The Nutcracker

There’s nothing like a traditional Nutcracker to get you in the mood for the festive season. And there’s no traditional Nutcracker as magical as Peter Wright’s.

The artistic director of Birmingham Royal Ballet has created a gold-standard production of this beloved party piece, remaining faithful to the feel of the 19th-century original. Tchaikovsky’s last great score for ballet, with its lively motifs and bewitching melodies, draws us into the story of Clara, a young ballet student celebrating with her family on Christmas Eve. When the clock strikes twelve, we enter the realm of dream … and Clara is whisked to the Land of Sweets in the arms of her Nutcracker Prince.

Veteran designer John F Macfarlane exquisitely evokes the world of this picture-perfect ballet: whirling snowflakes, crackling fires, band-box soldiers, a Christmas tree that grows until it brushes the ceiling and a Sugar Plum Fairy in luscious candy-floss pink.

With the holidays around the corner, there’s no better way than The Nutcracker to rediscover the childlike joys of the season, or to create your own family tradition.