THE NUTCRAKER AND THE MOUSE KING at Teatr Wielki - Opera Narodowa, Moniuszko Auditorium

When Alexandre Dumas (père) finished reading The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E.T.A Hoffmann, he called it “the most beautiful fairy tale”, besides immediately translating it into French. It’s exactly this version that composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky and choreographer Marius Petipa read. And that’s how the famous ballet – probably the
world’s most popular ballet title – was created; its premiere in 1892 at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg instantly won the hearts of the audience, especially the children. The current production is the work of Dutchman Toer van Schayk and Canadian Wayne Eagling (until 2012 director of the English National Ballet), who have moved the
colourful world of Hoffmann’s novel with Tchaikovsky’s music... to old Warsaw. Children cannot imagine Christmas without The Nutcracker. Neither can adults any more.