Ron Cunningham, Artistic Director for the Sacramento Ballet, welcomed the audience to the Sacramento Ballet studios, thanking the Stewart brothers, Alex and Tim, for putting on the fundraising event. A packed house eagerly awaited the start of the year’s last performance of “At the Ballet II.” The few audience members in the house that were expecting a ballet performance were quickly made aware that this was going to be a musical extravaganza. The Found Space Theatre Production presented “At the Ballet II: Louder, Faster, Funnier!” to benefit the Sacramento Ballet. Alex and his brother Tim began to formulate a musical somewhat like a Broadway revue. The result of the Stewart brothers’ v

Photographs by Barry Wisdom   Whether you’re continuing a lifelong Christmastime tradition or you’re a new “Black Swan” fan who’s come late to the ballet-appreciation party, there is something for everyone in Sacramento Ballet’s alternatingly funny and passionate, but always mesmerizing and magical “The Nutcracker,” which opened Friday evening at the Sacramento Community Center Theater. Blessed with live accompaniment of Tchaikovsky’s familiar score by the spectacular Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra, there is much that can be considered divine about this delicious holiday chestnut. In addition to philharmonic director Henrik Jul Hansen’s sure baton, reasons to leap for joy include Sa