NPR's Scott Simon notes how the pandemic has impacted the arts, including seasonal performances of "The Nutcracker." Without ticket sales from that ballet, many organizations are struggling.

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Another holiday tradition will be missed because of the pandemic this year. "The Nutcracker' is not being performed before many live audiences in America - not by the New York City Ballet, the Joffrey or ballets in Atlanta, Boston, Boston, Milwaukee, Sacramento and Philadelphia. That may spare a number of gingerbread soldiers and mice, but the cancellation of so many presentations of Tchaikovsky's ballet strikes at the heart of the health of dance companies and arts across America.

Max Hodges, executive director of the Boston Ballet, told us the story of the Christmas Eve party and a little girl named Clara who befriends a toy nutcracker who comes to life is the pipeline to welcome audiences into the art of ballet. It can also be the first production in which youngsters interested in dance can see dreams take flight on stage as the Nutcracker battles a Mouse King and the Sugar Plum Fairy dances in the land of sweets. The Nutcracker is also the production that helps make a lot of others possible. That holiday ballet can account for 20% of many companies ticket sales and, in the case of a major company like Chicago's Joffrey, about half of its annual earned revenue. Ashley Wheater, artistic director of the Joffrey, told us they've lost more than $12 million in earnings during the pandemic, and the company has had to cancel newer works they'd planned.

A study in August by the Brookings Institution found that even by then, the pandemic had cost the fine and performing arts industry about $42.5 billion across the country. That's about 1.4 million jobs. To put faces on those numbers, that means many people we've seen on stage in theaters - Broadway, regional and community - and in dance performances of all kinds and heard in orchestras and bands across the country are without work. So are customers, lighting and set designers, box-office staff and those who clean the stages where stars tread. Without support, there are plays that will not be seen, music that will not be heard, dancers who cannot leap into view and artists who will have to find other ways to make a living.

It may seem elitist to worry about the future of the arts when so many people struggle for food, work and health care. But the arts can fire minds, warm souls, dazzle and delight. We will want them to be there in times ahead for us and especially for our children. As Ashley Wheater told us, live arts, the magic of the theater is one of the few things that can bring total strangers together in unique harmony, reminding us of our humanity.

(SOUNDBITE OF DUKE ELLINGTON'S "NUTCRACKER SUITE: OVERTURE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Tags: COVID-19  arts  nutcracker  Ballet  Series: Simon Says