Kansas City Ballet Dancers and Kansas City Ballet School Students in Devon Carney’s The Nutcracker. Photography by Brett Pruitt & East Market Studios.
Ten years ago, then-recently-arrived Artistic Director Devon Carney undertook to refresh the Kansas City Ballet’s The Nutcracker from top to bottom — set, costumes, and of course choreography. The result is a triumph, the city’s most magical holiday tradition. This Nutcracker is a spectacular production with all the trimmings, a feast of delights to please one and all.
On its tenth anniversary, the production gleams brighter than ever, beginning with the magnificent production design: storybook sets (Alain Vaës), exquisite costumes (Holly Hynes) and dreamscape lighting (Trad A Burns). Against this beauty, Carney has staged scene after scene of endearing charm, laugh-out-loud playfulness and dazzling classical ballet.
Act I is chock-a-block with kid-friendly action, culminating in a rambunctious battle of mice versus toy soldiers. MacKenzie Mejia was a lovely and poised Clara, Geo Malter fittingly mischievous as her bratty younger brother. (Note: most casting revolves by performance date.) Carney keeps energy high with visual gags like stage-bomb entrances by the fat and sassy mice, and a hilariously spunky dance by the momentarily rejuvenated Grandmother and Grandfather (Keaton Linzau and Kelsey Ivana Hellebuyck).
The sleigh ride to the Kingdom of Snow transitions us into the more classical second half. Tchaikovsky’s sumptuous score is also deeply melancholic, and we feel it in Vaës’s dark wood and the celestial Snow Choir (a marvelous live surprise in a double performance by the student dancers). Marisa DeEtte Whiteman and Gavin Abercrombie are beautifully paired as the regal Snow Queen and Snow King, with Ice Crystals Taryn Pachciarz and Naomi Tanioka framed by the sparkling, drifting Snowflakes. The Kingdom of Snow is a liminal and mythic scene, the deep heart between the jolly Act I and confectionary Act II, and this one leaves a stirring, enduring afterimage.
There is a lot more Dr. Drosselmeier in this version than I’m used to, especially in the second act, but Andrew Vecseri’s flashy sleight of hand and cheerful buffoonery give the character an amusing, less sinister affect.
In some of the Nutcracker’s most iconic set pieces, Taryn Pachciarz, Paul Zusi, and Cameron Thomas earned wild applause for a breathtaking performance of the Arabian acrobatics, as did Elliott Rogers, Derek Wippel and Joseph Boswell for their dynamic execution of the crowd-pleasing Cossack dance.
Sidney Haefs is a delightful Sugar Plum Fairy, both stately and delicate in her port de bras and footwork. Aidan Duffy partners attentively as her Cavalier and dances with verve and style in his solo intervals. Their mirroring steps were especially beautiful and a highlight of the evening.
Kaleena Burks was gorgeous and soulful as The Rose, with minutely precise leg articulation. KCB II members and Trainees make up most of the Snowflakes in the Kingdom of Snow and the Flowers in the Waltz of the Flowers, showing excellent depth and promise in the company’s bench.
From the vertiginous plays in scale to the unicorn hot air balloon that flies Clara and her Nutcracker Prince to the Land of Sweets, Alain Vaës’s fantastical sets abound in eye candy and wow touches. The more detail one catches of Holly Hynes’s costumes, the more one is captivated, from the macaroon colors of the family party dresses to the tarnished cutlery down the front of the Mouse King’s coat to the jeweled, padded, appliquéd plums around the Sugar Plum Fairy’s tutu.
This Nutcracker hits that perfect sweet spot — both opulent and friendly, a spectacular production warmed by adorable jumbles of children playing mice, toy soldiers, cherubs, lambs, Polichinelles, Matryoshka dolls and more. The students performed with impressive professionalism, even amidst what sometimes feels like the festive chaos of a school pageant. One can only imagine the mayhem in the wings, especially with all the costume changes and props required.
As for the front of the house, what could be more celebratory than a lobby buzzing with motley and multigenerational family groups, besties in their holiday best, and wide-eyed tots awestruck at their very first Nutcracker? I sat next to a distinguished gentleman who arrived as early as we did, stayed tight in his seat through intermission, and hummed softly to every bar of music. With him on one side and my daughter on the other, I was flooded with nostalgic flashbacks to my own mother, also a Hummer, who also hummed the entire score at my first Nutcracker. Shared experiences of joy is what the holidays are about, and communal ones are rarer and harder to find. Lucky we are to create memories with the Kansas City Ballet’s splendid and warm-hearted Nutcracker.
Kansas City Ballet
The Nutcracker
Reviewed November 29, 2025
Remaining Performances:
December 5 – 7:30PM
December 6 – 2:00PM and 7:30PM
December 7 – 1:00PM and 5:30PM
December 11 – 7:30PM
December 12 – 7:30PM
December 13 – 2:00PM and 7:30PM
December 14 – 1:00PM and 5:30PM
December 18 – 7:30PM
December 19 – 7:30PM
December 20 – 2:00PM and 7:30PM
December 21 – 1:00PM and 5:30PM
December 22 – 2:00PM and 7:30PM
December 23 – 2:00PM and 7:30PM
December 24 – 1:00PM
Tickets begin as low as $34
Sensory-friendly performances are available
