Louise Levene

The Nutcracker wasn’t always considered quite such a box of delights

How did this strange, lopsided ballet – critically panned at its première – become so ubiquitous?

Peter Wright’s sublime, button-backed production of The Nutcracker for the Royal Ballet. Credit: Roh/Tristram Kenton 
issue 18 December 2021

E.T.A. Hoffmann’s tale of a young man turned into a novelty kitchen gadget by an evil rodent isn’t obvious dance material, and yet here we are, up to our plastic tiaras in sugar plums. Four Nutcrackers in London alone and an average of 200 productions, amateur and professional, across the Atlantic.

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