Get your jolly on this holiday week with ‘All is Calm,’ ‘Nutcracker,’ ‘White Christmas’

Dana Oland
·3 min read

The holidays are here and one of the best places to celebrate is on stage, and the Treasure Valley’s performing arts community really puts on a show. Here are some of the offerings this season.

“The Nutcracker”

Ballet Idaho’s “The Nutcracker” plays for two weeks at the Morrison Center. Pictured: Annika Dalbratt as a Snowflake.
Ballet Idaho’s “The Nutcracker” plays for two weeks at the Morrison Center. Pictured: Annika Dalbratt as a Snowflake.

There are very few experiences that offer as much holiday cheer as watching dancing flowers and sugar plums, and a magical journey to the Land of Sweets, all performed to one of the world’s most memorable classical scores.

This year, Ballet Idaho doubled the number of performances for its vivid version of “The Nutcracker.” The production, created by retired BI artistic director Peter Anastos in 2018, features jaw-dropping scenery that fills the Morrison Center stage to the rafters, colorful costumes that offer a feast for the eyes, and sparkling performances by the company and more than 100 area children.

The annual production also features a collaboration with the Boise Phil and Opera Idaho’s Children’s Chorus performing Tchaikovsky’s timeless score.

7 p.m. Dec. 9, 2 and 7 p.m. Dec. 10, noon and 5 p.m. Dec. 11, 7 p.m. Dec. 15-16, 2 and 7 p.m. Dec. 17, noon and 5 p.m. Dec. 18, Morrison Center, 2201 W. Cesar Chavez Lane; Tickets: $44-$83 at MorrisonCenter.com.

Kyla Rishel and Cade Rishel as Clara and her Cavalier in Idaho Regional Ballet’s “The Nutcracker.”
Kyla Rishel and Cade Rishel as Clara and her Cavalier in Idaho Regional Ballet’s “The Nutcracker.”

❄️ A little more low-key, but no less heartfelt is Idaho Regional Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” at the Boise State Special Events Center. It’s filled with delightful performances by this young dancers company based at Eagle Performing Arts Academy, plus some talented alumni and guest artists, including Pacific Northwest Ballet soloist Ezra Thompson as the Sugar Plum Cavalier.

7 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, BSU SPEC, 1800 W. University Drive. $25-$45 at IdahoRegionalBallet.com.

‘All is Calm’

The cast of Boise Contemporary Theater’s and Opera Idaho’s production of “All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914” is now in performance at BCT through Dec. 18.
The cast of Boise Contemporary Theater’s and Opera Idaho’s production of “All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914” is now in performance at BCT through Dec. 18.

This is the second year that Boise Contemporary Theater and Opera Idaho have combined forces to tell this touching holiday story of peace, brotherhood and the spirit of the season.

Based on one of the legendary events of the 20th century, “All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914” offers a moving remembrance of the moment when British, French, Belgian and German soldiers in the trenches of World War I laid down arms and met in the barbed-wire-filled “No Man’s Land” that separated the armies on the Western Front.

They traded stories, tobacco and wine, and joined in a spontaneous holiday party on a cold night in December. The remarkable tale is told through the words of World War I poets, official war documents, individual diary entries and heartfelt letters written by more than 30 soldiers. The words are punctuated by choral arrangements of Irish folk songs, wartime ditties and holiday classics.

7 p.m. Wednesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays, through Dec. 18. $32, $38 and $45 general, $15 students at bctheater.org and by calling 208-331-9224.

‘White Christmas’

Boise Little Theater continues to celebrate its 75th anniversary with the holiday classic “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas,” a musical filled with song, dance and plenty of holiday schmaltz. Two World War II war buddies-turned-Broadway stars team up with a sister act to give the greatest Christmas present to the greatest guy they know — their former commanding officer. Of course, love and romance follow.

You’ll hear a collection of holiday songs that have become classics, including “Snow,” “Count Your Blessings” and of course “White Christmas.”

7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 17, with a bonus 2 p.m. showing Dec. 17. Boise Little Theater, 100 E. Fort St. $25 general, $20 seniors and students at BoiseLittleTheater.org, and by calling 208-342-5104.

‘Cabaret’

“Willkommen” to the Kit Kat Club, a decadent Berlin nightclub at the close of the 1920s when Weimar Classicism met the rise of Nazism. “In her, life is beautiful,” the Master of Ceremonies says, as he helps you forget your troubles with bawdy songs and wry commentary, sexy chorus “girls” and, of course, everyone’s favorite tragic heroine Sally Bowles.

This is Alley Repertory Theater’s production of “Cabaret.”

And while the entertainers dance the line between what is and isn’t acceptable in a dangerous, changing world, their lives, and the lives of the people around them, begin to unravel.

“Cabaret” is definitely a darker slice of musical theater and is for adult audiences. Performances are at the Visual Art Collective in Garden City, a 21-and-older venue that will be transformed for the evening. The show is filled with memorable musical numbers, such as the raunchy “Two Ladies,” satirical “Money Song” and Bowles’ heartbreaking “Maybe This Time” and desperately life-affirming “Cabaret.”

8 p.m. Dec. 8 (pay-what-you can-preview), and 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 31. Doors open one hour prior. Tickets: $25 at Alleyrep.org. Some performances already are sold out, but you can get on waiting lists. Bring your ID. The theater also will host a New Year’s Eve party that includes an entire evening, the show, appetizers, and a champagne toast for $123.