Ballet
The Nutcracker
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
The Christmas run. Forty-one performances, a live children’s chorus, and a growing tree that has been rebuilt three times since 1974.
Libretto After E. T. A. HoffmannSung in DancedSurtitles Not requiredRunning time 2h 05mIntervals OneFirst performed 1892
Synopsis
Act I
A party, a broken toy, a battle at one in the morning, and a forest that arrives from above.
Act II
The divertissements, danced complete, and a pas de deux that has to justify the whole evening.
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The Ardenne has given The Nutcracker every December since 1931 apart from the war years. The tree mechanism is original to the 1974 rebuild and rises nine metres in ninety seconds; it is inspected before every performance and is the single most-serviced object in the building.