All over the country at this time of year, in prop rooms big and small, someone is dusting off the head of the Mouse King. It’s time, in other words, for The Nutcracker, a ballet from Imperial Russia that has been an indelible staple of American culture for decades, an unmistakable sign of the holiday season as familiar as Ebenezer Scrooge and round-the-clock Christmas carols. … [Read more...]