Nutcracker at Wethersfield Documentary Chronicles BalletCollective’s Pandemic Triumph

When married New York City Ballet soloists Troy Schumacher and Ashley Laracey were invited to visit the sprawling Wethersfield estate in 2020, they were scoping possible summer performance venues for Schumacher’s company, BalletCollective. But the grand house and grounds in upstate New York inspired a different idea: a site-specific Nutcracker production. The COVID-19 pandemic had shuttered theaters, canceling seasons around the country and leaving dancers without work. But Schumacher saw an opportunity to create an immersive experience for small, socially distanced audiences. He quickly secured funding, consulted medical professionals, and hired 23 dancers, mostly from NYCB, to produce BalletCollective’s Nutcracker at Wethersfield.

Now, a new documentary about that singular experience is coming to select cinemas nationwide and will be available to watch virtually later in December. Aptly named The Nutcracker at Wethersfield, the film—directed by Annie Sundberg and executive produced by Amanda Seyfried—follows the company as they bring Schumacher’s vision to life. Its cast features dancers Sara Mearns, Mira Nadon, Taylor Stanley, Tyler Angle, Miriam Miller, Emma Von Enck, and others.

The documentary illuminates how Schumacher and his team work out logistical challenges, pull costumes and sets together, and develop an indoor/outdoor production utilizing the house and grounds. The dancers—relieved to be working again but cognizant of how the months off have affected their bodies and stamina—rehearse in the Dutchess Day School gymnasium and Millbrook School, and live together at the Wethersfield house, isolated from the outside world for maximum safety. They form a tight-knit community as the show takes shape, with the party and battle scenes taking place inside and outside Wethersfield’s parlor rooms, and the Snowflakes—dressed in white outdoor gear, tutus, and booties—dancing outside, literally in the snow. A large tent (vulnerable, they discover, to wind, rain, and heavy snow) houses the Land of Sweets, giving many of the artists a chance to perform expansively for the first time in months.