THE NUTCRACKER

Which one of us hasn’t had the pleasure of going to a December performance of The Nutcracker? Were you dancing in it, or were you there to see your child or grandchild, or a neighbor’s child? Or were you just there to see one of the most beloved presentations in the western world?

My oldest granddaughter, Kate, as Clara 

December, Christmas time to be exact, is the month in which the ballet’s story takes place. December, 125 years ago in December 1892, to be exact, saw the first performance of the ballet at the Mariinski Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. Evidently, Czar Alexander III loved it, but the critics hated it. What did they know?

A lot of creativity went into that first production. It was choreographed by the noted Marius Petipa, the “Father of Russian Ballet,” many of whose works are still staged today. It was adapted for the ballet by Alexandre Dumas Père, he of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, and was based on the story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by the prolific Prussian author, composer, and artist, E.T.A. Hoffman. The music, later made into the popular suite we often hear now, was composed by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

In a nutshell, the story takes place on Christmas Eve, and the heroine, Clara, dreams that the nutcracker she was given that evening has come to life and is battling the mice who are about to eat the gingerbread soldiers.

After the Nutcracker defeats the Mouse King, he comes to life as the Prince he is, and he and Clara travel through the falling snowflakes to his kingdom. There, in the Land of Sweets, the chocolate, the coffee, the tea, and the flowers, among several others, dance for them. The Sugar Plum Fairy and her consort end the night with their dance.  

From the opening night to this one, choreographers, including Georg Balanchine and Michael Baryshnikov, have brought their own versions to the ballet stage. There have been two movie of The Nutcracker ballet, and several other movie productions have included some of the music. There are dozens of recordings of the musical suite, and many of the eight individual pieces in it are included in various other collections, especially those of Christmas music. In 1940, all eight pieces were famously animated in Walt Disney’s Fantasia.

There will be a commemorative performance of The Nutcracker this December 18, at the Mariinski Theater. You can scout for tickets and read more about the ballet and the theater at mariinsky.ru/en. (The ‘en’ means the site is in English.) Don't you wish you could be there? I do.