The feeling of speed in flying

You know it's not your commonplace, extravagant schmancy "Nutcracker" Christmas party when the servant shakily rushes by on the mixed drink truck, helped along by a running Herr Drosselmeier who's a cross between an awful steampunk kid and the craziest, coolest uncle ever.

In the Atlanta Ballet's "Nutcracker," which opened at the Kennedy Center Opera House on Wednesday, pretty much everything about the....