The Nutcracker is an 1892 two-act "fairy ballet" set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas
tree in a child's imagination. The music is by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, his Opus 71. The plot is
an adaptation of Hoffmann's 1816 short story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.
Act I
On Christmas eve, guests are gathering at the Stahlbaums. In the cozy living room, everything is
ready for the holiday: a decorated Christmas tree stands in the center of the room with a pile of
colorful Christmas gifts underneath. The Christmas tree lights up, and Marie and Fritz, the
Stahlbaum children, cheerfully begin to examine the new toys. Adults have prepared another gift
for the children. In costumes and masks, they put on a fairy-tale performance about a Prince
who, through the fault of evil mice, turns into an ugly Nutcracker. The sympathetic Marie feels
compassion for the poor young man and rushes to protect him, but under the mask, the Prince
turns out to be Drosselmeyer, godfather of the Stahlbaum children. To comfort the
impressionable girl, the godfather presents Marie and Fritz with his gifts – wonderful dolls that
walk and dance as if they were alive. Among them there is a funny and clumsy Nutcracker.
Marie recognizes the wooden man as the Prince from the fairy-tale and immediately falls in love
with him. While playing, Fritz accidentally breaks the toy, but the good girl comforts the
"wounded" Nutcracker and carefully puts him under the tree with the rest of the toys.
The Christmas dinner concludes with the announcement of the engagement of Louise, Fritz and
Marie's elder sister. The loving bride and groom accept congratulations from everyone. There is a
long life ahead of them and it will be full of joyful events! Even the Stahlbaum grandparents
have come to bless their granddaughter: they have carried their love through their whole life and
now they wish the same for the young couple.
The guests have been long gone and the rest of the household has already gone to bed. Marie
sneaks into the dark living room to check on her darling Nutcracker. Suddenly the Christmas tree
lights up with a mysterious light, and the dolls sitting under it come to life. The clock strikes
midnight, and with the final stroke from under the tree mice begin to come out one after another.
The Mouse Queen Mouserinks marches with her retinue, followed by her seven-headed son. The
Mouse Prince grabs the hands of the frightened Marie and tries to drag her away, but the girl
manages to escape. Then the Mouse Queen comes forward: she wants pretty Marie married off to
her son. The Nutcracker at the head of the toy army hurries to help the girl. The brave
commander engages in the battle with the mouse army and pierces the Mouse Prince with a
saber. Enraged, Mouserinks attacks the Nutcracker, but Marie, defending her darling, throws a
pillow at the Mouse Queen.
The defeated mice scatter, and Marie hurries to the motionless Nutcracker. A miracle happens in
front of the girl: a clumsy wooden doll turns into a handsome Prince! The spell that turned the
boy into a Nutcracker is finally broken. Marie and the Prince, already in love with each other,
find themselves in a magical snow-covered glade. At a sign from godfather Drosselmeyer, who
accompanies Marie in her magical vision, snowflakes waltz in honor of the lovers.
Act II
Marie's happy dream continues, but the danger has not passed yet. The insidious Mouserinks is
treading the lovers on their heels, but Drosselmeyer chases her away. Finally, the Prince and
Marie find themselves at the gates of the magical city of Confiturenburg. Here Mouserinks
catches up with the lovers, but the Prince fearlessly fights and defeats the witch.
At a sign from Drosselmeyer, a magical light flashes and the happy couple enters
Confiturenburg. Residents of the magical city solemnly meet our heroes and arrange an
extraordinary celebration in their honor. Chocolate, Coffee, Tea are dancing at the ball, followed
by Father Christmas, Snow Maiden and Snowman, Shepherdesses and Chimney Sweep. In the
general merrymaking, Drosselmeyer begins to dance with the residents of Confiturenburg, whose
dresses and doublet costumes that resemble whipped cream. The engagement of Marie and the
Nutcracker Prince ends with a magnificent waltz…
Christmas night came to an end and with it Marie's magic dream melted away. A new ordinary
day has begun. In the cozy living room, Fritz is playing with the Nutcracker doll, but Marie does
not want to play. Something has changed forever on this magical night. Drosselmeyer comes to
visit, and not alone, but in the company of a strangely familiar young man. This young man, the
godfather's nephew, looks very much alike the Prince from Marie's dream, and she is fascinated
to meet the young Drosselmeyer. Childhood is over, our heroes are on the threshold of youth, and
who knows what lies ahead?
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