‘Nutcracker’ returns with ‘wow’ ending

The third time’s the charm. Especially when they figure out the ending.

Nevada Ballet Theatre’s “The Nutcracker” returns to The Smith Center’s Reynolds Hall Dec. 13 for an eight-performance run, and the company — under the artistic direction of James Canfield — is putting the finishing touches on a production that will feature several on- and off-stage changes.

Including the ending, which choreographer Canfield hadn’t quite determined — a little more than a week before this year’s Dec. 13 debut.

One thing he does know, however: It won’t be a repeat of last year’s video-screen finale, which found Clara, the ballet’s central character, walking into a white light — meant to signify daybreak, and signal her awakening from her fanciful “Nutcracker” dream.

“A lot of people interpreted that differently,” Canfield says. “We don’t want a lot of people thinking she’s gone off to heaven.”

So, this year, there won’t be any video screen — or any question. Except, of course, for what approach he decides to take.

“Do you want to leave it to people’s imaginations,” he wonders, or put “a holiday stamp” on the finale with a return to one of “The Nutcracker’s” signature props: a Christmas tree that grows before your very eyes.

Either way, the production will boast an ending that, in Canfield’s words, will provide “a wow moment.”

One of many, he hopes, in a production designed to help audiences “feel enlightened,” by everything from Tchaikovsky’s timeless score (performed by Las Vegas Philharmonic musicians) to a streamlined set that enables the production to move in a “more functional, more effective — and yet more magical — way.”

Nevada Ballet Theatre’s “The Nutcracker” opens at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 13, in Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, 361 Symphony Park Ave. Additional performances will be presented at 1 and 5:30 p.m. Dec. 14, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 19, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 20 and 1 and 5:30 p.m. Dec. 21.

For tickets ($29-$179), call 702-749-2000 or visit www.thesmithcenter.com or www.nevadaballet.org.