The Nutcracker is the all time favorite Christmas ballet and the most popular ballet among children.  The Nutcracker Ballet is based on the story “The Nutcracker and the King of Mice” written by E.T.A. Hoffman. Although what is seen on the stage today is different in detail from the original story, the basic plot remains the same; the story of a young German girl who dreams of a Nutcracker Prince and a fierce battle against a Mouse King with seven heads.  When Marius Petipa had the idea to choreograph the story into a ballet, it was actually based on a version by Alexander Dumas.   Lev Ivanov was Petipa assistant and finished choreographing the ballet after Marius got ill. 

The music of the Nutcracker was composed by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. An interesting footnote to the score of The Nutcracker is the famous use of the celesta in the Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy. The celesta was a new musical instrument which had just been created by Auguste Mustel.  Tchaikovsky premier in March 1892 an eight part concert of the ballet and become so popular the music score was published even before the opening of the Nutcracker.

December 18, 1892 was the grand first performance of the Nutcracker Ballet at the Maryinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia, with Choreography by Petipa/Ivanov, music by Tchaikovsky, décor by Botcharov, Antoinette Dell’ era as Sugar Plum Fairy, Paul Gerdt as the Prince, Stanislava Belinskaya as Clara, Sergei Legat as the Nutcracker-Prince, and Timofei Stukolkin as Drosselmeyer.

In Panama City we will have presentation in Anayansi Theater, Atlapa, the 27 and 28 of December.  Saturday the 27 the function is a 7:30pm, and Sunday the 28 at 10:30am and 4:30pm.  Tickets can be found at Blockbuster and cost range is from $10 to $50.