From The Tribune staff reports
BIRMINGHAM — This year’s Magic City Nutcracker (MCN) will be presented virtually.
Marketing chair Hilary Perry says the show will stream its digital production via Facebook beginning Friday, Dec. 4, 2020 at 7 p.m.
In response to COVID-19, the stage ballet was filmed in iconic locations around Birmingham for its seventh annual production. The 2020 production, which is presented by My A.R.T.S Kids, will be streamed free as a tribute to the community, the cast and their families. It will also be available for purchase in DVD format.
Sponsors who ensured the virtual show could be available at no charge include America’s First Federal Credit Union; Drummond Company, Inc.; Engineering Design Group; High Air Power LLC; Angela Karen Photography; Boardman, Carr, Petelos, Watkins & Ogle; Civil Consultants, Inc.; Dermatology & Skin Care Center; Liberty Park Children’s Dentistry; Vestavia Eye Care; and Warren Averett.
Eighty-eight dancers from 18 dance studios rehearsed via Zoom, and filmed in small, socially-distanced scenes to ensure the community-based production not only continues, but remains a quality production that boasts a local cast. The cast includes dancers as young as 5, college students and professionals from the entire Birmingham metro area, Gadsden, Anniston and beyond, making the MCN the only true community Nutcracker in central Alabama.
Cast members include Sophie Stuart of Margaret, Shawn Reece of Pell City, Mackenzie McElroy of Irondale, and Corah Rosenow of Moody.
Perry says fifty volunteers donated more than 1500 hours of time to pull together the unique production. Parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends could be seen around the Birmingham Botanical Gardens laying marley flooring to ensure the dancers had a pointe-worthy surface. Others manned the costume tent checking temperatures, dressing dancers, arranging hair pieces and perfecting makeup.
For more information and to view the livestream on Dec. 4, visit www.facebook.com/TheMagicCityNutcracker or www.magiccitynutcracker.org.
