The Nutcracker (Balanchine)

Choreographer George Balanchine's production of Petipa and Tchaikovsky's 1892 ballet The Nutcracker is a broadly popular version of the ballet often performed in the United States. Conceived for the New York City Ballet, its premiere took place on February 2, 1954, at City Center, New York, with costumes by Karinska, sets by Horace Armistead and lighting and production by Jean Rosenthal.^[1]

With the exception of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic,^[2] it has been staged in New York every year since 1954, and many other productions throughout the United States either imitate it, or directly use its staging.

In contrast to other productions of the ballet, Balanchine's production of The Nutcracker uses more children, and give the principal roles of Clara/Marie^[3] and Drosselmeyer's Nephew/Nutcracker/Prince to children instead of adults.^[4] This also causes the choreography for these characters to be simplified, and they largely only appear in the second act of the ballet as observers, except for the re-enactment of the fight with the Mouse King by the Prince.

This production also changes out the Journey Through the Snow pas de deux; instead Clara/Marie faints onto her bed during the Mouse King battle and the bed moves across the stage while the Nutcracker transforms into the Prince, who awakens Clara/Marie and escorts her offstage.

The first recorded performance was telecast by CBS in 1957 on the TV anthology The Seven Lively Arts; while Balanchine's archives refer to it as complete,^[1] it was abridged to 55 minutes long.^[4] This was not only the first telecast of the Balanchine version, but of any staging of the ballet.

CBS's Playhouse 90 broadcast a more complete (but still abridged) version narrated by actress June Lockhart, on December 25, 1958; it was the first Nutcracker (and only installment of the entire Playhouse 90 series) broadcast in color.^[5] This production featured Balanchine himself as Drosselmeyer.^[6]

Excerpts from the Balanchine production were performed several times on several television variety shows of the mid-20th century, notably The Bell Telephone Hour and The Ed Sullivan Show.^[1]

The complete Balanchine version was eventually made into a full-length feature film in 1993, and starred Macaulay Culkin in his only screen ballet rôle, as the Nutcracker, the Prince, and Drosselmeyer's nephew. The film was directed by Emile Ardolino, with narration by Kevin Kline. Ardolino died of AIDS only a few days before the film's release.^[7]

In 2011, PBS presented that season's Balanchine Nutcracker as part of their ongoing series Live from Lincoln Center.^[8][9] Directed by Alan Skog, it marked the first U.S. telecast of the Balanchine version in over fifty years. It was nominated for an Emmy Award in July 2012.^[10]

Balanchine adds to Tchaikovsky's score an entr'acte that the composer wrote for Act II of The Sleeping Beauty, but which is now seldom played in productions of that ballet. In Balanchine's Nutcracker, it is used as a transition between the departure of the guests and the battle with the mice. During this transition, the mother of Marie (as she is usually called in this version) appears in the living room and throws a blanket over the girl, who has crept downstairs and fallen asleep on the sofa; then Drosselmeyer appears, repairs the Nutcracker, and binds the jaw with a handkerchief. In addition, the Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy is moved from near the end of Act II to near the beginning of the second act, just after the Sugar Plum Fairy makes her first appearance. To help the musical transition, the tarantella that comes before the dance is cut. In the 1993 film version of the Balanchine version, just as in the telecast of the Baryshnikov one, the Miniature Overture is cut in half, and the opening credits are seen as the overture is heard. The film's final credits feature a reprise of the Trepak and the Waltz of the Flowers.

• George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker at the Balanchine Trust website
• Balanchine Catalogue Archive at The George Balanchine Foundation