(Annual productions of the San Francisco Ballet Nutcracker began in 1949.) to make the ballet an annual tradition, and for ten years, the only company in the United States performing the complete ballet, until George Balanchine’s production opened in New York in 1954. Perhaps choreographers will make up for lost time from now on.” The company was the first in the U.S.

The staging was a huge success and one critic wrote: “We can’t understand why a vehicle of such fantastic beauty and originality could be produced in Europe in 1892 with signal success and never be produced in its entirety in this country until 1944.

Gisella Caccialanza, the wife of Lew Christensen, danced the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy. This production used the ballet’s original plot and was choreographed by Willam Christensen, who danced the role of the Cavalier. on 24 December 1944, performed by the San Francisco Ballet. Tchaikovsky’s now-classic ballet The Nutcracker received its first complete production in the U.S.

Van war memorial opera house