Ballet’s ‘very unique’ Nutcracker set stolen from moving truck in Etobicoke

One of the sets of Ballet Jörgen's 'The Nutracker: A Canadian Tradition.' (Ballet Jörgen)

The backdrops and large set pieces for an Ontario ballet’s Nutcracker production were stolen early this morning in Etobicoke, “threatening” the remaining 25 shows across the province.

Ballet Jörgen had just kicked off its provincewide Nutcracker tour on Nov. 20 in North Bay, Ont., and was making a quick stop in Toronto over the weekend before moving to Burlington for its upcoming performances this week. The tour group has performances running through the end of December.

“Our crew went to pick up the truck this morning, and it was gone,” Stephen Word, Ballet Jörgen’s general manager, confirmed to CTV News Toronto. The moving truck, a five-tonne Penske, was parked in Etobicoke, with Word saying their GPS-tracking device on it determined it was stolen at around 2:30 a.m. on Monday.

Word said the truck moved to Mississauga, but by the time their crews got there at around 9 a.m., the vehicle was nowhere to be found.

“Our Nutcracker is very unique,” Word said, adding it takes place in Canada in the early 1900s in Algonquin Park.

Inside of the vehicle were backdrops that paid homage to the Group of Seven, set pieces that comprise a 20^th century schoolhouse, and Christmas-themed pieces like a sleigh and tree.

“I mean, we were lucky. We do have two trucks, the other truck had all of our costumers and all of our props on it,” Word said. “So, we did not lose the full production, but we did lose some pretty large and significant pieces for the show.”

The stolen set pieces are not stopping Ballet Jörgen from getting the show on the road, as this week’s performances are still expected to make curtain call.

“We talked to the theatre, we let them know this morning what’s going on and they thought it was still important for us to do the show,” Word said, noting they pulled various other set pieces from their repertoire to replace what was missing from the show.

“Obviously, we don’t have the backdrops to use, but we have found some comparable set pieces and we’ve also had people in the community (who) have reached out.”

While Toronto police could not say what exactly was inside of the moving truck, they confirmed to CTV News Toronto that a report had been filed with them, adding no suspect information is available at this time.

“There is no further information currently available—this investigation is still in the early stages as the police report was just filed today,” Toronto Police Service’s Stephanie Miceli said in an emailed statement.