West’s founder, Willam Christensen, choreographed the first full-length version of “The Nutcracker” in the United States in 1944. At that time, “The Nutcracker” proved to be ideal because of the vast number of children used in the production, at a time when so many able-bodied dancers were enlisted in the military, according to Ballet West artistic director Adam Sklute.

Ballet West has been performing the ballet since 1963. In 2024, Ballet West’s “Nutcracker” became officially known as a Living Historic Landmark by the state of Utah, the first such designation of its kind in the United States.

Consider “The Nutcracker” by the numbers: 63 production staff and stagehands, 7,000 pounds of dry ice used each year to create the smoke effect, 1,000 pounds of plastic snow used each year to create the snow effect, five semi-trucks required to transport the production, 350 lighting instruments, and 158 costumes.

Photojournalist Laura Seitz provides a sneak-peek look from unique angles of this year’s “Nutcracker” performance.

Tickets are still available for purchase here for the production that runs through Saturday, Dec. 28.