Mystic Ballet puts the "spectacular" in "Nutcracker Spectacular."

Consider a few of its special-effects wizardry: an onstage blizzard, a flying Santa, a laser show and a 20-foot toy-making machine.

In the piece, under the aegis of Artistic Director Goran Subotic, The Rat King — and his ninja rat gang — throw down with a prince who rides a high wheeler. (Aleksander Subotic dances the role of The Rat King, while Bernardo Ribeiro is the Prince.) Part of the fracas involves — refer back to our comment about the "spectacular" elements of this show — a geyser cannon.

This production's Clara, portrayed by Ting-Yu Tsai, finds herself in a spun-sugar Candyland and in Santa's workshop, along with other magical locales.

Mystic Ballet's 17 international artists lead the way in this year's "Nutcracker Spectacular," which plays Saturday and Sunday in Connecticut College's Palmer Auditorium. After shows here, the cast flies to Osaka, Japan, to perform an excerpt of "Nutcracker," and then Aleksander Subotic will travel to Taiwan to teach dancers there.

Mystic Ballet's "Nutcracker Spectacular," 1 and 6 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday, Palmer Auditorium, Connecticut College, Mohegan Avenue, New London; $22–$48; (860) 536-3571, mysticballet.org.