The Joffrey Ballet’s ‘The Nutcracker’ brings a new setting with classic charm

After almost ten years in the making, The Joffrey Ballet introduced its world premiere and reimagined version of The Nutcracker.

While Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s alluring music remains, the rest of the show got a complete makeover. This includes the Broadway scaled set, nine major pieces of which were tasked to Chicago Scenic.

Not only did the scenery have to fill The Joffrey’s stage, but as a traveling show, it also needed to have the ability to be versatile enough to accommodate different venues. CSSI took the initiative through many meetings with the Joffrey design and production teams and countless hours researching ideas to create a set that would be structurally sound yet as light as possible.

“While scenery is intended to be “light and portable” the set design lent itself to large and heavy…Our solution was to laser-cut aluminum for the World’s Fair Traveler pieces. This satisfied the visual and structural needs and was a lightweight solution that we could attach the scenic fabric to,” said Stefan Koniarz, project manager for Chicago Scenic Studios.

CSSI also conscientiously chose materials that would be resilient and easy for travel, considering aspects such as how a piece breaks down to fit in a truck, load into a theatre, and assemble in the space to make traveling effortless. All the materials used are easily located in stores along the route of the performance, should there be a need for repair or replacement.

4 Photo By Cheryl Mann 11 Photo By Cheryl Mann 16 Miguel Angel Blanco And Cast Photo By Cheryl Mann 1