Nutcracker Suite

The story of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King was written by E. T. A. Hoffmann. Alexandre Dumas' adaptation of the story was set to music by the composer Tchaikovsky and has become the most popular ballet performed around Christmas time. It is appealing to children and adults alike and has been a standard yearly feature of theaters in many cities.

The story has been published in many book versions including cute charming children's versions. The plot revolves around a little girl who magically shrinks on Christmas Eve and encounters such fascinating characters such as Egyptian and Chinese dolls, house mice, wooden soldiers, and the Sugar Plum Fairy. She is protected all the way by a wooden soldier named the Nutcracker, hence the name.

Tchaikovsky composed the ballet in 1891-1892, but he was unsatisfied with it and considered it to be one of his less successful pieces. Suites derived from this ballet (although the sequence and included movements can somewhat differ they are all called "the" Nutcracker Suite) would nonetheless become very popular on the concert stage, eventually also ending up in Disney's Fantasia.

Because the original ballet is quite long, many modern dance performances make several omissions (adding to the confusion over the suites).