On November 19, 2022, the doors of the Upcountry History Museum will open to an ever-familiar story with the Greenville debut of an exclusive holiday favorite, “Nutcracker. The Exhibition."
While the toy soldiers march and the sugar plum fairies dance during traditional Christmas performances of this ballet, there is much more to the story —a chronicle that originated as a short story by Prussian author
E.T.A. Hoffman in 1816 and was followed by the setting of the story to music as a ballet in 1892 by renowned Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsl‹y.
In the more than 200 years since, ‘The Nutcracker’ has evolved from a rather darI‹ storyline into the quintessential standard bearer for the start of the holiday season around the world.
Organized by the Upcountry History Museum, this extraordinary holiday exhibition will showcase original costumes from Walt Disney‘s 2018 movie The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, as well as props, ballet costumes, original illustrations and drawings from partnerships with Walt Disney Archives, The Walt Disney Family Museum, The Charles M. Schulz Museum, acclaimed children‘s authors/illustrators Maurice Sendal‹ and James Ransome, and Greenville’s own Carolina Ballet Theatre.
In addition, the exhibition will explore the unique connection between Disney‘s 1940’s animated classic, Fantasia, and Tchail‹ovsl‹y’s musical sequence in the ballet’s "Nutcracl‹er Suite" as it presents what animation historian John Canemaker calls “one of the most exquisite examples of Disney fantasy ever created.”
Filled with rich visual interpretation, Nutcracker.' The Exhibition will take visitors on an immersive experience through which they can explore a I‹aIeidoscope of artistic re-imaginings of the classic tale from the 1820s to the present. This journey of discovery will showcase the cultural, technological, and societal shifts that have compelled fiImmaI‹ers, artists, and fans to return to the tale of The Nutcracker time and time again.
Nutcracker: The Exhibition will be on display through February 19, 2023.