The Nutcracker, one of the world’s best-known (and beloved) classical ballets – closely identified with the December holiday season – and a star pillar of the repertory of world ballet companies. You can click these links to learn more about them.
- The New York City Ballet (NYCB): The Nutcracker (choreography by George Balanchine) Translation: this is the biggest-selling, most widely staged version of The Nutcracker in the US. It’s by a little-known choreographer named George Balanchine; but mon dieu, he pretty much invented modern ballet, so you’re in good hands here. And this is the big US Christmas kitsch thing to do.
- London: The Royal Ballet’s Peter Wright production of The Nutcracker has long been regarded – and rightly so – as the archetype for a classic production of The Nutcracker, with its clarity of exposition, its attention to detail, and its high artistic standards; and it must unreservedly be counted as one of the Christmas ballets.
- The Bolshoi Ballet, Moscow: The Nutcracker performed by Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet is another popular Moscow must-do. Their Nutcracker is the epitome of technical mastery in set and costume design and classical dancing. This is the high-art ballet you were looking for.
- The Mariinsky Ballet, St. Petersburg: In St Petersburg (formerly known as Kirov Ballet of the Mariinsky Theatre) It’s as Russian as it gets: the Mariinsky Ballet serves up a traditional view of The Nutcracker, literally drawing on the ballet’s Imperial Russian heritage and honing an immaculate classic rooted in tradition.
- The San Francisco Ballet: More Like Home – San Francisco The San Francisco Ballet broke new ground with its premiere of The Nutcracker in 1944, and its current director, Helgi Tomasson, provides a glittering interpretation that has almost become part of the fabric of San Francisco’s festive season.
Though these are among the most prominent, it might well be that alongside the host of companies mounting performances of The Nutcracker – including the New York City Ballet, the Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Bolshoi Ballet, Paris Opera, Nederlands Dans Theater, San Francisco Ballet, Los Angeles Ballet, Australian Ballet, Berlin State Ballet, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, National Ballet of Canada and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – the ballet might be performed by more ballet companies worldwide than any other, making it the most ubiquitous ballet on the stages of our world. Each company brings its archive of cultural differences and artistic distinctions – each version distinct from the other.
