GREENSBORO, N.C. — Another Triad holiday tradition is forced to switch gears due to COVID-19.
The Greensboro Ballet's version of "The Nutcracker" is coming to the Greensboro Coliseum as a drive-in event.
The show will be recorded at the Carolina Theatre and be shown on a big screen.
"[The videographer] is filming it walking into the theater as if you were someone coming to see it. He has the ticket, goes into the theater, and you're going to see that the theater is empty. And then [he'll] sit down in the show will start," Interm Artistic Director Jessica McAlister said.
The pandemic will be incorporated into the scenes.
"During the party scene the maids bring out little hand sanitizers and everybody sanitizes. There's a lot of temperature checks there's a mouse that dies that actually gets a COVID test before they wheel him off in a stretcher," McAlister said.
McAlister said they are trying to inject a little humor at a time when we all need it. There are a number of things that will also be different this year. Dancers will be wearing masks that go with their costumes, the set will be stripped down, and a Rat Queen will fight the Nutcracker.
"It's played by one of our professional dancers and it completely puts a different twist on the story. I mean she is fierce," McAlister said.
Tickets are available for $60/vehicle at Greensborogso.org. The show runs December 18-20. There will be concessions available.