“A holiday tradition that seems as old as Christmas trees and mistletoe.” That’s what Renee Montagne said three years ago this month on NPR’s “Morning Edition” when she discussed, with NPR’s classical music commentator Miles Hoffman, the tradition that’s grown up around Christmas-holiday performances of Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Nutcracker.” But as Miles Hoffman told her, the first complete production of Tchaikovsky’s 1892 ballet in the United States didn’t take place until Christmas Eve 1944 in San Francisco. In fact, Hoffman said, “It wasn’t until the 1960s that performances of the complete ‘Nutcracker’ ballet really took off as an annual Christmas tradition around the country.” For this KSMU “Sense of Community” report I decided to look at Springfield Ballet’s lengthy history of presenting a “Nutcracker” production just about every year since the 1985-85 season. During rehearsals for this season’s run, which took place December 15-18 at the Landers Theatre, I asked Springfield
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