Kennedy musicians and performers are coming together on Dec. 14 to present the first annual production of “The Nutcracker.” The classic Christmas ballet by Tchaikovsky will be brought to life by Kennedy’s Wind Symphony and Jazz 1, 42 musicians, with 25 various dancers in the auditorium at 7:30 p.m.

The original story follows a young girl, Clara, who is gifted a toy nutcracker that comes alive in her dream and turns out to be a prince. As thanks for breaking his spell, he takes her on an adventure through his kingdom.

“We are not following the narrative. For the most part, we are just doing a collection of dances from the nutcracker,” choreographer Matthew Lovegood said. “Two of the sections we are loosely interpreting. Clara is usually the main character during the nutcracker [but this time] she makes an appearance.” 

Not only has the story been adapted, but the music has also been tweaked.

“There is no new music, but [for] two of the pieces, I’m using the Duke Ellington version of the nutcracker instead of the Tchaikovsky version,” band director Stephanie Williamson said. “It’s a mix of jazz and classical, that is our unique spin on it.”

The performance will not only be a ballet, but will include a variety of different styles, from jazz to flag work.

“We have all of the very typical, very traditional dance sequences, with just a little bit of a spin,” Williamson said. “[For] our sugar plum fairies, our jazz band is actually playing that piece. In our Arabian [number, the] dancer is using swing flags from our color guard. We just have our own little unique take on all of these things that are slightly different from the traditional—so it is a Kennedy original Nutcracker.” 

Both Lovegood and Williamson are excited to see the show brought to life in Kennedy’s Auditorium. It is a fun way for the music department to kick off the holidays.

The musicians, choreographers and performers have worked hard their first rehearsals around Halloween and dancers and musicians coming together on Dec. 10, four days before the show.

“Rehearsals are great,” Williamson said. “The music sighting is going really well, the dancers and all their choreography sessions are going really well. It’s coming together”

This is the first time Kennedy has put on this sort of performance, with artists of different disciplines coming together in such a way.

“Whenever you do something for the first time, it’s always exciting to see who comes out to see it,” Williamson said. ”Then, if we decide to keep it as a kind of holiday tradition every couple of years, the community expects it every year. It’s exciting that it’s the first one and we are really hoping to make it to a Kennedy annual Christmas tradition.”