It’s Late November? Cue the Snowflakes

As the eccentric, spooky Herr Drosselmeier might have put it, “The Nutcracker” is a ding an sich — a thing in itself. In other words, at least in George Balanchine’s magical production, which dates all the way back to 1954, it charms audiences of every age almost independently of who is dancing it.

The New York City Ballet offered the first of its annual holiday performances of this classic at the New York State Theater on Friday night. In the course of the run every able-bodied dancer in the company will dance in it. A rotating carousel of performers will take on everything from the leading roles of the Sugarplum Fairy, her Cavalier and Dewdrop to the corps and the hordes of children, and very much including the protagonists of all the second-act character dances.

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