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The Nutcracker (Balanchine)
Choreographer George Balanchine's production of Petipa and Tchaikovsky's 1892 ballet The Nutcracker is a broadly popular version of the ballet often performed in the United States. Created for the New York City Ballet, its premiere took place on February 2, 1954, at City Center, New York, with costumes by Karinska, sets by Horace Armistead, and lighting and production by Jean Rosenthal.
With the exception of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, it has been performed in New York every year since 1954, and many other productions throughout the United States either imitate it, or directly use its staging and choreography.
In contrast to other productions of the ballet, Balanchine's production of The Nutcracker uses more children, and give the principal roles of Clara/Marie and Drosselmeyer's Nephew/Nutcracker/Prince to children instead of adults. This also causes the choreography for these characters to be simplified, and they largely only appear in the second act of the ballet as observers, except for the Prince's re-enactment of their fight with the Mouse King.
This production also changes out the Journey Through the Snow pas de deux; instead Clara/Marie faints onto her bed during the Mouse King battle and the bed moves across the stage while the Nutcracker transforms into the Prince, who awakens Clara/Marie and escorts her offstage.
The first televised performance aired on CBS in 1957 on the TV anthology The Seven Lively Arts; while Balanchine's archives refer to it as complete, it was abridged to 55 minutes long. This was the first TV broadcast of any version of the ballet.
CBS's Playhouse 90 broadcast a more complete (but still abridged) version narrated by actress June Lockhart, on December 25, 1958; it was the first Nutcracker (and only installment of the entire Playhouse 90 series) broadcast in color. This production featured Balanchine himself as Drosselmeyer.
Excerpts from the Balanchine production were performed several times on several television variety shows of the mid-20th century, notably The Bell Telephone Hour and The Ed Sullivan Show.
The complete Balanchine version was eventually made into a full-length feature film in 1993, and starred Macaulay Culkin in his only screen ballet role, as the Nutcracker, the Prince, and Drosselmeyer's nephew. The film was directed by Emile Ardolino, with narration by Kevin Kline. Ardolino died of AIDS only a few days before the film's release.
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The Nutcracker (Balanchine)
Choreographer George Balanchine's production of Petipa and Tchaikovsky's 1892 ballet The Nutcracker is a broadly popular version of the ballet often performed in the United States. Created for the New York City Ballet, its premiere took place on February 2, 1954, at City Center, New York, with costumes by Karinska, sets by Horace Armistead, and lighting and production by Jean Rosenthal.
With the exception of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, it has been performed in New York every year since 1954, and many other productions throughout the United States either imitate it, or directly use its staging and choreography.
In contrast to other productions of the ballet, Balanchine's production of The Nutcracker uses more children, and give the principal roles of Clara/Marie and Drosselmeyer's Nephew/Nutcracker/Prince to children instead of adults. This also causes the choreography for these characters to be simplified, and they largely only appear in the second act of the ballet as observers, except for the Prince's re-enactment of their fight with the Mouse King.
This production also changes out the Journey Through the Snow pas de deux; instead Clara/Marie faints onto her bed during the Mouse King battle and the bed moves across the stage while the Nutcracker transforms into the Prince, who awakens Clara/Marie and escorts her offstage.
The first televised performance aired on CBS in 1957 on the TV anthology The Seven Lively Arts; while Balanchine's archives refer to it as complete, it was abridged to 55 minutes long. This was the first TV broadcast of any version of the ballet.
CBS's Playhouse 90 broadcast a more complete (but still abridged) version narrated by actress June Lockhart, on December 25, 1958; it was the first Nutcracker (and only installment of the entire Playhouse 90 series) broadcast in color. This production featured Balanchine himself as Drosselmeyer.
Excerpts from the Balanchine production were performed several times on several television variety shows of the mid-20th century, notably The Bell Telephone Hour and The Ed Sullivan Show.
The complete Balanchine version was eventually made into a full-length feature film in 1993, and starred Macaulay Culkin in his only screen ballet role, as the Nutcracker, the Prince, and Drosselmeyer's nephew. The film was directed by Emile Ardolino, with narration by Kevin Kline. Ardolino died of AIDS only a few days before the film's release.