Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Collier, Dowell, Royal Ballet Covent Garden

Fantasy and magic are the essential ingredients of The Nutcracker, and Tchaikovsky’s imaginative score helps bring to life the fantasy world of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s enchanting story of "The Nutcracker and The Mouse King." Gennady Rozhdestvensky is the guest conductor who "drew ravishing playing from this most ravishing of Tchaikovsky’s ballet scores." (Guardian) Though the original scenario for The Nutcracker was considered to be fatally flawed, this magical work has survived to become one of the firmest favorites in the ballet repertory. This production by the Artistic Director of Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet, Peter Wright, with the help of Tchaikovsky ballet expert Roland John Wiley, attempts to rescue from far-flung archives surviving evidence of the original Ivanov/Sergueyev staging, combined with some captivating modern stage effects.