Now, this ballet needs no introduction but if you must give it a tagline: Roll up, roll up! The quintessential Christmas ballet!

I think I’d be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t heard of The Nutcracker and for good reason. The festive season is not complete without parties, choral ooohs and aahhs, snow-capped trees and a little magic. Luckily for you, The Nutcracker has all of these joyful elements wrapped up with (jingle) bells on. Throw in some toys that come to life, deathly duels with a rodent royal family, plenty of energetic leaps and spins and sighs and there you have it.

This is the Strictly Come Dancing of ballets: a whirl of sequins, lifts and fab-u-lous entertainment. All packaged up in a couple of hours, leaving plenty of to seek out some mulled wine and add ‘gorgeous magical Nutcracker/ sugar plum fairy’ to your Christmas list.

The Plot

1st act is the narrative: clock/toy maker (Drosselmeyer) looks wistfully at a portrait of his nephew (Hans-Peter) who has been turned into a Nutcracker by the Mouse King. To be fair, the magician killed half the mouse population when he worked for the Stahlbaums at the Royal Palace so this spell was arguably fair play? Only by killing the Mouse King will be spell be broken. The mice will undoubtedly be out scrounging at the Stahlbaum’s Christmas party, let’s go along and get Hans-Peter turned back into a real boy…

2nd act. Spoiler alert: as a reward for slaying the Mouse King, Drosselmeyer sends the pair off on an adventure to the Sugar Garden in the Kingdom of Sweets. Queue a trip around the world where the dancers represent different international delicacies. Is this world a metaphor for the gluttony that takes place around Christmas time? Has Clara had one too many bucks fizz? Was it all a dream….?

Famous Bits

It is undoubtedly Tchaikovsky’s spine-tinglingly brilliant score which has made this ballet last the test of time. There are so many famous bits, I guarantee you’ll hear at least a few tunes you know.

Waltz of the Snowflakes Act I

Magical to watch from up high (in the amphitheatre which is usually my base) as the dancers weave into snowflake-formations and glide around prettily. A whirring, glittery snowstorm of eighteen glittery ballerinas.

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy Act II

Apart from being a technically difficult solo for the Sugar Plum Fairy and one of the very most sought after roles for a ballerina, it’s arguably the most famous piece of music from the ballet. Take a listen. I think it’s the perfect soundtrack to accompany a midnight raid of the fridge on Christmas Eve.

Impress a date/ your friends

• The story of The Nutcracker started its life in German as a dark fairy-tale by Hoffmann (1816) and was adapted for the ballet and made child-friendly in 1892 by Alexandre Dumas of Three Muskateers and Count of Monte Cristo fame.
• There are loads of versions of The Nutcracker in terms of choreography/ storyline/ production but the one playing at the Opera House at the moment is that of choreographer Peter Wright who’s celebrating his 90th birthday this year.
• The music was composed by Tchaikovsky (Chai–koff –ski) who also composed the scores for the ballets Romeo and Juliet (think: The Apprentice theme tune) and Sleeping Beauty (‘Once Upon A Dream’ from the Disney).
• The music that accompanies the growing of the enchanted Christmas tree in Act I was actually pulled off the cutting floor of the Sleeping Beauty. Love a bit of up-cycling.
• The composer John Williams used the music from The Nutcracker as the inspiration for some of the Home Alone soundtrack. Listen out for bits which sound like: Holiday Flight and Making the Plane.
• Sugar plums. No relation to the fruit, apparently. A sugar plum is one of the oldest sweets which used to be a seed or nut coated in up to thirty layers of sugar and were therefore rather expensive. The process of this sugar coating is called dragée in French and the Sugar Plum Fairy’s name in French is La Fée Dragée so she’s basically the sugar-coated fairy: sugar and spice and all things nice.

Date for your diary

The Nutcracker is being played up and down the country. Here are a few London productions:

The Royal Opera House until 12th January. OK, it looks sold out but try the ROH site on a Friday at 1pm. Each week 49 tickets become available for the following week’s performance, even if it’s sold out. Or call up at 09:00 the day before for last-minute returns.

The Coliseum (home of English National Ballet company) until 7th January.
Or for those of you who prefer a Netflix and chill situation, there’s a documentary on BBC2 at 4pm on Christmas Day to whet your sugar plum appetite. Go on, treat yourself to some glittery joy.