This week’s 5 best bets for arts & culture in Las Vegas

‘The Nutcracker’

Nevada Ballet Theatre’s annual holiday extravaganza returns to The Smith Center’s Reynolds Hall, blending fanciful dances, fantastical adventures and Tchaikovsky’s beloved musical score. Before each performance, the “Nutcracker” Wonderland (in the adjacent Troesh Studio Theater) offers pre-ballet story time and scenes of seasonal fun. “The Nutcracker” opens at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday, continuing at 7:30 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 17, 1 and 5:30 p.m. Dec. 18, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 21-23 and 2 p.m. Dec. 24. For tickets ($29-$179), call 702-749-2000 or visit www.thesmithcenter.com.

‘Wild, Restless & Blue’

Two traveling musicians hit America’s lonesome highways to explore roots music and ’50s rock ’n’ roll in this show featuring Benjamin D. Hale (alias Johnny Cash in the just-closed “Million Dollar Quartet”) and Vegas-to-Nashville musician Zach Ryan. Catch “Wild, Restless and Blue” at 7 p.m. Friday in The Smith Center’s Cabaret Jazz; for tickets ($25-$45), call 702-383-0272 or click on www.thesmithcenter.com.

‘Encounters’

Artist Donald Corpier Starr presents “Encounters” with those he’s met — recaptured in pencil, pastel and pen-and-ink drawings now on display (through Jan. 14) in the West Las Vegas Arts Center Community Gallery, 947 W. Lake Mead Blvd. Starr himself will have more encounters during a meet-the-artist reception from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday; for gallery hours and more information, call 702-229-4800 or visit www.artslasvegas.org.

Travis Cloer

The name of Travis Cloer’s holiday show remains the same: “Christmas at My Place.” But the place for this year’s edition has changed to The Space, 3460 Cavaretta Court. At 8 p.m. Friday, Cloer and guests team up for seasonal tunes; for tickets ($30-$50), call 702-903-1070 or click on www.thespacelv.com.

Lockout Station

With a lineup that includes an Italian, a German and a New Yorker, where else would the members of Lockout Station team up but Las Vegas? They’ll perform flamenco- and fusion-flavored jazz at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Winchester Cultural Center, 3130 S. McLeod Drive. For tickets ($10 in advance, $12 on concert day), call 702-455-7340.