The National Ballet borrows from Johnny Cash, Shakespeare and Lewis Carroll for its 2012-13 season

The National Ballet borrows from Johnny Cash, Shakespeare and Lewis Carroll for its 2012-13 season

Stephanie Hutchison with Jonathan Renna, McGee Maddox and Kevin D. Bowles in The Man in Black. (Image: Aleksandar Antonijevic)

The National Ballet of Canada revealed its program for 2012-13 yesterday morning (it’s the season for that kind of thing), and the lineup is a potpourri of company premieres and proven crowd-pleasers. Among the newer offerings is The Man in Black, which features choreography by the company’s former artistic director James Kudelka set to music by country icon Johnny Cash, and Nijinsky, a 2000 ballet about legendary Russian dancer Vaslav Nijinksy. The company will reprise Alexei Ratmanskys challenging version of Romeo and Juliet, and, for those who prefer whimsy over woe, the Mad Hatter and White Rabbit will be back in the exuberant hit Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (though, sadly, Johnny Depp—and his dancing skills—are sitting this one out).