The Nutcracker at Wethersfield, a Covid-19 compliant “Nutcracker,” choreographed and directed by Troy Schumacher, runs this holiday season through December 26 at the glorious Wethersfield Estate in Amenia, NY (a two-hour drive north of Times Square), this watershed live production provides a guided immersive experience in a historical site. The Nutcracker at Wethersfield will then be streamed on demand, free of charge, directly following its run. BalletCollective and the Wethersfield Estate are producing the event.

The free stream of The Nutcracker at Wethersfield will be available to watch on demand at www.NutcrackerAtWethersfield.com from December 23 at 5:00 p.m. to December 26 at midnight.

This event keeps this beloved holiday tradition alive in a re-imagined, safety-compliant way that is unlike any other production of Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece. The Nutcracker at Wethersfield is the first new full-length premiere and the first professional full-length production of The Nutcracker in the U.S.

The Nutcracker at Wethersfield features female party scene costumes by Oscar de la Renta, male party scene costumes by Todd Snyder, Christmas trees and decorations by Balsam Hill and wallpaper and fabric design by Schumacher Fabrics. There is also a live music element at each event from The Metropolis Ensemble and the event’s medical partner is Dr. Lipi Roy, an NBC News medical contributor.

Acclaimed filmmaker Annie Sundberg (“Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work,” “Surviving Jeffrey Epstein”) is producing and directing a feature documentary about this historic production.

Invitations to attend the live event are limited due to current regulations and will be open only to underwriters of The Nutcracker at Wethersfield. In addition to underwriters and their guests, a limited number of invitations will be provided to families hard hit by the pandemic through the following community organizations: Willow Roots, Inc. in Pine Plains, Grace Immigrant Outreach in Millbrook, North East Community Center in Millerton, and Food of Life / Comida de Vida (Food Pantry of St. Thomas Episcopal Church) in Amenia Union.

Invitations to essential workers in the Rhinebeck community have also been extended courtesy of Van Lamprou of Del’s Dairy Farm. These include teachers, medical personnel, and a restaurant owner who donated food to front line Covid workers.

The Nutcracker at Wethersfield features a roster of internationally acclaimed dancers, currently furloughed from New York City Ballet, including Sara Mearns, Tyler Angle, Ashley Laracey, and Taylor Stanley, among others.

When guests arrive at the Wethersfield Estate they will be immediately immersed in a magical world, as if they were attending the ballet’s famous party scene. The event will guide guests through all of the quintessential moments of the ballet, including the battle scene, the snow ballet and the Land of the Sweets, as they traverse the beauty of the historic manor house and the impeccably kept grounds and gardens of Wethersfield.

Each event is completely compliant with New York’s Covid-19 regulations, supervised by a team of medical professionals to ensure the safety of guests and artists. All the dancers have been quarantining since early November and maintain social distance from all guests.

Guests will be limited to 7-8 socially distanced groups of 2-6 attendees in each group to ensure that the house never exceeds 25% capacity, and that no more than fifty people, including dancers, are together in any space at any time. Guests must wear new masks throughout the experience. As the event progresses, guests will be taken through a range of ventilated indoor, heated outdoor and tented locations.

The event will provide a range of experiences, including a Nutcracker Party Scene themed tour through the manor house, an outdoor snow ballet, and a tented land of sweets, featuring creative direction and food design by Elizabeth Mayhew of The Dutchy.

“We are pleased that the public will be able to experience this unique production online for free,” said choreographer and director Troy Schumacher. “For many, The Nutcracker is an annual tradition, and we hope that The Nutcracker at Wethersfield will make this year’s holidays sparkle a bit brighter.”

The Nutcracker at Wethersfield is being underwritten by members of the Hudson Valley community and national arts lovers, to provide work for more than fifty dancers, designers, crew, and arts workers who have seen their livelihoods and purpose disappear this year. With theaters closed well into 2021, this unique opportunity provides each of these artists a lifeline and a chance to return to their craft.

Featuring Dancers Sara Mearns, Tyler Angle, Ashley Laracey, Taylor Stanley, Mira Nadon, Erica Pereira, Ralph Ippolito, Eliza Blutt, Gabriella Domini, Savannah Durham, Claire von Enck, Emma von Enck, Malorie Lundgren, Mary Thomas MacKinnon, Miriam Miller, Davide Riccardo, Kristen Segin, Mary Elizabeth Sell, Mimi Staker, KJ Takahashi, and Cainan Weber.

About Wethersfield: The Wethersfield Estate, an acclaimed historical site situated in beautiful Dutchess County in New York’s Hudson Valley, encompasses a neo-Georgian manor house, formal garden, and carriage house museum. The Estate was the home of Chauncey Stillman, grandson of James Stillman, Chairman of the National Bank, now known as CitiBank. The Wethersfield Foundation, which maintains and manages the Estate, focuses on access to the arts, culture and land conservation. The Wethersfield Foundation is pleased to partner with the BalletCollective to make The Nutcracker at Wethersfield possible.

About BalletCollective: Founded in 2010 by Troy Schumacher, BalletCollective creates and performs forward-thinking works that reflect the world we live in. BalletCollective commissions emerging, established and acclaimed choreographers, composers, writers and visual artists to collaborate on ballet-based works. BalletCollective exclusively performs commissioned, collaborative work.

BalletCollective’s process fosters interdisciplinary inspiration and innovation. BalletCollective connects choreographers with composers; together they choose a non-performative artist. The trio exchanges ideas in their work and the season’s curatorial concept. The visual artist or writer develops a work of source art for the composer and choreographer to utilize as inspiration for the piece and as a tool to ground the artistic conversation. The source art does not necessarily become part of the final work, but it could not exist without it. With each new collective there are new challenges, experiments, and ultimately new forms of expression that expand the definition of ballet for artists and guests alike.

BalletCollective has commissioned and performed more than 15 works with over 50 choreographers, composers, musicians, artists, designers, and dancers, including Karen Russell, James Ramsey, Ken Liu, Julianna Barwick, David Salle, Dafy Hagai, Judd Greenstein, and Cynthia Zarin. BalletCollective has recently presented at Gelsey Kirkland Arts Center, The Joyce Theater, Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, Guggenheim Works & Process, the Fire Island Dance Festival, and the Savannah Music Festival, and made its international debut at the Guggenheim Bilbao in August 2018.

This summer, BalletCollective followed similar stringent health and safety protocols, including a strict dancer quarantine, to successfully create and premiere Natural History, the first newly created and choreographed ballet since the start of the pandemic.