Miami City Ballet’s annual Nutcracker stop at Ruth Eckerd Hall is absent from this season’s calendar, but a much more intriguing prospect has taken its place. Moscow Classical Ballet’s interpretation stays mostly true to The Nutcracker story, but draws on choreography and added scenes used in Vasily Vainonen’s 1934 Kirov Ballet production, with modernized twists by current artistic directors Vladimir Vasilyov and Natalia Kasatkina. The Florida Orchestra provides live accompaniment. Dec. 20-21, 2 and 8 p.m. Sat., 2 p.m. Sun., 1111 N. McMullen-Booth Road, Clearwater, $30-$46, 727-791-7400.
