SALT LAKE CITY, UT – This Veterans Day, a quiet wartime story connects the sacrifices of World War II to a tradition that now defines the American holiday season.
In 1944, with the nation deep in war, Utah native and choreographer Willam Christensen, known as “Mr. C,” wanted to bring joy during a bleak time. Fabric was rationed and materials were scarce, yet he mortgaged his house to create something America desperately needed: hope wrapped in holiday magic.
The result was America’s first full-length Nutcracker, now more than 80 years old and recognized as a Living Historic Landmark by the state of Utah. Ballet West’s production is that original, brought to Utah in 1955. It launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sustains ballet companies nationwide, and it all started as a morale booster.
How It All Started
In the fall of 1944, George Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova visited San Francisco with the Ballet Russe. Christensen, then director of San Francisco Ballet, talked with them late into the night about The Nutcracker, which the two had performed as children in St. Petersburg, Russia. When Danilova kicked off her shoes to demonstrate steps, Balanchine stopped her: “Oh, no, he must find his own way.”
Find his way he did, creating a Nutcracker that was both faithful to the original and uniquely American. Balanchine would not choreograph his own version until 1954.
Creating Magic from Almost Nothing
Christensen had only three months to mount the production. Red velvet curtains from a demolished theater, purchased for $10, became party coats for Act One guests. With fabric rationed to 10 yards per person, dancers fanned out across San Francisco, each buying their limit, and the company pooled it all to create 143 costumes. Russell Hartley, a 19-year-old company member and painter, designed and built them on a $1,000 budget, slept in the costume shop to meet the deadline, and spent less than $7 per costume.
Original Snow Queen Jocelyn Vollmar recalled: “Wartime materials weren’t very good. Some of the costumes were wearing out before that first performance, because we’d rehearsed in them a couple of times.”
The risk was enormous. Mr. C and his brothers, Harold and Lew, invested their own money. “We could have lost everything, it was that close,” he later told the Deseret News. “You can call us fools or pioneers, but we did things with a dream, not knowing the results of the dream.”
The gamble paid off. Every seat in the 3,300-seat San Francisco War Memorial Opera House sold out.
With many male dancers fighting overseas, Mr. C also cast children in leading roles. That necessity became the defining feature of Nutcracker productions across the country, building generations of families who return each year to see their children perform.
The Reviews That Predicted History
Merrill Osenbaugh, arts critic for the Sacramento Union, wrote prophetically: “We can’t understand why a vehicle of such fantastic beauty and originality could be produced in Europe in 1892, and never be produced in its entirety in this country until 1944. Perhaps choreographers will make up for lost time from now on.”
A Living Historic Landmark
In 2024, Ballet West’s Nutcracker was recognized as a Living Historic Landmark by the state of Utah, the first such designation in the United States.
As Ballet West Executive Director Michael Scolamiero explains: “It is the first full-length Nutcracker created here in the United States by our founder, Willam Christensen, for San Francisco Ballet in 1944. We are the only company that presents this version in the United States, and it literally started this Nutcracker mania that every ballet company in America presents during the holidays.”
See the Original
Ballet West’s The Nutcracker runs Dec. 4 – 26 at the Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City. Tickets are available at balletwest.org
ABOUT BALLET WEST
Ballet West, led by Artistic Director Adam Sklute, has been celebrated for innovation and excellence since 1963. Based in Salt Lake City, it presents classical masterpieces, historic works like America’s 1st Nutcracker™ and bold new creations that push the art form forward. Ballet West is home to the Frederick Quinney Lawson Ballet West Academy, training the next generation of ballet artists and audiences in classical technique. The company also extends its reach to the broader community through one of the largest outreach and education programs in the country.
