Entertainment

Nut’s as sweet as ever

It’s hard to imagine a holiday season without Nuts — “The Nutcracker,” that is. New York City Ballet’s version, now almost 58 years old, has all the toppings — a growing Christmas tree, a blizzard onstage, and the unforgettable Tchaikovsky score played live.

Opening nights often see the company scrambling to get back in shape after time off, but at Friday’s opening, the corps de ballet was in fine form, and the children in the party scene looked like old hands.

A few were: Fiona Brennan, who plays the heroine Marie, is a seasoned vet at age 10, and the experience pays off. She’s an animated actress who lives out onstage her enchantment with her magical Nutcracker.

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Maximillian Brooking Landeg-ger, who’s not much older than she is, plays her brother Fritz with a mop of blond hair and impeccable comic timing.

The first major dancing is in a winterscape of snow covering the trees like thick icing, and a swirling blizzard with the corps racing through. It can seem like an obstacle course, but instead looked tight and well-drilled.

The second act takes place in the Kingdom of Sweets, with Sara Mearns making a fascinating confection as the Sugarplum Fairy. She’s radiant, but wild — she throws herself into her dancing and needs a partner who can handle that. Jonathan Stafford is gallant, but too reedy for her; they looked better apart than together. But when she’s alone, her phrasing and emotion turns pure dance into drama.

Waltz of the Flowers blossomed with Tiler Peck, the company’s latest girl-who-can-do-anything — and she can. The conductor Andrews Sills took a very fast tempo — too fast for some (one flower in the corps slipped and fell) — but it didn’t faze Peck one bit. Every tricky turn, every soaring jump — all letter perfect, and musical to boot.

Different dancers rotate in all the parts throughout the run, so you might see a rising star or someone tried and true. But the real stars for the children in the audience are the brightly lit world of candy greeting them in Act II, and the magical Christmas tree. Sweetly, these remain the same, time after enchanted time.