Ballet Ariel sets 'Little Women' and 'The Nutcracker' for fall and holiday

If You Go

Little Women: 2 p.m. Nov. 8, Cleo Parker Robinson Theatre, 2025 N. Washington St., Denver. Tickets are $36.50 for adults, $31.50 for students and seniors and $26.50 for children, including a $1.50 fee.
The Nutcracker: Dec. 11-13, Lakewood Cultural Center, 470 S. Allison Parkway, Lakewood. Tickets are $44-$68, including a $6 fee.
The Nutcracker: Jan. 2-3, Parsons Theatre, 1 E. Memorial Parkway, Northglenn. Tickets are $36.50-$56.50, including a $1.50 fee.

The Denver company opens its 28th season Nov. 8 at the new Cleo Parker Robinson theatre, followed by ‘Nutcracker’ runs in Lakewood and Northglenn.

Ballet Ariel has announced the first two productions of its 2026-27 season, the company’s 28th. It will remount its original Little Women in November and present The Nutcracker in December and January. The spring production will be announced later.

Little Women plays one performance at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8, at the Cleo Parker Robinson Theatre in the Center for the Healing Arts, which opened in January in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood. Artistic and Executive Director Ilena Norton created the ballet, adapting Louisa May Alcott’s 1869 novel in two acts that mirror the book’s two-part structure. The first act follows the March sisters — Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy — as they grow up under their mother, Marmee, while their father serves as a Civil War chaplain. The second act turns to their romances, including those involving neighbor Theodore “Laurie” Laurence and his tutor, John Brooke.

The score mixes traditional holiday music such as “Away in a Manger” and “I Saw Three Ships” with classical works, including several of Grieg’s “Lyric Pieces” and music by French and American composers.

Ballet Ariel premiered Little Women last December at the Lakewood Cultural Center on a double bill with Nutcracker Suite, then performed it again in March at the Schoolhouse Theatre in Parker.

This season’s The Nutcracker follows Clara and her Nutcracker Prince, set to Tchaikovsky’s score. Alongside traditional numbers such as the “Waltz of the Snowflakes” and “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” the production adds original choreography and scenes, including a holiday tea party, a western-themed battle and a visit from Father Christmas at the Sugar Plum Fairy’s castle.