Duke Adds Suite Treat for Season : Dance: A ‘Nutcracker’ set to Ellington’s interpretation of the music is among offerings.

December, 1892. St. Petersburg. The murmur of the runners as the horse pulls the sleigh through snowy streets. The Maryinsky Theater is aglitter with finely gowned, bejeweled ladies and formally attired gentlemen. Even the Czar and Czarina are in attendance. It is the world premiere of the new ballet by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, performed by the Kirov Ballet.

December, 1992. San Diego. The high-speed hum of the car tires on the freeway. The Spreckels Theatre--or Mandeville Auditorium or Poway Center for the Performing Arts--is filled with moppets in frothy dresses; in the lobby, they perform occasional pirouettes. It’s the 100th anniversary of “The Nutcracker,” and Tchaikovsky’s Christmas ballet is being presented all over town.

With one notable exception, all of the local “Nutcrackers” follow the traditional story. Young Clara receives a nutcracker doll at a family Christmas party, then dreams that she and the Nutcracker vanquish the evil Mouse King. Transformed into a prince, the Nutcracker leads Clara to the Land of the Sweets, where she is entertained by dancers from many countries, waltzing flowers and the Sugarplum Fairy and her Cavalier.

The intriguing exception to tradition is “The Nutcracker Swings,” which uses a jazz version of the Tchaikovsky score composed by Duke Ellington. Produced by the Patrons of the Arts Foundation, “The Nutcracker Swings” can be seen at the Carlsbad Community Cultural Arts Center from Dec. 18-20.

The Ellington “Nutcracker” has “a lot of the original melodic content, but he’s very free in the structure of the work,” according to Don Megill, a MiraCosta College jazz historian who serves as music consultant to the production.

Thus, Ellington substituted the dance of the “Sugar Rum Cherry” for the “Sugarplum Fairy.” “The Dance of the Reed Pipes” became “Caliopatootie Toot Toot Tootie Toot.”

Although the Ellington “Nutcracker” was recorded in 1962, no one had choreographed the piece before, to Megill’s knowledge.

“The show has a 1940s story line,” said Victoria Dunlap, who combined classical ballet, jazz dance, jitterbug and tap in her original choreography.

Instead of the Land of the Sweets, says Dunlap, Clara visits the Land of the Sweet and Low-Down, a Cotton Club scene. The Nutcracker Prince is a World War II G.I. who battles a zoot-suited King Rat. Among the other characters are “secretaries and riveters, women entering the work force in the ‘40s.”

For those who prefer a traditional “Nutcracker,” it’s possible to see half a dozen different productions.

The California Ballet offers its annual “Nutcracker” from Dec. 18-24 at the Civic Theater downtown. Among the highlights of this production are a live orchestra and the appearance of the incomparable Denise Dabrowski, who will alternate with Sylvia Poolos as the Sugarplum Fairy.

The La Jolla Festival Ballet features Bolshoi veterans Marina Noudga and AnatoliKucheruk in the lead roles and Karina Grudj, of the satirical male troupe, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, as Mother Ginger performing on pointe. This production takes place at Mandeville Auditorium Dec. 18-20.

Galina Shlyapina and Alexander Greschenko make their San Diego debuts in the American Ballet Ensemble’s “Nutcracker,” which opens at the Spreckels Theatre this weekend and continues at Theatre East on Dec. 18-20 and 22-23.

Greschenko spent eight years with the Bolshoi Theatre and now dances with the Los Angeles Ballet. Shlyapina was a principal with the Moscow Classical Ballet. (In some performances, Victoria Moses of the Eugene Ballet will take the Sugarplum Fairy role.)

The San Diego Ballet Ensemble “Nutcracker” will be performed Dec. 18-20 at the Don Powell Theatre at San Diego State University. Guest artist Rosalie O’Connor of the American Ballet Theatre will dance the Sugarplum Fairy. The Nutcracker Prince will be danced by John Marshall Sharp of the Pennsylvania Ballet.

At the Poway Center for the Performing Arts, the Black Mountain Dance Theatre presents its “Nutcracker” Dec. 17-18 and 23-24, with an additional performance Dec. 26. Alternating as the Sugarplum Fairy will be Vreyka Grk-Catanzaro, formerly of the Istanbul Ballet Theatre, and Erica Ogdon, who has danced with the Indianapolis and Long Beach Ballets.

Parents concerned about young children’s short attention spans may opt for the “Nutcracker” excerpts performed in a 35-minute outdoor show at the Bazaar del Mundo by the San Diego Civic Youth Ballet.

All this may sound like a surfeit of sugarplums, but don’t let it keep you from turning on your television on Saturday, Dec. 19, at 8 p.m., when KPBS broadcasts what must be the most controversial “Nutcracker” ever created. “The Hard Nut,” choreographed by Mark Morris, features Morris’ characteristic sex reversals (female roles played by men and vice versa), as well as numerous other assaults on tradition.

San Diego lost a chance to see Morris’ company last month, due to the demise of the San Diego Foundation for Performing Arts. This is an opportunity to view the work of one of today’s most creative, exciting choreographers.