The Nutcracker captures all that the holidays imbue: landscapes covered in snow, songs with cheery melodies, and encounters with maniacal despots who want to steal your toys. Celebrate a relatable story with today’s deal: for $20, you get an orchestra-level ticket to the Appalachian Ballet Company’s production of The Nutcracker at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium (up to a $41 value). Choose between the following dates:

• Saturday, December 3 at 8 p.m.
• Sunday, December 4 at 2 p.m.
  
  

Under the artistic direction of Amy Moore Morton, the Appalachian Ballet Company teams up with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra for two performances of Tchaikovsky’s fantastical children’s Christmas tale. Thanks to primo orchestra floor seats, audiences can turn their binoculars backward to witness young Clara as she shrinks under her family’s Christmas tree, slipping into an imaginative dreamscape. As her toy nutcracker comes to life and escorts her through a yuletide wonderland, the troupe’s performers traverse the stage with nimble-toed footwork. Toward the end of the first act, an elaborate battle unfolds between the Nutcracker Prince’s army of toy soldiers and the sinister Mouse King, who outrages his realm with tax exemptions for hamsters. Soon after, Clara and the prince venture into the Land of Snow and the Land of Sweets. Then, as a finale, spectators are treated to a pas de deux, the French term for a foot-to-foot high-five.