Missing ‘The Nutcracker’? See the Tri-Cities movie version at home

The Mid-Columbia Ballet’s annual showing of “Nutcracker” may have been sidelined by COVID, but that hasn’t stopped the company from creating a Christmas show that will delight.

“We figured how to make art under crazy circumstances,” said Mid-Columbia Ballet’s artistic director Debra Rogo. She also is the longtime owner of the Tri-Cities Academy of Ballet with her husband, Joel.

Taking on “Clara’s Tri-Cities Nutcracker Dream” — a movie production of an adapted version of the “Nutcracker” wasn’t so much of a stretch.

Rogo credits a friend of 30 years who owns a ballet company in California for the idea. Throughout the summer they had weekly Zoom meetups over a glass of wine.

“We just kind of shot around crazy ideas,” said Rogo, whose friend in Santa Cruz was creating a “Nutcracker” film.

“Clara’s Tri-Cities Nutcracker Dream” Mid-Columbia Ballet’s You Tube channel. starting Dec. 11 on the Mid-Columbia Ballet’s YouTube Channel.

In the movie, Clara travels around the Tri-Cities looking for her nutcracker that was stolen by a mouse.

Her doll keeps getting handed off from mouse to mouse, and in Clara’s search she finds herself in front of Tri-City businesses such as coffee shops, restaurants and wineries.

The idea was to provide exposure to local businesses who have been affected by the pandemic, Rogo said.

“It was important to me that we included businesses from Tri-Cities and West Richland,” she said. “This truly will be a love letter to Tri-Cities.”

Filming for the hour-long movie began in early October, as soon as the 120 dancers involved could come together under COVID safety guidelines.

Production finished about a month later — just days before the second pandemic restrictions began.

Filming locations were at more than 20 businesses and 15 landmarks, including the Franklin County Courthouse rotunda, the Moore Mansion in Pasco, the Naoi Cailini Oga Winery in Kennewick, Ethos Bakery in Richland and Baum’s House of Chocolates in Kennewick.

The movie will debut online at 5 p.m. Dec. 11 on the company’s YouTube channel and will remain available until the evening of Christmas Day.

For more information, you can go to the Mid-Columbia Ballet’s Facebook event page or the midcolumbiaballet.org. To watch, go to Mid-Columbia Ballet’s You Tube channel.

This story was originally published December 6, 2020 at 5:00 AM.