The Nutcracker

'The Nutcracker'

Is the ballet called 'The Nutcracker' or 'The Nutcracker Suite'? Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet is called The Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky had pulled eight of the ballet's numbers into a collection that would be performed in concerts, which he called The Nutcracker Suite. The excerpts are played out of order: Overture; No. 2 March; "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy"; "Russian Dance"; "Arabian Dance"; "Chinese Dance"; "Dance of the Mirlitons", and "Waltz of the Flowers." When the ballet debuted in Saint Petersburg on December 18, 1892, it was not an instant success. It wasn't until the New York City Ballet's 1954 production of The Nutcracker, choreographed and directed by George Balanchine, that the ballet took flight. Performances soon became a Christmas-season tradition across the US.