Let the Curtain Open on ‘Nutcracker’ Season : Stagings: Among the many productions available to O.C. audiences are those by ABT, the Moscow Classical Ballet and Ballet Pacifica.

Orange County audiences have more productions than usual of “The Nutcracker” ballet to chose from this season. The world premiere of the American Ballet Theatre production--promised to Orange County in 1991 but delayed because of the company’s budget problems--finally will take place in Costa Mesa on Friday (it will continue through Dec. 12).

The Moscow Classical Ballet, in its first visit to California since 1988, will bring what it is billing as “the only authentic Russian” production of “The Nutcracker” to the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts Dec. 21-26.

And Orange County’s own Ballet Pacifica, rising like a phoenix after losing its warehouse and all its sets and costumes in the Laguna Beach fire last month, will open a production Dec. 9 at Cal State Los Angeles. It will be in Los Angeles until Dec. 12 and at the Moulton Theatre in Laguna Beach Dec. 16-23.

All these are sight unseen. Familiar stagings will include those by the Los Angeles Classical Ballet and the fledgling, San Clemente-based Coast Ballet Theatre. There also will be several local school productions.

(Don’t overlook the new movie version of “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker,” which has just opened countywide. Macaulay Culkin of “Home Alone” is being touted as the big box office draw, but his role as the “Nutcracker” Prince is minor. Jessica Lynn Cohen, as Marie, is more important. But the real stars are the New York City Ballet dancers and Balanchine’s wonderful choreography.

(The film includes narration that most people will find unnecessary to follow the story and a jarring interpolation of other music by Tchaikovsky to accompany an extended scene of Marie falling asleep. Even so, and even despite the fast-paced conducting by David Zinman, the chances are that this will be the best “Nutcracker” choreography you can see.)

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The live performances begin this weekend:

* Today and Sunday: Coast Ballet Theatre at 2 and 7:30 p.m. today and 2 p.m. Sunday in the Robert B. Moore Theatre at Orange Coast College, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. Tickets: $6 to $11. (714) 432-5880. Also at 8 p.m. Dec. 16-19 (with matinees at 3 p.m. Dec. 18 and 19) at Saddleback College, 28000 Marguerite Parkway, Mission Viejo. $9 and $11. (714) 582-4656. Choreography by Coast Ballet artistic director Sarma Lapenieks Rosenberg. The company will dance to taped music.

* Friday-Dec. 12: American Ballet Theatre at 8 p.m. Friday and Dec. 7-11; 2 p.m. Dec. 4, 11 and 12; and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 12 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. $18-$54. (714) 740-2000 (Ticketmaster). Choreography by ABT artistic director Kevin McKenzie. Libretto by Wendy Wasserman. The music will be played by the Pacific Symphony.

ABT has been without a “Nutcracker” since 1989, when Mikhail Baryshnikov quit as the company’s artistic director and took his familiar (frequently televised) version with him. McKenzie promises a traditional version, with some surprises.

* Dec. 4-5: Ballet Montmartre at 7 p.m. Dec. 4 and 2 p.m. Dec. 5 at the Norman Loats Auditorium, 600 Irvine Ave., Newport Beach. $10. (714) 646-7688. Affiliated with the Newport Ballet Academy, Ballet Montmartre is made up of dancers between the ages of 14 to 17 augmented by a junior company of 9- to 13-year-olds. They will dance to taped music.

* Dec. 9-12: Ballet Pacifica at Cal State Los Angeles, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles at 8 p.m. Dec. 9-11; 11:30 a.m. Dec. 10; and 2 p.m. Dec. 11-12. ($12 and $18, (213) 343-4118); At the Moulton Theatre, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 16 and 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 17-23 ($12 and $15; (714) 642-9275).

Ballet Pacifica has been dancing a “Nutcracker” for 26 years. Molly Lynch, the company’s artistic director, has done most of the choreography for this new production; Jim Jones has contributed new choreography for the “Waltz of the Flowers.” In a departure from company tradition, there will be no narrator. The sets will be by Cliff Faulkner and most of the costumes by Shigeru Yaji; each has worked with South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa. Because all the costumes cannot be finished in time, support has come in the shape of donations and loans from names big and small, including American Ballet Theatre, the New York City Ballet, the Joffrey Ballet and the Sacramento, Fresno and Florida ballets.

* Dec. 10-23: Los Angeles Classical Ballet, at 8 p.m. Dec. 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 22 and 23; 2 p.m. Dec. 11, 12, 18 and 19 at 2 p.m.; and 7 p.m. Dec. 12 and 19 at the Long Beach Terrace Theater, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach. $10 to $34. (213) 365-3500 or (310) 427-5206. Once reasonably sumptuous, the LACB production has grown problematic over recent years with the infusion of Soviet guest dancers and outsized Bolshoi-style athleticism. At least the company dances to a live orchestra.

* Dec. 22-26: Moscow Classical Ballet Theatre, at 8 p.m. Dec. 21 and 23; 2 and 8 p.m. Dec. 22; 4 p.m. Dec. 24; and 2 and 7 p.m. Dec. 26 at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos. $12-$33. (800) 300-4345 or (310) 916-8500.

Established in 1966 as the Young Ballet, this troupe has toured internationally, including within Russia. Originally directed by Igor Moiseyev, it has been led by Natalia Kasatkina and Vladimir Vasiliov since 1977 and acquired its current name in 1986. During a 1988 tour, the company got mixed reviews for performances of “Romeo and Juliet” and mixed repertory at the Orange County Performing Arts Center and “Swan Lake” in Pasadena. This is its first visit here since then. The company will dance to taped music.