20th century Snowflakes — Ivan Clustine/Anna Pavlova (1911) •
Choreography: Ivan Clustine •
Company: Anna Pavlova •
Premiere: 1911 When
Anna Pavlova formed her own troupe, she adapted the
Journey through the Pine Forest and
Waltz of the Snowflakes scenes into a ballet called
Snowflakes, with which she toured the United States and Europe from 1911 until her death in 1931. thereby introducing a reason for a love interest between the two characters that had not been present in the original ballet.
Ninette de Valois (1934) •
Choreography: Nicholas Sergeyev after Marius Petipa •
Company: Vic-Wells Ballet •
Premiere 30 January 1934,
Sadler's Wells,
London The first staging outside of Russia. Former Imperial ballet regisseur Nicholas Sergeyev, who had escaped from the Bolsheviks with the notations for many classic ballet productions in his luggage, staged the London production based on Marius Petipa's original. The cast was headed by
Alicia Markova, and also included
Elsa Lanchester in the Arabian Dance and the young ‘Margaret Fontes’ (later
Margot Fonteyn) and
Annabel Farjeon as snowflakes.
Constant Lambert was the musical director and conductor. The ballet was presented "with only a few cuts".
Vasily Vainonen (1934) •
Choreography: Vasily Vainonen •
Company: Mariinsky Ballet •
Premiere: 1934,
Mariinsky Theatre,
Leningrad In 1934, Soviet choreographer
Vasili Vainonen staged his complete version of the ballet in the
USSR. Vainonen followed Gorsky in departing from the original 1892 production, particularly in his casting adult dancers in the roles of Clara (called Masha in this production) and the Prince, having them perform the second act
Grand Pas de Deux originally intended for the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier (who are omitted from the production altogether), augmenting the role of Drosselmeyer, and concluding the ballet with Masha's realization that the fantasy sequences were a dream. Many subsequent productions, including those by
Nureyev and Baryshnikov, have adopted these changes. Another revival of this production has been shown in movie theatres in 3D, and a new DVD of it, starring
Alina Somova and
Vladimir Shklyarov, was released in December 2012, both in a regular version and on Blu-ray. It was also telecast in 2012 and 2013 on Ovation Channel's "Battle of the Nutcrackers".
Alexandra Fedorova (1940) •
Choreography: Alexandra Fedorova, after
Lev Ivanov •
Company: Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo •
Premiere: October 17, 1940.
51st Street Theater,
New York City Although abridged, this production is notable for being the first time
The Nutcracker (beyond excerpts) was performed in America. In 1944, Christensen created the first complete production in America with the help of
George Balanchine (who would go on to choreograph
his own production ten years later) and
Alexandra Danilova. Both of them were familiar with the 1892 version: Christensen himself performed the role of the Cavalier.
Gisella Caccialanza, the wife of
Lew Christensen, danced the rôle of the Sugar Plum Fairy. The staging was a success, and one critic wrote: "We can't understand why a vehicle of such fantastic beauty and originality could be produced in Europe in 1892 with signal success [sic] and never be produced in its entirety in this country until 1944. Perhaps choreographers will make up for lost time from now on."
George Balanchine (1954) •
Choreography: George Balanchine, after
Marius Petipa and
Lev Ivanov •
Company: New York City Ballet •
Premiere: February 2, 1954,
City Center of Music and Drama,
New York City In 1954 George Balanchine followed in Christensen's footsteps by choreographing and premiering his now-famous
New York City Ballet version, adhering closely to the libretto of the original 1892 version (recollected from revivals in which he had performed the role of the Prince as a young boy in Russia): This marked the first telecast not only of the Balanchine version but of any staging of the ballet. CBS's
Playhouse 90 broadcast a more complete (but still abridged) version of the Balanchine
Nutcracker, narrated by actress
June Lockhart, who was then starring as the mother in CBS's
Lassie, in 1958; it was the first
Nutcracker broadcast in color. There were only four commercial breaks. This television production starred
Diana Adams as the Sugar Plum Fairy, the then ten-year-old
Bonnie Bedelia as Clara, and Robert Maiorano as the Nutcracker Prince. The latest revival of the production was telecast on
Live from Lincoln Center during the 2011 Christmas season on
PBS. It was PBS's first-ever telecast of the Balanchine
Nutcracker, but was not seen in some areas because the local PBS stations there decided to substitute their own program choices (not necessarily artistic or musical). The Atlanta PBS stations, for instance, substituted self-help specials from
Suze Orman and others, as they often do now during their pledge drives. This 2011 telecast of
The Nutcracker has so far not appeared complete online, and has not been released on DVD because
Live from Lincoln Center customarily refuses to release its programs on video, due to difficulties involving paying royalties to the various parties involved. This production was nominated for an
Emmy Award. In addition to the New York City Ballet, Balanchine's version of
The Nutcracker is currently performed annually by six other ballet companies in the United States:
Alabama Ballet, the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, the
Miami City Ballet, the
Oregon Ballet Theatre, The Pennsylvania Regional Ballet, the
Pennsylvania Ballet, and since 2015, the
Pacific Northwest Ballet. It was previously performed at the
Stamford Center for the Arts in
Stamford, Connecticut and by the
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. From 1966 to 1994, the
Atlanta Ballet staged the complete Balanchine version annually (after having performed only Act II for eight years); the company now performs choreographer John McFall's version. Balanchine's version was also first staged at
La Scala in 2018, designed by Margherita Palli and starring
Nicoletta Manni and Timofej Andrijashenko as the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier, and at the
Royal Danish Ballet in 2023.
Rudolf Nureyev (1963) •
Choreography: Rudolf Nureyev, after Vasily Vainonen •
Company: Royal Ballet •
Premiere: November, 1967,
Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden,
London In 1963,
Rudolf Nureyev created his own version of Tchaikovsky's work with the
Royal Ballet, in which he starred with
Merle Park as Clara. Nureyev had previously performed the role of the Nutcracker Prince in Vainonen's version as a student at the Leningrad Ballet school in February 1958. Nureyev's production adopts many of Gorsky and Vainonen's alterations to the original 1892 version, including casting adult dancers in the roles of Clara and the Prince, eliminating the Sugar Plum Fairy, and having Clara awaken to realize the fantasy sequences were a dream.
Rostislav Doboujinsky created the mouse masks and costumes for the 1967 production in Stockholm. The production was videotaped for British television in 1968 and is available on DVD. As far as is known, it has never been telecast on U.S. television. Nureyev played the roles of Drosselmeyer and the Nutcracker Prince, while
Wayne Sleep portrayed the Nutcracker. Some critics considered this a
Freudian touch, taking it to mean that it is not the Nutcracker who turns into a Prince, but Drosselmeyer. However, this is not necessarily obvious to viewers of the DVD of this production. This production was revived twice by the Paris Opera Ballet in a heavily revised version, in 1988 with Elisabeth Maurin as Clara and
Laurent Hilaire as Drosselmeyer and the Prince, and in 2008 with
Myriam Ould-Braham as Clara and
Jérémie Bélingard in these roles. Neither of those productions have been telecast on U.S. television.
Yuri Grigorovich (1966) •
Choreography: Yuri Grigorovich •
Company: Bolshoi Ballet •
Premiere: 1966,
Bolshoi Theatre,
Moscow In 1966, Yuri Grigorovich created his own version of
The Nutcracker for the
Bolshoi Ballet, utilizing many of the changes made by Vasily Vainonen for his 1934 production, including the casting of adult dancers in the roles of the heroine (called Maria rather than Clara in this version) and the Nutcracker Prince, and the omission of the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier. In this version, all of the toys take part in the
Journey Through the Snow sequence, rather than being offstage while Maria and the Prince perform the dance. And, as in the Vainonen version, much of the company also dances along with Maria and the Prince as they perform the
Adagio in the Act II
Pas de Deux; in fact, Maria and the Prince never have the stage all alone to themselves. As a departure from the original 1892 production, Grigorovich omits the pantomime that the Prince performs "describing" his defeat of the Mouse King at the beginning of Act II. The music for the pantomime is used for the defeat of the Mouse King, who is not killed in the first act as in the original or Vainonen's version, but at the beginning of the second act. The entire score is used, which means that the
Dance of the Clowns, cut from the earlier version, is reinstated, though Mother Ginger does not appear, nor do any clowns; the dance is performed by the same dancers who perform the other
divertissements. In this production, although Maria (or Clara) is outfitted with a bridal veil in the
Final Waltz in anticipation to her impending wedding to the Nutcracker Prince, she then awakens to find that the fantasy sequences were a dream. This version was first televised in the New York area only by WNBC-TV in 1977, only two days after CBS first telecast the famous Baryshnikov version. First Lady
Betty Ford hosted, and the telecast was unique because the lead dancers had to be replaced halfway through due to injuries. This production was released on videocassette and videodisc in the early '80s by
MGM/CBS Home Video, through CBS Video Enterprises; CBS released it on videocassette again in 1984, this time as part of
CBS/Fox Video. A revival of it was recorded on video in 1987, with the same two stars of the 1977 Bolshoi production, husband-and-wife team
Ekaterina Maximova as Maria and
Vladimir Vasiliev as the Nutcracker Prince. Both versions are available on DVD, though the 1977 version, sourced from MGM/CBS's
CED release, is considerably rarer than the 1987 version. Another revival of this version was recorded in 1989, starring Natalya Arkhipova as Clara, not Maria as in the earlier version, and
Irek Mukhamedov as the Nutcracker Prince (but not the Nutcracker himself; that role is played by a female dancer, Marisa Okothnikova). In this revival the romance between Clara and the Prince is slightly more pronounced than in the earlier Bolshoi version. It is now available on DVD, and has been telecast in the U.S. as part of
Ovation TV's annual "Battle of the Nutcrackers". The first widescreen high-definition revival of the Grigorovich
Nutcracker was streamed live to movie theatres in Europe in 2010. The use of the new technique afforded moviegoers the chance to see the production in more vivid colors than had been featured in the earlier versions of the production, especially since the Bolshoi Theatre had been recently renovated.
Nina Kaptsova starred as Marie (rather than Clara) and
Artem Ovcharenko was the Nutcracker Prince. In December 2018, Grigorovich's
Nutcracker for the anniversary of the birth of
Galina Ulanova was released on the official YouTube channel.
Mikhail Baryshnikov (1976) •
Choreography: Mikhail Baryshnikov, after Vasily Vainonen •
Company: American Ballet Theatre •
Premiere: December 21, 1976,
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,
Washington, D.C. In 1976, the 28-year-old Mikhail Baryshnikov premiered a new version of the ballet for the American Ballet Theatre, with himself in the title role, Marianna Tcherkassky as Clara, and Alexander Minz as Drosselmeyer. Like Nureyev, Baryshnikov adopted many of the changes made by Gorsky and Vainonen, including the casting of adult dancers in the roles of Clara and the Nutcracker Prince, the elimination of the Sugar Plum Fairy while making Drosselmeyer's role more prominent, and a concluding scene in which Clara realizes the fantasy sequences were a dream. This production also utilizes Vainonen's choreography for the
Waltz of the Snowflakes. Other changes included having a drunken guest at the Christmas party be the one responsible for breaking the Nutcracker, not Clara's brother Fritz, who is portrayed fairly sympathetically in this version. Clara, meanwhile, does not throw her slipper at the Mouse King during the battle, but a candleholder instead. The
Grand Adagio of the
Pas de Deux in Act II was made almost into a
Pas de Trois, as Drosselmeyer enters the festivities at the Land of Sweets to coax Clara back to reality but she refuses to go. In order to provide a dramatic climax to the story, the adagio was made the penultimate dance in the ballet, coming just before the
Final Waltz and Apotheosis. This production achieved particular popularity when it was recorded for television in 1977, starring
Gelsey Kirkland as Clara (one of her few roles captured on video), with Baryshnikov and Minz reprising their roles as the Nutcracker / Prince and Drosselmeyer respectively. The telecast was directed by multi-
Emmy-winning choreographer and director
Tony Charmoli. Although not televised now as often as it used to be, and despite the fact that it was not shot in high definition or widescreen, it retains its status as the most popular telecast of the ballet even today, having become a huge bestseller on DVD especially during the Christmas season. The television version was not a live performance from the
Kennedy Center of the ballet, but a special presentation shot on videotape in a TV studio.
NBC had already done this as early as 1955, with its
Producers' Showcase version of Tchaikovsky's
The Sleeping Beauty, starring
Margot Fonteyn (which was, however, presented live in those days of no videotape). This method of presentation permitted far greater freedom of camera movement and more use of different camera angles. The Baryshnikov
Nutcracker was videotaped in
Toronto,
Ontario, Canada. Due to time constraints and the necessity to bring the program in at ninety minutes (counting three commercial breaks), the television version of the Baryshnikov production had to eliminate the
Arabian Dance altogether. It was first telecast by
CBS in the U.S. as a Christmas season special with limited commercial interruption on December 16, 1977, pre-empting
Wonder Woman and ''
Logan's Run'' for that week. It was re-broadcast by CBS several times, then afterwards many times annually by
PBS, usually during their Christmas season
pledge drives. The presentation was nominated for an
Emmy Award for Outstanding Classical Program in the Performing Arts, and Baryshnikov himself was nominated for an Emmy for Special Classification of Outstanding Individual Achievement. On September 28, 2004, the production was reissued on DVD, remastered and in both 2.0 and 5.1 stereo surround sound. In September 2012, it became one of the few 1970's programs originally recorded on videotape to be released on
Blu-ray.
Kent Stowell/Maurice Sendak (1983) •
Choreography: Kent Stowell •
Company: Pacific Northwest Ballet •
Premiere: December 13, 1983,
Seattle Center Opera House,
Seattle In 1981, Kent Stowell, artistic director of the Pacific Northwest Ballet company in Seattle, approached children's author
Maurice Sendak to design the sets and costumes for a new production of
The Nutcracker: The version they eventually created premiered in December 1983. Unlike previous versions, Stowell and Sendak turned to
the original E.T.A. Hoffmann story for inspiration and incorporated some of the darker aspects of Hoffmann's tale. In this production, Clara is portrayed by a young girl up until the defeat of the Mouse King, after which the character is transformed into a young woman and performed by an adult dancer for the remainder of the ballet. Stowell dispenses with the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Confiturembourg setting for Act II altogether, opting instead, according to Sendak, for an exotic port containing a
seraglio, in which the Grand Pasha (meant to resemble Drosselmeyer, played by the same performer) has his entourage perform for the couple in honor of their bravery. At the end of Act II, the boat on which Clara and the Prince journey to the Land of Sweets returns to take the Nutcracker and Clara away. Clara expresses reluctance to leave and the Pasha sends the boat away without her. As in the Vainonen, Clara wakes to realize the fantasy sequences were a dream. Sendak and Stowell also added to the original score a duet from Tchaikovsky's opera
Pique Dame, to be performed at the Christmas Party. This production was extremely popular and was revived in Seattle every year after its premiere until 2014. In 1986 it served as the basis for the feature film,
Nutcracker: The Motion Picture. In 2014 it completed its 32-year run at
McCaw Hall.
Peter Wright (1984 and 1990) •
Choreography: Peter Wright, after
Lev Ivanov •
Company: Royal Ballet •
Premiere: December 20, 1984,
Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden,
London In 1984, dancer-choreographer Peter Wright created a new production based on the original 1892 production for the
Royal Ballet. In doing so, he enlisted the aide of musicologist Roland John Wiley, who had done extensive research on Tchaikovsky's ballets and served as production consultant. Together, they created a production that was closely based on the original by
Lev Ivanov. For the
Waltz of the Flowers, for instance, Wright utilized the floor patterns designed by Ivanov for the premiere and, unlike many productions, featured a
Vivandière doll in Act I as in the original production. Wright departed from the original in the casting of adult dancers in the roles of Clara and the Nutcracker Prince, and omitting Mother Gigogne and her Polichinelles. Unlike Vasily Vainonen's 1934 production, however, the roles of the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier remain intact. Wright's production, like Balanchine's, incorporates a nephew for Drosselmeyer, named Hans-Peter, but in this production he is actually the Nutcracker Prince, an element featured in
the original story by E.T.A. Hoffmann. The sets and costumes were designed by Julia Trevelyan Oman, inspired by the
Biedermeier era of 19th century
Europe. This production premiered at the
Royal Opera House in December 1984. In 1985, it was recorded by the
BBC and televised in the U.S. by
A&E, starring Julie Rose as Clara, Guy Niblett as Hans-Peter,
Leslie Collier as the Sugar Plum Fairy, and
Anthony Dowell as her Cavalier. Wright has stated that of all his productions of the ballet, the 1984 one is the closest to the original, although Clara and Hans-Peter are played by adults. Wright even has the dancing dolls at the Christmas party bursting out of pies, as in the 1892 production. Wright revised the production in 2001 for the newly renovated Royal Opera House to create an ending in which Clara first believes that she was dreaming her adventures; then in the epilogue, after meeting Hans-Peter again in the real world, she realizes that they actually happened. The revised production was videotaped and televised in the U.S. as part of PBS's
Great Performances, starring
Alina Cojocaru as Clara,
Ivan Putrov as the Nutcracker Prince,
Miyako Yoshida as the Sugar Plum Fairy, and Anthony Dowell (this time as Drosselmeyer). These first two versions of the Wright production are available on DVD. In 2008, again with a new cast (Iohna Loots as Clara, Ricardo Cervera as Hans-Peter, and
Gary Avis as Drosselmeyer), the production was streamed live to movie theatres in England, and was presented as a high-definition film in select theatres throughout the U.S. during the 2009 Christmas season. There exist two different versions of this revival. The first one, with
Alexandra Ansanelli as the Sugar Plum Fairy, was filmed in 2008, and another one, also with Loots, Cervera and Avis, but with
Miyako Yoshida as the Sugar Plum Fairy, was filmed in 2009 and also shown in theatres, and was released on DVD in 2010. In the 2008 staging, romantic interest between Clara and Hans-Peter is more pronounced than in the other versions of this production: they kiss several times. The 2009 revival of the Wright production was selected as a candidate in
Ovation TV's 2010 "Battle of the Nutcrackers" contest — not the version with Alina Cojocaru as Clara, as has been erroneously stated on some websites. The 2009 production ultimately was chosen as the viewer favorite in the contest. It made its U.S. TV debut on December 6, 2010. The 2010 contest marked the first time that this revival of the production was shown on U.S. television. •
Choreography: Peter Wright •
Company: Birmingham Royal Ballet •
Premiere: December 29, 1990,
Birmingham Hippodrome,
Birmingham Wright staged a new version of the ballet in 1990, when the Sadler Wells Royal Ballet moved to
Birmingham and became the
Birmingham Royal Ballet under his direction. For this production, Wright departed more freely from the 1892 original than in his 1984 Royal Ballet production. In this version, the fantasy sequences are once again a dream, Clara is a ballet student, and her mother is a former ballerina. The production has been particularly praised for John Macfarlane's set designs. In 1994, this version was filmed, starring
Irek Mukhamedov as the Nutcracker Prince,
Sandra Madgwick as Clara, and once again,
Miyako Yoshida as the Sugar Plum Fairy, and was released on DVD by
Kultur International Films (as of this writing, Ms. Yoshida has danced the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy more times on video than any other dancer). However, this Birmingham Ballet production has never been telecast in the U.S.
The Hard Nut — Mark Morris (1991) •
Choreography: Mark Morris •
Company: Mark Morris Dance Group •
Premiere: January 12, 1991,
Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie,
Brussels In 1990, American dancer and choreographer Mark Morris began work on
The Hard Nut, a contemporary version of
The Nutcracker, taking inspiration from the horror-comic artist
Charles Burns, whose artwork focuses on the archetypal concepts of guilt, childhood, adolescent sexuality, and poignant, nostalgic portrayals of post-war America. Morris enlisted a team of collaborators with whom he could evoke Burns’ black-and-white world: set designer Adrianne Lobel, lighting designer
James F. Ingalls, and costume designer Martin Pakledinaz.
The Hard Nut was the last of twelve pieces Mark Morris created during his time as Director of Dance at the National Opera House of Belgium.
The Hard Nut premiered on January 12, 1991 at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. It was chosen the favorite by viewer votes in 2007, 2008, and 2009 in Ovation TV's annual "Battle of the Nutcrackers". 2010 marked the first year that
The Hard Nut was not part of the annual "Battle of the Nutcrackers". Bourne's version, while retaining Tchaikovsky's score (except the music for Mother Gigogne and her Polichinelles), reworks the traditional libretto. In this version, Clara lives in Dr. Sugar's orphanage. The Nutcracker in this version resembles the ventriloquist dummy
Jerry Mahoney after coming to life, and turns into, not a Prince, but a shirtless, muscular man. The Sugar Plum Fairy is replaced by a character named Princess Sugar, a calculating, slutty woman who steals Clara's beau away from her. Instead of abandoning plot development for divertissement in Act II as in the original 1892 production, in Act II of Bourne's production, Clara must find her hunky beau in time to prevent him from marrying Princess Sugar. Clara ultimately awakens in the orphanage to find him hiding under the covers of her bed, ready to whisk her away for a happily-ever-after ending. The original production was a success and was brought back to the
Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1993 and 1994. It was nominated for a 1994
Laurence Olivier Award for "Best New Dance Production" and for a "Best of the Edinburgh Festival Award" by
The Scotsman. Bourne revised the production in 2002, which has since been performed in various locations in Britain and the U.S. In 2003, it was telecast on the
Bravo channel. It was later released on DVD.
21st century Kirill Simonov / Mikhail Chemiakin (2001) •
Choreography: Kirill Simonov •
Company: Mariinsky Ballet •
Premiere: February 12, 2001,
Mariinsky Theatre,
St Petersburg In 2001, Russian artist
Mikhail Chemiakin joined with choreographer
Kirill Simonov, at the request of conductor
Valery Gergiev, to design a new production of the ballet: Like Maurice Sendak and Kent Stowell's 1983 production for the Pacific Northwest Ballet, they would draw on
the original story by E.T.A. Hoffmann for inspiration. Chemiakin chose to emphasize some of Hoffmann's darker and more grotesque themes, including those of repressed imagination and childhood alienation (the heroine is shunned by her own parents in this version, although she isn't in the Hoffmann story). As in the original 1892 production, the fantasy sequences are not a dream and the Sugar Plum Fairy still appears (though, like Gorsky's version and Vainonen's 1934 version, Simonov gives her
Grand Pas de Deux in Act II to the heroine, called Masha, and the Nutcracker Prince). In one case, Chemiakin deviated sharply from Hoffmann, who gave his story a happy ending by having the heroine marry the Nutcracker Prince, and presumably stay in the Kingdom of Sweets to live happily ever after with him. Instead of Hoffmann's ending or the Apotheosis of the original production, Masha and the Prince, who fall deeply in love and are married offstage, are turned into confections at the top of a giant wedding cake, in danger of being eaten by rats who are climbing and nibbling on it. President
George W. Bush and his wife
Laura attended one of the performances. It was also shown in select movie theatres in high-definition. It has proved highly controversial and has received many withering reviews, which nevertheless praise the dancing of ballerina
Irina Golub, who portrays Masha on the DVD made of the production. Russian dance critic
Nina Alovert also commented disparagingly of the production, saying that it was "full of uncaring human beings and rats who eat people", and that "The one good person [meaning Masha] is turned into a sugar-coated doll". In Dance View Times, critic George Jackson called it "The Gargoyle Nutcracker", and inexplicably termed Masha, the kindliest character in the production, a "brat" and a "minislut", perhaps partly because of the Act II Pas de Deux, which is made quite sensual in this production, some have even said sexual. and he complimented Irina Golub for "dancing it so passionately".
Helgi Tomasson (2004) •
Choreography: Helgi Tomasson •
Company: San Francisco Ballet •
Premiere: December 17, 2004,
War Memorial Opera House,
San Francisco In December 2004, artistic director Helgi Tomasson staged a new version of the ballet for the San Francisco Ballet set in San Francisco during the
Panama–Pacific International Exposition. (Other productions, such as
Robert Joffrey's for the
Joffrey Ballet and
Septime Webre's for the
Washington Ballet have taken a similar route in transplanting the action to America.) Clara is played, for the most part, by a young girl rather than an adult woman. This production utilizes the basic outline of the original 1892 version, with some departures. For example, as in the Chemiakin and Grigorovich versions, the Nutcracker first "comes to life" at the Christmas party before Clara's dream begins. Rather than a Soldier as in the original 1892 version, it is the Nutcracker that is Drosselmeyer's second life-sized doll. And, rather than throwing her slipper at the Mouse King, Clara humorously arranges with the help of the toy soldiers to get the Mouse King's tail caught in a huge mousetrap, thus enabling the Nutcracker to fatally stab him. Like the Sir Peter Wight production for the Royal Ballet it opens in Drosselmeyer's workplace. In lieu of the Confiturembourg setting for Act II, Tomasson substitutes a Crystal Palace, like the one featured at the 1915 fair. As the festivities draw to a close, the Sugar Plum Fairy and Drosselmeyer grant the young girl Clara her greatest Christmas wish and transform her into a beautiful woman to dance in the arms of her Prince, who is played by an adult in this version. Thus, as in Gorsky's version and Vasily Vainonen's 1934 version, the
Grand Pas de Deux is danced, not by the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier, but by the Nutcracker Prince and Clara. Also, like Vainonen's production, Clara awakes on Christmas morning a young girl again, to find that the fantasy sequences were a dream. In 2007, this version was filmed by
KQED and presented in select movie theatres throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe. The following winter, it was presented on PBS'
Dance in America and subsequently released on DVD.
Gelsey Kirkland / Michael Chernov (2013) •
Choreography: Gelsey Kirkland •
Company: Gelsey Kirkland Ballet •
Premiere: December 12, 2013,
Schimmel Center for the Arts,
Pace University, New York City
Other Productions •
Mary Day/Martin Buckner (1961) — Among the first wave of productions in the U.S. after Christensen and Balanchine was the
Washington Ballet's production, choreographed by
Mary Day with Martin Buckner and
Choo San Goh. The production premiered at
DAR Constitution Hall with the
National Symphony Orchestra in December 1961. The production was subsequently performed at various venues throughout
Washington, D.C. including
Lisner Auditorium and the
Warner Theatre until Day's retirement in 2004, at which point the production was retired and replaced with a new version by
Septime Webre, set in 19th century
Georgetown. •
Ronald Hynd (1976) — Staged by the
London Festival Ballet,
Hynd's version of the story gives the heroine an older sister named Louise who falls in love with Drosselmeyer's nephew against the wishes of her parents. •
Robert Joffrey/Gerald Arpino (1987) — In 1987,
Robert Joffrey and
Gerald Arpino created a version of the ballet for the
Joffrey Ballet set in
Currier and Ives America. The production has been performed in cities nationwide, including
New York City,
Washington, D.C.,
Los Angeles, and ultimately in
Chicago where the company established its permanent home in 1995. In 1999, an abridged version of the production was televised on some
PBS stations in U.S. as
The Joffrey Nutcracker. •
Graeme Murphy (1992) —
Graeme Murphy's version, entitled "Nutcracker: The Story of Clara", was created in 1992 for the
Australian Ballet, released on video in 1994, and released on DVD in 2008. It retains Tchaikovsky's music, but throws out virtually all of the original story, adding some quite intense scenes not found in a usual
Nutcracker. In this version, set in the 1950s, Clara is an aging Australian ballerina in a retirement home who recalls her past life in flashback, and dies of old age at the end. There are no magical enchantments in this version, which made a surprise appearance as an additional offering in 2011's
Battle of the Nutcrackers. •
Anatoli Emilianov (1993) — Anatoli Emilianov has staged a version for the
Moscow Ballet called
The Great Russian Nutcracker, in which the second act is set in the "Land of Peace and Harmony". As in the Gorsky and Vainonen versions, Clara performs all of the dances usually performed by the Sugar Plum Fairy, and the Prince performs the Cavalier's dances. New York Times dance critic
Alastair Macaulay has criticized what he calls "the production's emphasis on Love, Love, Love," claiming that a romance between Clara and the Nutcracker Prince makes
The Nutcracker seem like too many other classical ballets, rather than a unique one which essentially does not have an adult love interest. •
Pär Isberg (1997) — Pär Isberg's version for the
Royal Swedish Ballet, staged in 1997, uses most of Tchaikovsky's music, but bears little resemblance to the original ballet, although there still is a Mouse King. In this version, it is a charcoal burner who becomes a handsome Prince, and a housemaid falls in love with him and becomes his Princess. Instead of simply Clara visiting the Kingdom of Sweets, it is two children, Lotta and her brother Petter, who do so. (Some of the new libretto, co-written by Isberg and Erik Näslund, is inspired by
Elsa Beskow's children's book "Peter and Lotta's Christmas".) This version is available on DVD only in Great Britain. •
Patrice Bart (1999) — Patrice Bart's version, available on DVD, created for the
Berlin Staatsoper, and premiered there in 1999, reworks the libretto. The heroine (here called Marie) is an unhappy, traumatized child who finds herself in the care of the cruel Stahlbaum family after her mother is kidnapped by
Russian Revolutionaries. Her only friend is Drosselmeyer who here is a young man who helps Marie remember and overcome her repressed trauma. The nutcracker toy, whose uniform reminds Marie of her father, becomes the catalyst for this experience. Drosselmeyer evokes in the revolutionaries (taking the place of the Mice from the traditional staging), enabling Marie to drive them off by throwing her toy nutcracker at them. The toy then explodes, comes to life, and almost immediately turns into a Prince. In the second act, Marie is reunited with her mother. As in Vainonen's 1934 version, there is no Sugar Plum Fairy or Cavalier; their dances are performed by Marie and the Nutcracker Prince. The finale is unclear about Marie and the Prince's fate, but her mother blesses their apparently forthcoming marriage, after which Drosselmeyer suddenly produces another nutcracker, which emits a strange light from its eyes. Most of the dancers suddenly begin moving like mechanical dolls, and through a cloud of smoke, Marie is seen to be seemingly flying off happily with the Prince,
Mary Poppins-like, airborne on a giant umbrella. This production appeared on DVD with Nadja Saidakova as Marie and
Vladimir Malakhov as the Nutcracker Prince.
Daniel Barenboim conducts the orchestra. This version was also shown on U.S. TV in Ovation's 2010 "Battle of the Nutcrackers" It won the Battle of the Nutcrackers in 2014. •
Gary Harris (2010) - Choreographer Gary Harris has created a production for the
New Zealand Ballet which takes place partly in a hospital ward to which Clara is taken after receiving a bump on the head, courtesy of her slingshot-wielding brother Fritz. •
Alexei Ratmansky (2010) — Russian choreographer Ratmansky's production of
The Nutcracker, for
American Ballet Theatre, premiered at the
Brooklyn Academy of Music on Thursday, December 23, 2010, with principal dancers
Gillian Murphy and
David Hallberg. It uses the original plot, but in this production, during the
Pas de deux, the little girl Clara and the boy Nutcracker Prince imagine themselves dancing it as adults, whereupon the principal dancers take over the roles until the
Apotheosis of the ballet. The production follows Chemiakin's by beginning the ballet in the Stahlbaum's kitchen (where mice are hiding), in making the snowflakes have a sinister quality, •
Cabaret Red Light (2010) —
Cabaret Red Light created a
burlesque-and-ballet version of
The Nutcracker with original score by Rolf Lakaemper and Peter Gaffney, and choreography by Christine Fisler. Directed by Anna Frangiosa and Gaffney, the production draws on material from the original short story by
E.T.A. Hoffmann, "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King," aiming to restore scenes, characters and other elements not included in Alexandre Dumas' French adaptation of the holiday classic, and presenting a version that is generally truer to the spirit and uncanny nature of Hoffmann's work. Using a variety of media - shadow puppets, kinetic sculptures, experimental music and narrative dance - Cabaret Red Light's
NUTCRACKER revolves around the figure of Marie and her Godfather Drosselmeyer's efforts to warn her about the false promises and counterfeit values that mark the transition into adult life. The production premiered on December 16, 2010, at Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia. •
Vasily Medvedev and Yuri Burlaka (2013) - Russian choreographers Vasily Medvedev and Yuri Burlaka staged a reconstruction of the ballet for the
Berlin State Ballet with sets and costumes by Andrey Voytenko and Tatiana Noginova, based on the original sketches by Ivan Vsevolozhsky for the 1892 world premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre. This version featured most of the original choreography by Petipa and Ivanov, and even went so far as to restore the reika sequence in the Grand Pas de Deux. The production was released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2015, conducted by Robert Reimer and starring real-life husband and wife Marian Walter as the Nutcracker and
Iana Salenko in the double role of Clara\The Sugar Plum Fairy. •
Christopher Wheeldon (2016) -
Joffrey Ballet commissioned
Christopher Wheeldon to create a working-class version of
The Nutcracker. Author
Brian Selznick was brought in to create the story. In this version, set in the
1893 Chicago's World's Fair, Marie is a daughter of Polish immigrants, and is raised by her widowed mother. The mother is a sculptor who is sculpting the golden statue of the world's fair. The second act was Marie's fantasy of the world's fair, rather than Land of the Sweets. The Impresario, the Drosselmeyer character of this version and the architect of the world's fair, took Marie to the fair. Marie's mother becomes the golden sculpture, the Sugar Plum Fairy figure of this production. In 2016, the work had its tryouts in Iowa, then premiered in Chicago. • '''Michael Pink's Production for Milwaukee Ballet 2003''' - English Choreographer Highly regarded for its engaging narrative throughout. Drosselmeyer creates a fantasy journey in which Clara, her brother Fritz and elder sister Marie travel through with Drosselmeyer's nephew Karl. The choreographic invention is most noticeable in the snow pas de deux. ==Film==