ds has fallen in love with The Nutcracker, am a ballet virgin!

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I bought ds the nutcracker book and he is entranced by it, i mentioned that it is also a famous ballet and he wants to go and watch it. he is 5, can i take a 5yo to the ballet? and how on earth do i find out where it is locally?!

Google The Nutcracker most big cities will have a version on. I am taking my 4 nearly 5 yr old dd for the first time next week. It is a ballet for children andii am hoping the matinnee will be quite relaxed at least that what I have told myself (wink)

why has my smiley not worked??

we are in shropshire, so it will have to be either wolverhampton or birmingham. its been on round here previous years (or so google tells me) and ive just missed a production in shrewsbury.

I took my dds from age four - they love it and it's now an annual Christmas outing. Ballets are, however, usually up to a three-hour stint (with two half hour or so breaks), depending on the production. We saw The Nutcracker a couple of years ago and the girls loved it. It was, supposedly, produced specifically for children but wasn't that dumbed down. It's on again: www.eno.org/see-whats-on/see-whats-on.php but tickets will be difficult to get and don't know where you live. You could google it for a local production but doubt there'll be one - maybe wait for a touring company, depending on where you live?

Sorry, just missed that - gave link to The Coliseum.

How often do you get theatre companies touring nearby?

If it isn't often, maybe a really decent version on DVD would be better.

The royal ballet has released it for cinema as well this December if that's an option?
the listings

Birmingham Hippodrome recommend 5 and above for baet performances, so should be fine... as mentioned, a matinee is probably best!

depending where u live of course, but its on at the birmingham hippodrome, i had never seen a ballet in my life and I loved it, its beautiful, a real christmasy feel good, and i didn't even know the story, i would recommend an afternoon performance, more relaxed, you can hear the children gasp as they recognise music (from car ads and christmas ads mostly) you will love it

thank you all so much. I thought it would be a really nice treat for him.

a dvd might be ok for him. last year they had in locally all oevr christmas.

oooh, found it in wolverhampton! 19th dec

and its at 3.45 so it'll be dark when we come out

Actually- might be a v good idea to let him see a DVD first... DD was quite scared of it when she saw it ... thankfully it was on a DVD, not in the theatre!

Oooo - I love the ballet. I think you and DS will have a ball.