The Nutcracker by Balanchine, music by Tchaikovsky
Megan Fairchild, Joaquin De Luz, Adam Hendrickson... – The New York City Ballet
Cast
Thomas A. Lemanski — Stage director
Karinska — Costume director
Mark Stanley — Lighting
Rouben Ter-Arutunian — Stage sets
Megan Fairchild — The Sugarplum Fairy
Joaquin De Luz — Herr Cavalier
Adam Hendrickson — Herr Drosselmeier
Program notes
The legendary artistic director and choreographer of the New York City Ballet George Balanchine first plied his considerable talents to Tchaikovsky’s beloved ballet The Nutcracker in 1954, creating a new staging based on Alexandre Dumas’s version of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s 1816 tale The Nutcracker and the Mouse King notable in particular for incorporating more child dancers than ever before. The staging has since become the most revived and imitated version of the ballet in the United States, and in December 2011 filmmaker Alan Skog filmed the New York City Ballet’s annual revival of Balanchine’s 1954 version. Honored with an Emmy Award nomination in 2012, Skog’s film captures a truly compelling performance of Balanchine’s classic choreography, with music director Fayçal Karoui leading the New York City Ballet Orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s timelessly enchanting score.
Photo: © Paul Kolnik
