Even those who don’t know a pas de deux from a pirouette know the basic story of “The Nutcracker.”

But the ballet scored by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is adaptable to the needs and talents of each dance company that performs it. That’s one of the reasons for its enduring appeal, according to Danielle Perrotta, executive and artistic director of Ballet Western Reserve. Its annual production of “The Nutcracker” will be staged Saturday and Sunday at Powers Auditorium.

“There’s so many things you can do with it,” Perrotta said. “It doesn’t have to be played or done a certain way. Especially for us, we don’t like to do the same exact thing every year, and it’s fun for the audience too, to have those different surprises so you’re not going to see the same exact thing every single year.”

Among the changes this year is the addition of a nephew for Drosselmeyer, the godfather of Clara and the one who brings the magical nutcracker to the party that opens the ballet.

“He’s played by Jericho Johnson, one of our younger male participants, and he’s been training with us for a few years,” Perrotta said. “We added the role for him, so we’ll have the same Drosselmeyer character that you know, who casts the magic on the party scene and brings all the dolls and the Nutcracker to life, and then his nephew will actually turn into our Cavalier Prince at the end of the show. We worked in that nice little storyline to kind of change it up a little bit.

“Every year we adapt it to the talent and the strengths that we have. A couple years ago, we had a gymnast play our Arabian dancer, so we were able to showcase those skills. We look at the kids that have come to auditions and what their strengths are. Most of them have trained with us. Some of them haven’t, but most of them, we kind of have an idea of what they would be really good at. So we really try to showcase that as best we can.”

BWR also will have a new guest artist with New Castle, Pa., native Jens Lee dancing the role of the Cavalier. Lee is no stranger to the dance company, though. He studied there when he was a student at Youngstown State University in the early 2000s and has performed with many ballet and theater companies.

Perrotta, like Lee, is from New Castle. They’ve known each other for years, but Lee was a few years ahead of Perrotta in their dance studies and they never danced together.

“I knew he was still dancing and teaching professionally, so we started talking around the beginning of summer. He said he was going to be available for our weekend. He’s a BWR alum and a YSU alum, so it was nice to bring that connection to the area. That’s been a really cool addition.”

Not everything is new. For the fourth year, the dancers will be accompanied by the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Dean Buck, who is acting music director of the Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra.

“It has been wonderful working with Dean these past four years, because you do develop a relationship, and you get to know each other and how each one works,” she said. “He always very kindly comes to one of our dress rehearsals at the studio that we do before Thanksgiving, and we go over all of the cues, and he asks questions, and he gets familiar with each piece. That’s really, really nice. Not all people do that, so that’s actually a really great element to all of it, because it just makes it that much easier when you’re in there and you know what to expect.”

This year’s production features a cast of more than 100 performers.

The rest of the cast includes: Aurora Adair, Daisy Bakos, Lola Bakos, Clara Barrett, Stella Barrett, Mary Benson, Adrienne Booth, Josephine Booth, Isa Booth, Neale Booth, Nina Boyer, Tillie Buonavolanta, Serenity Burns, Addison Campbell, Ava Carbon, Audrey Chen, Sabrina Cole, Anne Conti, Julie Conti, Pauline Conti, Amelia Crawford, Lucia D’Amico, Lilah Davis, Rosemary Dellamaggiore, Ruby Dellamaggiore, Mia Detec, Ella DeVries, Tessa Dolan, Constance Fabek, Willa Felton, Emma Fenstermaker, Nathan Fenstermaker, Norah Fenstermaker, Sammy Fenstermaker, Madelyn Fetty, Mandi Fetty, Juno Forte, Brooklyn Fronk, Diana Gates, Julia Gates, Amia Gatta, Henry Hartley, Helena Heinselman, Annarose Hill, Sofia Hinkle, Rory Holt, Kait Howard, Anastasia Hull, Blair Johnson, Jericho Johnson, Josephine Johnson, Ruby Johnson, Jensen Joyce-Bowden, Stella Kasten, Everley Kobylanski, Olivia Kusky, Charlotte Lamanna, Rosalie Lozano, Elyana Markulin, Mira Martin, Elliana McClaine, Alexis McCrea, Ella DeVries, Lila McCrea, Addison McGee, Ella McGee, Teagan Mellott, Isla Merrick, Lucy Merrill, Aiden Miladore, Charlie Miller, Camille Miner, Brooklynn Moran, Grace Nevels, Madison Paine, Evelyn Pasquale, Josephine Pasquale, Delaney Pavick, Arcale Peace, Tino Perrotta, Delana Ragan, Mara Ragan, Ella Rice, Josslin Ross, Cecelia Rossi, Brooklyn Ruark, Isabella Scott, Marissa Scott, Aurelia Sewickley, Lucy Shaffer, Revah Sharma, Claire Smith, Tayah Smith, Tessa Smith, Clara Solich, Isabelle Sosnosky, Aaliyah Straughter, Gracie Taylor, Gracie Theis, Maria Tsikouris, Evalynn Uptegrove, Maria Vamvakis, Isabella Vargas, Vivian Welch-Young, Maria Wilson, Raina Yeasted, Rosalind Yeasted, Elizabeth Zavoral, and Mary Zavoral.

If you go …

WHAT: Ballet Western Reserve — “The Nutcracker”

WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday

WHERE: Powers Auditorium, 260 W. Federal St., Youngstown

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $35 for adults, $30 for students and senior citizens, and $20 for children ages 12 and younger and are available at the DeYor Performing Arts Center box office, online at experienceyourarts.org and by calling 330-259-9651.