Carnegie Hall+

Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker has become synonymous with the holiday season, yet the ballet’s success wasn’t always guaranteed. Surprisingly, its first performance at Saint Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre in 1892 was deemed a flop. Critics panned the libretto for being lopsided and straying too far from the E. T. A. Hoffmann tale that inspired it. Others couldn’t understand why so many children were on stage.

History proved the detractors wrong. The popularity of The Nutcracker surged decades later, when George Balanchine staged it in 1954 for the New York City Ballet. Although The Nutcracker had been performed in England in 1934 (its first production outside Russia) and in San Francisco in 1944, it was Balanchine’s production—with dazzling choreography, a towering Christmas tree, and candy-colored sets—that secured the ballet’s place as a holiday staple the world over.

But why does The Nutcracker remain so beloved? Children, endlessly imaginative, put themselves in the young protagonist Clara’s shoes as she journeys from her family’s holiday festivities into a magical realm inhabited by dancing snowflakes, sugar plums, and other colorful characters. (They also, as it turns out, love seeing themselves on stage.) For adults, The Nutcracker’s allure is rediscovering that same sense of youthful wonder—often alongside their children.

Four versions of Tchaikovsky’s beloved work are featured on Carnegie Hall+, illustrating the ballet’s versatility and enduring appeal for adults and children alike. Here is our guide to these presentations.

Vienna State Ballet: Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker

Rudolf Nureyev, one of the 20th century’s great dancers, was also a prolific choreographer. Although traditional on the surface, his Nutcracker breaks with other productions in several ways: Adults dance the main children’s roles from start to finish, Tchaikovsky’s score is rearranged, and it’s Clara’s eccentric Uncle Drosselmeyer—not a Nutcracker doll—who transforms into the prince.

Nureyev’s version of The Nutcracker remains a favorite among European ensembles because of its technically demanding footwork and balances, as well as its fascinating Freudian undertones. The intricate “Dance of the Snowflakes” is a highlight, recalling the pristine classicism of the 19th-century Russian Imperial Ballet.

Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker in Dresden with the Semperoper Ballett

Choreographed by Aaron S. Watkin and Jason Beechey, this production draws inspiration from the landmarks of Dresden, where this production was first performed. The city’s picturesque Striezelmarkt—one of the world’s original Christmas markets—surfaces immediately. Lanterns glimmer and vendors sell festive toys, trinkets, and sweets to families. The oversized windows and dome of the city’s most beloved landmark, the Frauenkirche, tower in the background.

The first act brims with elaborate Balanchine-inspired effects—like the swelling Christmas tree—and in the second act, students of the company’s school take center stage in the dazzling “Waltz of the Flowers,” one of the ballet’s highlights that is typically danced by adults.

Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and The Nutcracker conducted by Omer Meir Wellber

At its premiere, The Nutcracker shared a bill with another Tchaikovsky work: the rarely performed one-act opera Iolanta, which romanticizes the life of Yolande, Duchess of Lorraine, a blind woman destined to live in an isolated garden paradise.

Staged by the Volksoper and Staatsballett of Vienna, this production is darker and deeper (and therefore less appropriate for younger children). The ballet’s and opera’s scores and characters weave together into one cohesive work, with Yolande wandering through the colorful splendor of The Nutcracker, unaware of its visual splendors. In the end, the heroine regains her sight, echoing how Clara—the usual heroine of The Nutcracker—finally “sees” the adult world more clearly at the story’s end.

Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker score can stand alone, independent of dance, and this concert by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under the baton of Semyon Bychkov demonstrates that powerfully. Even without elaborate stagecraft, Tchaikovsky’s music moves listeners from the regimented world of social dance to a realm of pure fantasy.

In his score, the composer famously incorporated a relatively new instrument, the celesta—which sounds like a glockenspiel, but with a much softer and more subtle timbre—in “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.” This is an opportunity to listen to and see this unique instrument up close.

With these four captivating productions available on Carnegie Hall+, you can experience the holiday magic of The Nutcracker without leaving the comfort of your home. Each presents a distinct and enchanting interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s timeless masterpiece, inviting you to discover the ballet’s wonder in new and exciting ways.

Photography: Semperoper Ballett by Costin Radu.