The Nutcracker Ballet - From Obscurity to Household Name

On a cold night in Russia in December in 1892, audience members crowded into a darkened theatre in eager anticipation for the premiere of a new ballet. With music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and choreography by Marius Petipa it was expected to be a successful evening. It was, as it turned out, not. In fact The Nutcracker that we know and love today, that is such a deeply ingrained part of American tradition that it is now a household name, certainly didn't start out that way. Even from the beginning of its conception it wasn't even well loved by its composer. Tchaikovsky himself admitted when he first created the music, the music that we now can't get out of our heads every holiday season because every commercial, supermarket and shopping mall insists on using its music to remind us of getting into the spirit of the holidays, he admitted that he couldn't stand and it had "grow on him."

After the premiere, so-so reviews were given to the dancers and the choreography. Tchaikovsky at least was given some positive reviews for his hard work but even those varied. It did help that as he "settled into his work" as he put it, he did go out of his was to get a hold of a very rare instrument at the time called a celesta which had never been used before by a major composer and is responsible for the tinkling Tinker Bell sound of the Sugar Plum Fairy music that we all know so well. (He apparently kept this instrument secret until the night of the premiere so that no other composer or musician could steal his idea.)

But then that was it for quite some time. Companies continued to perform the ballet to their select upper class audiences over the next forty years or so. And The Nutcracker certainly wasn't anywhere near a household name at any point during this time. Interestingly enough, in the 1930's Walt Disney was quite excited and eager to use music from The Nutcracker in his upcoming film blockbuster Fantasia. Another very popular and celebrated production that today is considered a classic but at the time of its release was considered a failure - that's right Fantasia was considered a flop. And why? One reason was because at the time, American households weren't familiar at all with The Nutcracker music and didn't feel like they could connect or take any interest in it.

Maria Tallchief in New York City Ballet's The Nutcracker

It wasn't until the 1940's and 50's that ballet companies in the U.S. and Europe began to let's say, "give it another go" with The Nutcracker and began presenting newer adaptations of the ballet. The story and characters still remained the same - The Sugar Plum Fairy, Clara, The Nutcracker and all the characters from the Land of Sweets, but there were some adaptations. One of the most famous new productions of The Nutcracker was choreographed by George Balanchine and the Sugar Plum Fairy was danced by Maria Tallchief, the first and I'm afraid at this time still the only, Native American Principal Ballet Dancer to have danced for a major company. Their production together, especially Tallchief's performance, was so popular that it helped to bring The Nutcracker to American audiences both young and young at heart and helped to start the tradition that we know today of this holiday classic.

We take for granted the role The Nutcracker plays in our holiday season every year but in fact, it has had quite a journey to get to the place in our culture that it plays today. Sort of the ugly duckling of ballet you might say. But thank goodness it was finally given its chance to become a swan. As much as it makes me crazy to hear that celesta tinker out another chime of the Sugar Plum Fairy in order to sell chocolates or trucks or really anything every holiday season, it also reminds me of the young children who will be going to ballet this winter, many of whom for the first time, getting experience something beautiful with a lot of magic.

Further note: The classic story for this ballet was adapted from stories from not one but two authors; E.T.A. Hoffman, a German author who also wrote the story for Coppélia, and none other than Alexander Dumas, who wrote The Count of Monte Cristo and other famous stories. Dumas is actually a bi-racial man of French and Caribbean descent. Though I'll also add that most of the time, E.T.A. Hoffman gets most or all of the credit for creating the story that The Nutcracker was based on.

References and Further Reading:

More about the ballet:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nutcracker

More to watch and listen to:

Listen to the Celesta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faHXQugcz9A

Maria Tallcheif: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/maria-tallchief

Maria Tallchief as the Sugar Plum Fairy: https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/galleries/section-4-original-interpreters/item/2987

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tej-M18zGpY

More about the composer, Tchaikovsky:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyotr_Ilyich_Tchaikovsky