The Ballet
The first production of The Nutcracker was choreographed by the renowned ballet master Marius Petipa, as well as by Lev Ivanov, and presented in 1892. Even if it is the most performed ballet in today's companies, it is also the ballet with the most versions, as almost all companies have their own version of The Nutcracker.
To create a new ballet, Marius Petipa, the ballet's first choreographer, based his material on Alexandre Dumas' story "The Tale of the Nutcracker", who based his story on E. T. A. Hoffman's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". The plot of the stories was greatly simplified for the ballet, excluding the flashback of how the Prince got turned into a nutcracker.
The ballet was premiered on December 18, 1892 at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, in St-Petersburg, Russia. Despite the ballet's present popularity, on its release, it was classified as a failure. It was only after the success of The San Francisco Ballet's version in 1944, that its popularity spread to America, which with George Balanchine's 1954 version for The New York City Ballet, popularized the ballet around the world and made it a performance staple in winter season.
The Nutcracker is now the world's most performed ballet, performed every year around Christmas time by dozens of companies with dozens of different versions. If you're interested in seeing a production, buy yourself a ticket from a local ballet company, you will not regret it, as it is an enjoyable show for all the family.
Here are some versions from Canadian ballet companies: