The Nutcracker presented by The Marriott Theatre for Young Audiences at Marriott Theatre

Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended

"...Most importantly, this is a story about believing in Christmas and the cast even gets the audience to participate by saying, “I believe in Christmas!” “I believe in Christmas!” I asked my Ella how many stars and without any hesitation we agreed 4 stars. “It is like The Nutcracker for beginner’s mom.” I’ll agree with that!"

Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...Directed and choreographed by Matt Raftery, who truly creates magic on the small stage and does so with very little in the way of a set- basic props (Casey Schillo) and marvelous costumes ( Nancy Missimi, who always creates the most fabulous “fairy Tale costumes),, spectacular lighting ( Brian Hoehne) and sound (Bob Gilmartin) make the technical side of this production perfect. The musical portion of the production is led by the talented conductor, Patti Garwood  and her musicians, limited in numbers, but gigantic in quality. And then we have the cast of players. The dedicated actors/singers/dancers who bring the magic from the script to the stage. Yes, the lighting, sound, costumes and the props are keys to a show being well accepted, but in reality it is the direction ( another great job by Raftery and the performers. A sensational, fun loving cast that makes the children in the audience believe!"

Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended

"...With Christmas fast approaching, Marriott’s Theatre for Young Audiences brings back one of its holiday favorites. Based upon E. T. A. Hoffmann’s children’s story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” which in turn inspired Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s world famous ballet suite, Marc Robin has created a 60-minute play with music and dance that captures the magic of both pieces."

Splash Magazine - Recommended

"...This production, a shortened one hour musical that does not offer much ballet until the final few scenes, also has a lot of extras not typical of the sentimental holiday offering. For one thing, it features three musicians performing behind a screened balcony (there are some Broadway in Chicago productions that have less live music). The comedy also is a cut above the usual family fare as, amazingly, the play had not one fart joke. There was, however, a healthy dose of physical humor with the actors really playing well off one another. And with such beautiful costumes (colorful outfits I suspect have been used before) who cares about the hyper minimalistic set design."