‘Very unique Nutcracker’: Ontario ballet company asks for help finding stolen sets

A ballet company currently touring Ontario is asking for people’s help finding a truck containing set pieces and backdrops from their production of what they call a “very unique Nutcracker.”

Stephen Word, general manager for Ballet Jörgen, said the touring company was back in Toronto for a brief time following their shows of The Nutcracker – A Canadian Tradition in North Bay, Ont.

When staff went to collect the rental truck on Monday morning, they discovered it had disappeared from the Etobicoke, Ont. lot it had been parked in.

Using tracking on the truck, staff were able to find it in Mississauga, Ont. at about 4:30 a.m., but it was not there when they arrived.

“Right now we’re just reaching out to, by any channel we have at our disposal to try to get the word out and for people to be on the lookout either for the truck or maybe whoever took this truck. (Maybe) you opened it up and saw that it was sets and backdrops from a ballet and dropped it somewhere,” Word told Global News.

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The truck is a white, 26-foot 2026 Penske truck from Penske Truck Rental with Ontario licence plate CD50 229.

The show has 25 more performances between now and Dec. 31, with two set to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Word said the backdrops that were stolen are a “massive” group of seven paintings, but that a lot of set pieces for the opening scene were also taken.

3:38 Susan Hay, Anthony Farnell take part in the National Ballet of Canada’s The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker – A Canadian Tradition is also a different sort of performance, he said, as it’s set in Algonquin Park in the early 1900s.

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Having premiered in 2008, if the truck is not located, Word said the company will need to locate the files first created that year and work with a local scenic shop and builder in order to paint and construct new sets and backdrops.

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“It’s not as easy as just going out and buying another Nutcracker,” he said. “These are very specific to our show and these things typically take months and months to build.”

Some of the shows could also be at risk without the set pieces though it depends on the theatre.

“It’s just really important that we get to all of these communities because families in these communities depend on us coming every year with our performances, especially the Nutcracker, as it is a tradition for so many families,” he said.

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Burlington’s shows will be going ahead, as Word said the Burlington Arts Centre wants to proceed with the performances despite the missing pieces.

View image in full screen Dancers perform during Ballet Jorgen’s “The Nutcracker – A Canadian Tradition”. Jim Orgill/Ballet Jorgen

“It’s not going be the show they’re used to, it’s not going to have the full backdrops, it’s not going to have the full set,” he said. “But we are lucky that we have a lot of other ballets in our repertoire that we’re pulling from.”

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He added that while many of the backdrops were in the stolen truck, a separate truck containing the tour’s costumes and some of the smaller set pieces was not taken.

Toronto police confirmed to Global News that it is investigating the theft of a vehicle, though noted it did not have information on the contents. It added it has no suspect information available as of Monday afternoon.

Word is asking anyone with information to contact police, adding they were working to get an anonymous line set up so that someone who finds the vehicle or the one who took it can call and say “what they did with it.”

He told Global News the situation is “strange” and said the vehicle had no identifying marks that linked it to Ballet Jörgen, adding a theft like this has never happened since the company started touring Canada in the early 1990s.

“It was a very strange phone call that I got this morning when I was told this was happening,” he said.

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