The Nutcracker

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker is probably the most famous ballet in history, performed all around the world for well over a century since the famous Russian composer first penned the music in 1892. The ballet takes place in a home on Christmas Eve where a toy nutcracker comes to life, defeats an invasion by an army of oversized mice, and whisks young Clara off to the Land of Sweets to witness a dreamlike sequence of wonders. The Nutcracker’s enduring popularity with audiences owes much to it being a Christmas story that appeals to children as well as adult audiences with its catchy and varied music, athletic choreography, and memorable battle scene between the Nutcracker and the seven-headed Mouse King (truly the stuff of nightmares!). Traditionally, the ballet is performed in the weeks leading up to the Christmas holiday season.