Read on for six key things you need to know about Nutcracker, along with some fun facts you can use to impress this festive season.
The story of Nutcracker begins on Christmas Eve, and follows a young girl, Clara, who receives a Nutcracker doll as a present. As the evening draws in, reality and dreams merge and Clara and her Nutcracker go on a magical adventure.
The details of the story and the period it is set in may change, depending on the choreographers and their approaches, but the story usually follows a similar arc. For our new production, choreographers Aaron S. Watkin and Arielle Smith, and Costume and Set Designer Dick Bird, have worked together on a concept set in Edwardian London, following Clara on a fantastical journey of discovery. Here is the story in more detail:
In his secret attic workshop, the eccentric toymaker Drosselmeyer transforms a doll resembling a young prince into a Nutcracker. Downstairs, in his Emporium of Sweets and Delights, Clara Stahlbaum and her mother are shopping for party treats when the Nutcracker catches Clara’s eye.
That evening, Drosselmeyer brings gifts to the Stahlbaum’s party. The party guests enjoy a delicious array of sweets and treats, and the Nutcracker is presented to Clara.
The evening draws to a close and the Stahlbaum children are sent to bed. Clara sneaks back downstairs to her Nutcracker before falling asleep by the Christmas tree. She wakes to find Drosselmeyer transforming the room into a larger-than-life scene. As time and reality evaporate, a battle ensues between the now life-sized Nutcracker and a Rat King. Clara goes the to the rescue of the Nutcracker, fatally injuring the Rat King. To her delight the Nutcracker transforms into a young prince, inviting her to join him on an adventure.
The Nutcracker Prince takes Clara to a glistening winter realm ruled by the Ice Queen Isolde and then on to the summer Land of Sweets and Delights. Here the couple are welcomed by the Sugar Plum Fairy who asks them to recount their travels.
A showcase of sweet-themed dances follows: turron (Spanish nougat), sahlab (Egyptian hot orchid root milk with cinnamon); tanghulu (Chinese candied hawthorn berries); makivnyk (Ukrainian poppyseed rolls); marzipan-zwiebelflöten (German marzipan-mirlitons); liquorice allsorts; buttercream roses and sugar plums.
The Sugar Plum Fairy presents Clara with a beautiful plum-jewelled necklace. The ensemble of sweets bids farewell as the Land of Sweets and Delights dissolves away.
Clara wakes to find herself back in the salon. For a moment it seems as if her adventure was just a dream. However, when she notices she is still wearing the necklace given to her by the Sugar Plum Fairy, she knows it must have been more. With this realisation Clara feels anything is possible, the clock strikes midnight, and Christmas Day begins.
The composer of Nutcracker’s instantly recognisable score is Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky. Following the success of his score for The Sleeping Beauty Tchaikovsky was commissioned to compose a double-bill programme featuring both an opera (Iolanta) and a ballet – an adaptation of E. T. A. Hoffmann’s story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.
Tchaikovsky was strongly influenced by his travels to Paris in this period. While in Paris, he was devastated to learn about the death of his beloved sister, Alexandra (Sasha) and her passing inspired the character of the Sugar Plum Fairy. He used an instrument he discovered in Paris – the celesta, which produces a sound of ringing glass bells – to create the iconic sound we associate with the Sugar Plum Fairy today.
Debuting in December 1892 in St Petersburg, the ballet was initially embraced by the public but not the critics. The Waltz of the Snowflakes and the Act II Variations were an instant hit, although there was criticism about the chaos of the battle scene.
As the ballet began to grow in popularity, choreographers in subsequent productions altered the roles of the Sugar Plum Fairy and introduced adult dancers into the roles of Clara and the Nutcracker Prince.
In the 1930s the second act, known as the ‘Divertissement of Sweets’, quickly became popular in Britain and the first complete performance of Nutcracker outside of Russia took place in England in 1934.
It wasn’t until the 1950s that the full ballet began to gain international recognition. Productions by the London Festival Ballet (as English National Ballet was known then) and by George Balanchine for New York City Ballet quickly garnered popularity and began to cement Nutcracker within the repertoire of ballet companies globally.
Fun fact: We know from Tchaikovsky’s original sketches that the ballet was originally called The Christmas Tree or The Fir Tree before the final name of The Nutcracker was chosen.
This festive ballet has been at the heart of English National Ballet’s (ENB) repertoire since the company was established in 1950.
ENB have performed a version of Nutcracker every year since then with the 2024 production marking the staging of eleven different versions performed by the company. Read more about the changing face of ENB’s Nutcracker.
Did you know you can step into the enchanting world of our previous Nutcracker production by Wayne Eagling this Christmas? Visit our costume collection on display at Raffles London at The OWO this winter. Eagling’s production premiered in 2010 and ran until 2023, during which time it was seen by close to one million people.
Nutcracker productions are always a real ensemble piece, with many different corps de ballet numbers including the snowflakes and party scenes. But who are the key characters in the story?
Our new Nutcracker centres on Clara, viewing the story through her eyes and imagination. She is a young girl living in Edwardian LondonHer journey reflects the era’s emerging hope, especially for women – she even meets some suffragettes along her journey! Through her dreams, she goes on a transformative adventure, building her confidence and helping her realise her inner strength, which she carries back into her real life.
Clara receives a wooden Nutcracker doll for Christmas, which magically comes to life. Together, they battle with the Rat King, and the Nutcracker transforms into a Prince who accompanies Clara on her adventure to the wintry Ice Realm and the Land of Sweets & Delights.
Fun fact: According to German legend, Nutcrackers bring good luck and protection to a family and its home.
In our production, Drosselmeyer has many hats! We see him first as the magical toymaker, busy in his studio, and then as the owner of his Emporium of Sweets & Delights, with jars of delicious confections and treats on display. He’s also a magician, and it’s his Christmas Eve gift to Clara of the enchanted Nutcracker doll which sets her adventure in train
Leader of the army of rats and mice who battle Clara and the Nutcracker. This is a highly dramatic role, with a lot of energy needed to embody the physicality of a rat but also with a large rat head mask to contend with.
Ruler of the Land of Sweets and Delights who welcomes Clara into her kingdom.
Co-choreographer of the 2024 Nutcracker, Aaron S. Watkin, sees the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy as key: “I want her to be someone that Clara looks up to, someone that she can be inspired by, a confident woman who shows her what’s possible within herself.”
A character not often seen in UK productions but popular internationally in, the Ice Queen features in our 2024 Nutcracker as she welcomes Clara into the Ice Realm, surrounded by beautiful icicles and snowflakes.
Fun fact: Creating a world of ice is no mean feat: each snowflake costume in our new production takes over 100 hours to make by hand. They use nine different materials, embellished with over 30 metres of pearl string and 50 strips of fabric.
Find out more about the principal casting for these roles this winter
The iconic score by Tchaikovsky is so well known it’s likely you’ve heard it in many other places and not realised that was what you were listening to!
Even though Nutcracker did not become popular in America until the 1950s, Disney’s feature-length cartoon Fantasia has a whole animated section devoted to Tchaikovsky’s music, including the Dance Sugar Plum Fairy, the Trepak and the Waltz of the Flowers.
The 1970s saw a popular television advert promoting Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut chocolate, featuring humourist Frank Muir singing ‘Everyone’s a Fruit and Nut Case’ to the Dance of the Mirlitons.
From Chocolate to video games – Tetris exploded in popularity in 1988 and in 1989 introduced a version of the game to feature the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Trepak.
An animated fantasy film, Barbie and the Nutcracker is based on Tchaikovsky’s performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. This film marked the first Barbie movie to be computer animated, selling over 3.5 DVDs and videos, and becoming popular across the US, Canada and the UK.
Fun fact: The film’s ballet sequences feature the movement of New York City Ballet dancers, which were then animated through motion capture imaging.
Our brand-new production premieres at the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton, from 28 – 30 Nov, and at the London Coliseum from 12 Dec – 12 Jan 2025. Book your Nutcracker tickets here.
A recording of the full performance will also be broadcasted on Sky Arts on 23 December.