Coppelia is based on a story by a German (E.T.A. Hoffman’s The Sandman), was first turned into a ballet by Frenchmen (the music is by Delibes) and staged in Paris with an Italian ballerina, and was then revived and made popular by Russians. This production has choreography by another Frenchman, Roland Petit, and has been brought to London by Moscow’s Stanislavsky Ballet.