I’ve been to the nutcracker every year for 20 plus years. There were way to many crying babies, loud children, adults being loud, people being loud with food. Very disappointed. The production was decent but the Mattie Kelly in Niceville is a better experience.
Thought last year was an anomaly, but yet again under their new direction they ruined the nutcracker by grossly slowing down the Pas de deux and making the octive so low it was embarrassing to watch and torturous to hear. What should be the most romantic and powerful dance by two professional dancers who can keep up with the original score turned into a low and slow moving embarrassing dance by two people who clearly couldn’t keep up. I was very disappointed. Please don’t ever change the key and slow down the Pas de deux again- find professional dancers now who can perform the dance and pay what needs to be paid to get them to come. If you don’t do this it’s nothing more than a little dance recital and the public doesn’t need to see it-just the parents.
For years, my daughter danced in the Nutcracker performance here, so she had never seen the entire performance in the Saenger before. We both enjoyed it! Some of the Land of Sweets characters were not faithful to the traditions, and this was NOT welcome. In fact, some furry looking characters seemed very out of place and were a distraction; this is when I found that this wasn't the traditional version, which I had expected to see. After all our years being a part of so many rehearsals and performances, we are familiar with how the script may be adjusted to suit different groups in different years. So, we do understand, but we simply did not recognize enough of the Land of Sweets to enjoy that SIGNIFICANT part of the performance.
I enjoyed the show very much except for the child sitting next to me that kept kicking my broken foot that was in a boot!
New artistic Director first year. Made some changes. Set design fine. Too many mini storylines happening that distracted from main dancers telling their story. Huge disappointment in the Pas de Deux. The music was god-awful. It was slowed down, incredibly slowly and into a horribly offputting key. Dancing was fine for what the music was but they needed to find dancers who can keep up with the correct key and speed of the Pas de Deux -ruined the entire thing.
Our 5th Nutcracker at Saenger Pensacola. A holiday tradition with my 8 year old grandaughter. We drive over from Destin and its SO worth it! Never disappoints! Just an absolute joy each year.
I so thoroughly love the Nutcracker Ballet. I've loved this since I was a young child, and to see it live was just icing on the cake for me. I brought my 12 yr old daughter and she too fell in love with Tchaikovsky. So happy to be passing on to my child the joy of classical ballet and music.
Promised some professionals but were par at best. Choreography was sub par. Dancers must-steps were everywhere & falling out of simple lifts. Children were cute & angels were the only reason we didn’t get up & leave. Oh who’s idea was it to sell potato chips?! OMG couldn’t hear after intermission, due to chip bags & crunching!!!seriously!!!
This was one of the best times I have ever had watching a ballet. How the pro's and the young kids integrate into a seamless performance is a testimony to the director and demonstrates the hours of practice that went into this flawless production. This will only get better.
The Pensacola Ballet's performance of The Nutcracker was amazing! The dancers were magical, and the sets and music as well. This show was as professional as any I've seen on Broadway.
