The DC Traveler

The Nutcracker ballet that we know and love today with it’s Sugar-Plum Fairy and Waltz of the Snowflakes, has evolved and been adapted from the original classic Gernam story written in 1816, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.

The Nutcracker Suite ballet is a story about a seven-year-old’s favorite Christmas toy, the Nutcracker, which comes alive on Christmas night and takes her to a magical kingdom of dancing dolls and toys that come alive after the nutcracker kills the Mouse King.

In 1844, Alexandre Dumas (writer of among other works, The Count of Monte Cristo,) adapted the original story and it was later put to music by Tchaikovsky and choreographed by Russian Imperial Ballet balletmaster, Lev Ivanov, in 1892.

Initially not a very commercially successful ballet after it’s Russian debute, Tchaikovsky considered it one of his less successful works.

Over fifty years later, in 1944, the San Franscisco ballet, under Willam Christensen put on successful performance of The Nutcracker, but it wasn’t until 1954, under the lead of George Balanchine’s choreography that the New York City Ballet made it the holiday tradition that it is today in the U.S.

This year, the Washington Ballet has set The Nutcracker in Washington, DC, among cherry blossoms on the Potomac River with George Washington in the title role and King George III of England as the evil Rat King.

Last year, The Washington Ballet 41st annual performance of The Nutcracker was partially cancelled due to contact issues and a subsequent strike by it’s dancers.

The Washington Ballet
The Warner Theater
1299 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC

Dates
December 7-23

Tickets
$29.00 - $85.00

Nearest Metro subway stop
Red, Orange and Blue lines, one block walk

Photo credits: photo 1 flickr, photo 2 flickr

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