Pointe shoes and Prohibition

Good news, everybody: That English paper you wrote back in high school about the East Egg and the green light at the end of the dock is about to come in handy. With its recent resurgence via a much-anticipated film by Baz Luhrmann (due in movie theaters this spring) and now, the world debut of a production by the Sacramento Ballet, it's safe to say that F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic American novel, The Great Gatsby, is going to be the theme of many a cocktail party this year.

The enduring cast of star-crossed characters stumbling through the Roaring '20s and a world of decadence comes to life behind the choreography of artistic director Ron Cunningham—Gatsby is his first original ballet in five years. Accompanied by Billy Novick's Blue Syncopators, the production promises plenty of glitz, glamor, scandal and heartbreak. Legendary choreographer George Balanchine's Who Cares?, set to the Prohibition-era tunes of George Gershwin, is also on the program.

For anyone that is really into the Charleston and gin fizzes, the Great Gatsby Prohibition Party will follow the closing-night matinee at the Memorial Auditorium (1515 J Street) on Sunday, February 10, at 7 p.m.; tickets are $250 and include dinner and drinks. Thursday through Saturday, February 7-9, at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, February 10, at 2 p.m.; $16-$67. Sacramento Community Center Theater, 1301 L Street; (916) 808-5181; www.sacballet.org.