Sugarplums? Don’t Ask, Just Enjoy

It’s that time of year again, so we’re asking the question that seems to come up every holiday season. What the heck are sugarplums, anyway?

We suspect they lurk in fruitcakes, so we’re not sure we actually want to come face to face with one. But still we want to know: What are they and why are they dancing in the heads of small children?

Maybe that question doesn’t trouble you. And you can probably enjoy the holiday classic “The Nutcracker” without annoying your family and friends with silly questions. Lucky you.

If that’s true, you’re especially lucky because this year the Moscow Classical Ballet has landed in Cerritos to perform “The Nutcracker” on Tuesday through Friday and Dec. 26.

This is the ballet company that regularly performs at the Kremlin and has toured all over the world. It has performed in 200 Russian cities and 30 countries. We get them for Christmas.

This production of “The Nutcracker” was choreographed by the Moscow Ballet’s artistic directors Natalya Kasatkina and Vladimir Vasilyov. Working together since 1959, the pair have produced more than 55 ballets, so it stands to reason they know their way around the dance of the sugarplum fairy.

So imagine this: Amid all the colored lights, the shopping, the cooking, the frenzy of the holiday season, you can dress up and relax for a few hours in a darkened theater and watch the magic of a child’s-eye-view of Christmas.

You probably won’t get a white Christmas. The question of sugarplums may never be answered. But for a few hours, you can live inside a true holiday spectacle. This seems like a good thing.

And you have the Russians to thank.

“The Nutcracker” will be performed at the Cerritos Performing Arts Center, 12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos. Tickets are $12 for children 16 and younger, and $25 to $33 for adults. Information: (800) 300-4345.