Christmas would not be Christmas without George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker – a ballet that has appealed to all Christmas-lovers across generations.

As the magic of Christmas descends, young Marie and her nutcracker prince set off on a perilous and pleasing journey where anything can happen. All set to the music of Tchaikovsky, which  has become one of the most beloved works in the history of music with its many familiar and captivating tunes, its imaginative humour and its surprising and refined wealth of ideas.

The wondrous and whimsical tale of The Nutcracker was originally penned in 1816 by the eccentric German author E.T.A. Hoffmann. In 1892, Tchaikovsky composed his iconic music for the story, and with its many catchy, fanciful themes, Tchaikovsky’s score for The Nutcracker is today one of history’s most beloved musical works.

The Nutcracker is one of the greatest classics of ballet, and George Balanchine’s masterful interpretation is rich in fable and fantasy. A real family show and spectacular warm-up to the most festive season of all.

When George Balanchine created his irresistible version of The Nutcracker in 1954, he stated that the ballet was intended for children and those still a child at heart: “In every person the best, the most important part is that which remains from childhood.”

Balanchine, who took his cue from German writer E.T.A. Hoffmann’s whimsical tale from 1816, imbues his ballet not only with the seasonal warmth of the Stahlbaum home at Christmas time but also the theatrical magic of the story’s enchanted wonderland. He offers the essence of the classic fairy tale, while reinterpreting it for a modern audience with contemporary elegance, clarity and poetry.

Festive seasonal merriment is guaranteed with The Nutcracker. George Balanchine’s popular ballet has enchanted children and adults around the world since 1954. Indeed, at the Royal Danish Theatre, Christmas would not be Christmas without the famous nutcracker being brought to life.

Choreographer George Balanchine's production of Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker has become the most famous stage production of the ballet performed in the U.S. (Mikhail Baryshnikov's production is the most famous television version, although it too originated onstage.) It uses the plot of the Alexandre Dumas, père, version of E.T.A. Hoffmann's tale, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (1816). Its premiere took place on February 2, 1954, at City Center, New York, with costumes by Karinska and sets by Horace Armistead. It has been staged in New York every year since 1954, and many other productions throughout the United States either imitate it, or directly use the Balanchine staging. However, although it is often cited as being the production that made the ballet famous in the U.S., it was Willam Christensen's 1944 production for the San Francisco Ballet which first introduced the complete work to the United States.

In Balanchine's version, the leading roles of Clara (here called Marie) and the Nutcracker/Prince are danced by children, and so their dances are choreographed to be less difficult than the ones performed by the adults. Marie does not dance at all in the second act of this version. The Prince's dancing in Act II is limited to the pantomime that he performs "describing" his defeat of the Mouse King. Instead, Marie and the Prince sit out nearly all of Act II watching other dancers perform for them, and unlike most other versions, neither one of them takes part in the ballet's Final Waltz.

Because Marie and the Nutcracker / Prince are played by children approximately ten years old in the Balanchine Nutcracker, no adult romantic interest between them is even implied, although Marie and Drosselmeyer's nephew, who looks exactly like the Prince, are clearly drawn to each other during the Christmas party. However, the 1958 Playhouse 90 telecast of the Balanchine Nutcracker, which changed Marie's name back to Clara and stated that the Prince was Drosselmeyer's nephew, had narrator June Lockhart saying at the end that "From that day on, Drosselmeyer's nephew is Clara's Prince and Clara is his Princess, and I need not tell you that they lived happily ever after." (But Drosselmeyer's nephew is there when the Nutcracker is broken during the Christmas party, so it is difficult to believe that he is the Nutcracker/ Prince, unless Marie dreams her fantasy adventures, and it is unclear in this version whether she does or not.) Years later, movie critic Stephen Holden, in reviewing the 1993 film version of the Balanchine Nutcracker, referred to Marie as the Prince's sweetheart. And oddly enough, throughout Act II of the 1993 film of Balanchine's version, Marie does wear a veil that resembles a bridal veil.

The Balanchine version uses perhaps more real children than any other version. (In other versions, the children are sometimes played by adult women.) The rôles of Clara and the Nutcracker/ Prince are performed by adults in many other versions, and in these productions of the ballet, there is usually more than a hint of budding romance between the two.

The Journey Through the Snow sequence, in many other productions danced by Clara and the Nutcracker immediately after his transformation into a Prince, is not danced at all in the Balanchine version, although the music is played. Instead, Marie faints and falls on the bed after the battle, and the Nutcracker exits. Marie's bed moves by itself across the stage as the music plays, and at its climax, the Nutcracker reappears and through the use of a stage effect, turns into a Prince. He awakens Marie, places on her head one of the crowns that he took from the dead seven-headed Mouse King, and they exit. (In the 1993 film of Balanchine's Nutcracker, the bed flies through the air rather than simply moving across the stage. This is achieved by special effects created by Industrial Light & Magic.)