List of productions of The Nutcracker

In Russia, choreographer Alexander Gorsky staged a new version of the work in 1919 that addressed many of the criticisms of the original 1892 production by casting adult dancers in the roles of Clara and the Prince, rather than children.

In recent years, revisionist productions, including those by Mark Morris, Matthew Bourne, and Mikhail Chemiakin have appeared, which depart radically from both the original 1892 libretto and Gorsky's revival.

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.

In 1994, with sets and costumes first used in its 1954 revival, the Vainonen version was staged again, starring Larissa Lezhnina as Masha, Victor Baranov as the Nutcracker / Prince, and Piotr Russanov as Drosselmeyer.

For instance, while in the original production the Waltz of the Flowers was performed by eighteen male-female couples, Balanchine utilized a group of fourteen female dancers led by a Dew Drop soloist.

For instance, Balanchine used Hoffmann's original name for the heroine, Marie Stahlbaum (rather than Clara Silberhaus as in the 1892 production), and introduced a nephew for Drosselmeyer who appears in the party scene and later as the Nutcracker Prince.

[18] The production premiered on February 2, 1954 at the New York City Center, starring Alberta Grant as Marie, Michael Arshansky as Drosselmeyer, Paul Nickel as the Nutcracker Prince, Maria Tallchief as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Nicholas Magallanes as the Cavalier.

[5] 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.

[32] 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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).

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.

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.

[69] 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: "The music of The Nutcracker is multifaceted and, like all great works, inexhaustible.

We restored cuts, brought the tempos into line, and the music suddenly sounded totally different -- shattering the stereotypes and revealing new meanings... We intend to show this production in the world's major venues.

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.

[74] 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".

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.

"[102] In The Washington Post, Lucy Linfield echoed Ebert's criticism of Culkin, stating that "it's not so much that he can't act or dance; more important, the kid seems to have forgotten how to smile... All little Mac can muster is a surly grimace."

She praised the dancing, however, as "strong, fresh and in perfect sync" and Kistler's Sugar Plum Fairy as "the Balanchinean ideal of a romantic, seemingly fragile beauty combined with a technique of almost startling strength, speed and knifelike precision.

"[103] The New York Times' Stephen Holden also criticized Culkin, calling his performance the film's "only serious flaw", but praised the cinematography as "very scrupulous in the way it establishes a mood of participatory excitement, then draws back far enough so that the classic ballet sequences choreographed by Balanchine and staged by Peter Martins can be seen in their full glory.

The film also features touches of (sometimes deliberately anachronistic) humor: after the battle with the mice, the Nutcracker, who has not yet regained his form as a Prince, says to Clara, "Thank you for saving my life, and for your superior nursing skills".

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is a 2018 American fantasy adventure film released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures in the United States on November 2, 2018 in RealD 3D and Dolby Cinema.

The film stars Keira Knightley, Mackenzie Foy, Eugenio Derbez, Matthew Macfadyen, Richard E. Grant, and Misty Copeland, with Helen Mirren and Morgan Freeman.