Organizers ditch popular Nutcracker on Ice show, audience left without refunds

Residents of Nizhny Novgorod are complaining about the cancellation of the popular show «Nutcracker on Ice with a Symphony Orchestra.» People arrived at the scheduled time, but the event was canceled without even notifying the audience. Moreover, they have so far been unable to get refunds for their tickets. A reader of NN.RU provided more details about the situation.

The event was supposed to take place at the «Nagorny» Sports Palace the day before, on January 11. A woman named Daria, like many other Nizhny Novgorod residents, bought tickets for the event through an online platform back in December. She paid around 11,000 rubles (approx. $130 at current rates) for three seats.

Yesterday, people crowded at the entrance, but there was no rush to let them in for the show.

«It turned out it was canceled. Nobody came out to the people to say the performance wouldn«t happen; they just left a note at the box office saying all complaints should go to the organizer. Nobody wanted to take responsibility for canceling the event; even from »Nagorny,« nobody came out and said anything, as if they just hid from people,» Daria says indignantly.

When the Nizhny Novgorod resident complained to the concert venue, she was told they allegedly sent out cancellation notices in advance. However, the woman did not receive any messages, nor did other audience members who arrived for the show.

Now, residents don«t know if they will get their money back for the tickets. Daria wrote to the organizer by email, but the message about a refund remains unanswered for now.

Similar complaints from Nizhny Novgorod residents are gradually appearing online. A woman named Natalia also stated that people bought tickets through various aggregators, including at the «Nagorny» box office, but so far there have been no successful refunds.

«There were a lot of children«s tears! People came with children from the region (there were many like that; nobody warned them about the cancellation). I want to warn others and minimize people»s damage, both financial and moral, because tickets for it were still on sale,» Natalia said.

NN.RU contacted representatives of the «Nagorny» Sports Palace, and judging by the response, they received many calls. A venue employee stated that the space is not responsible for ticket refunds, confirming the show was canceled. Meanwhile, a new date has not been announced as of now.

Nizhny Novgorod is not the only one affected by the show«s cancellation. In other Russian cities, the situation is the same — people either weren»t warned about the cancellation or were told about the event«s disruption too late. Moreover, everyone is having problems getting refunds for tickets. It is known for certain that »Nutcracker« audiences were »dumped« in Samara and Togliatti.

As our colleagues from 63.RU figured out, the show«s organizer has had such problems before. For example, Bolshoi Theatre ballerina Anastasia Smirnova stated that she was not paid her salary for participating in »The Nutcracker.«