Performer: Dawid Trzensimiech

Prokofiev's score is reordered, the choreography is contemporary, characters are missing, and each of the three main scenes is set during a different 20th-century time period... yet, to a certain extent, it works.

Christmas must be nearing when that traditional fare of sparkle, excitement and the surging score of The Nutcracker bursts in full flood onto the world’s ballet stages. Originally created in 1891 by Marius Petipa for the Mariinsky Theatre, the ballet has become the annual bread-winner for most companies (albeit in various versions), guaranteeing full houses and happy customers.