Warner theater is great but not for a 5 and 7yr old. Wait until they are a little older. Go simple this year and up the ante later.

Manassas Ballet Theatre does one at George Mason's performing arts center in Manassas -- I forget the name of it -- if you'd rather head the other direction. Parking isn't a concern, and the ticket prices are lower than the WB's.

http://manassasballet.org/season/the-nutcracker/

^^ Meant to add that we've also loved the production at the Warner, and it's a beautiful theater.

In the past we enjoyed the Maryland Ballet production at Montgomery Community College.

Classical Ballet Theatre does a wonderful Nutcracker at the Ernst Cultural Center in Annandale.

http://www.cbtnva.org/nutcracker

Anonymous wrote:Ballet NOVA does a great Nutcracker performance.

+1. My then 6 yo son loved it last year, and I was impressed with the dance quality (not quite on par with the WB, but still good).

If you're in Fairfax Station, the theatre at NOVA in Annandale is fairly close for you. Various ballet schools in the area do Nutcracker performances there pretty much every weekend starting the weekend before Thanksgiving and going until December 29th. You might be able to get a schedule from NOVA and then contact the individual ballet schools for tickets.

Off the top of my head, i know that Buffa's in Burke and Classical Ballet Theatre in Herndon do performances in the Thanksgiving time frame and Virginia Ballet Company does their production after Christmas, during break.

I like ballet school productions for younger kids because they enjoy seeing other kids dancing and the whole atmosphere is a little more low key. Also, little ones might be less likely to get tired and/or cranky when they haven't had to travel so far to get to the theatre.

Enjoy the ballet!

I took my kids to the "Mini Nut" in Silver Spring. It was good.

Anonymous wrote:I would love to take my 5 and 7 year old kids to the Nutcracker this year. We are in Fairfax Station, VA. Any suggestions on good performances? I was looking at the Warner Theatre, but wondering if anyone else has found good shows.

There are many. Check Groupon because there's some great deals right now.

The puppet nutcracker at Glen Echo

They may be sold out but BalletNova also has Petite performances which are awesome for kids who aren't ready to sit through the longer performance yet.

Ballet NOVA does a great Nutcracker performance.

We took our daughter when she was 3 to a kids version of the Nutcracker somewhere in NOVA .... It was very simple but hit the highlights. I know your kids are older, but something like this is a good option if you just wanted to expose them to the story and weren't sure they could sit still for a longer performance. We did another kids show when my daughter was 4, and when she was 5 we took her to the big professional show.

I've been to a few, and I think the Warner is the best if your kids are pretty good at sitting for shows. The costumes and scenery is amazing, and the choreography is really athletic, so it keeps their attention. The regional dance theaters that do the nutcracker are less kid-friendly, in many ways, because they typically only have 2 professional dancers so there's just not as much of the fancy jumps, spins and lifts, plus the scenery and costumes are not going to have that "wow" factor. I found it harder for the kids to pay attention.

I *definitely* recommend getting a book and going over the story before the show.

Also, some people leave at intermission. THe first half is the part that's focused on the story -- e.g., the Xmas party, the Rat King battle, etc. The second half is more abstract (e.g. each type of candy gets its own dance) so can be harder for the kids to follow. That said, I like the second half much better -- the dancing is phenomenal and the music is too. (The Russian dancers and Mother Ginger are two of my personal favorites.) Be warned that the last half an hour drags a LOT though -- the flowers and the sugar plum fairy is the most boring part of the ballet.

If you don't really think the kids will be into the dance and show, and just want the holiday spirit, consider the Nutcracker Tea at the Ritz. It's cute, but it's expensive and the dancing is pretty blah, since it's a couple people on a wooden floor put into a big room in the Ritz (like what they probably put out for wedding receptions).

I would love to take my 5 and 7 year old kids to the Nutcracker this year. We are in Fairfax Station, VA. Any suggestions on good performances? I was looking at the Warner Theatre, but wondering if anyone else has found good shows.