Eric Underwood is one sexy caterpillar in Royal Ballet's Alice in Wonderland

Has everyone fallen down the rabbit hole? In a break from tradition, Britain's Royal Ballet has shelved The Nutcracker this season. Instead of the standard holiday fare, the premier English company is performing something completely different: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the ballet based on the book by Lewis Carroll.

It's a curious decision - and a courageous one. It also has paid off handsomely: the month-long run of performances, at the Royal Opera House in London, is sold out.

With two Americans performing in Alice, select cinemas in the US will screen a live performance of the ballet from January 13 to January 18.

Alice was created by British choreographer Christopher Wheeldon in 2011 as a shared production with the National Ballet of Canada. Boston-born principal dancer Sarah Lamb stars in the title role, and Washington, DC, native Eric Underwood, a Royal Ballet soloist, is the hookah-smoking Caterpillar. He's not some sleepy layabout, however.

The dancing caterpillar, a role Wheeldon created especially for Underwood, is a womanising predator with sinuous limbs. No stumpy little larva stubs on this slithery creature. Underwood's nocturnal scene, with deep blue lighting and insistent Middle Eastern drums, contains more than a hint of danger.