The Nutcracker Summary: The Story Behind the Christmas Ballet
Alexandre Dumas published The Tale of a Nutcracker in 1844. It is a retelling of E. T. A. Hoffmann's 1816 short story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. In 1892 Dumas's version became the basis for one of the best known ballets in the world, Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker.
A short note before the summary. The outline below follows the original 1892 ballet libretto by Marius Petipa, which he based on the Dumas adaptation. Names shift between versions. In Hoffmann's story the girl is Marie Stahlbaum, and Clara is the name of her doll. In Dumas she is Marie Silberhaus. Many stage productions call her Clara, and that is the name used here.
What it is about
It is Christmas Eve in Nuremberg, Germany. A family and their friends gather in the parlour to decorate the Christmas tree. Once it is ready, the children are called in and the party begins with presents.
When the owl-topped grandfather clock strikes eight, a mysterious guest arrives. This is Drosselmeyer, a councilman and magician who is also Clara's godfather. He is a gifted toymaker too. He brings four lifelike dolls that dance for the company before they are put away for safekeeping.
He has one more gift: a wooden nutcracker doll. The other children ignore it, but Clara loves it at once. Her brother Fritz accidentally breaks it. Clara is heartbroken until Drosselmeyer mends it.
That night Clara creeps back to the parlour to check on her nutcracker. The clock strikes midnight. Drosselmeyer is perched on top of it. Mice pour into the room, the tree grows to a dizzying height and the nutcracker grows to life size. Clara finds herself caught in a battle between gingerbread soldiers and an army of mice led by their king.
The nutcracker leads the gingerbread men, who are joined by tin soldiers. Dolls act as doctors and carry away the wounded. The seven-headed Mouse King closes in on the injured nutcracker. Clara throws her slipper at him. The distraction gives the nutcracker the moment he needs to stab the Mouse King.
The mice retreat. The nutcracker becomes a human prince and leads Clara through a moonlit pine forest where snowflakes dance around them. The first act ends as they set off for his kingdom.
The main characters
Clara (Marie in Dumas and Hoffmann) is the young heroine. She is the only child who cares for the plain wooden nutcracker. At the decisive moment she is also the one who saves him.
Drosselmeyer is her godfather. He is a councilman, a magician and a toymaker. His gift starts the whole adventure, and his appearance on the clock at midnight hints that he has a hand in the magic.
The Nutcracker is a wooden toy who comes to life, leads the fight against the mice and turns back into a prince.
Fritz is Clara's brother. He breaks the nutcracker by accident.
The Mouse King is the seven-headed leader of the mice and the story's villain.
The Sugar Plum Fairy rules the Land of Sweets on the Prince's behalf until he returns.
The themes
Dreams sit at the centre of the story. The ballet is set at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination. Everything that happens after midnight has the logic of a dream. Toys come alive, a tree keeps growing and a kitchen gadget becomes a prince.
Adventure is the other strong thread. A girl at a family party ends up in a battle and then crosses a snowy forest to a kingdom of sweets. Bravery matters here. Clara is a child with a slipper, yet her quick action turns the fight.
There is also a quiet idea about seeing value where others do not. The other children pass over the nutcracker. Clara chooses it, and that loyalty is rewarded.
The ending (spoilers)
Clara and the Prince arrive in the Land of Sweets. The Prince tells everyone how Clara saved him from the Mouse King. A celebration follows in her honour. Chocolate from Spain, coffee from Arabia, tea from China and candy canes from Russia all dance. Marzipan shepherdesses play their flutes. Mother Ginger's children, the Polichinelles, tumble out from under her huge hoop skirt. Flowers perform a waltz. The Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier dance to close the night.
After a final waltz the Sugar Plum Fairy kisses Clara goodbye. She leads Clara and the Prince to a sleigh drawn by reindeer, and they fly away waving to the crowd. In the original libretto the closing image is a large beehive with flying bees guarding their riches. Later productions changed this. In Alexander Gorsky's version and those that follow it, Clara wakes beside her nutcracker and dances in memory of her dream.
Why it still matters
The story's long life owes a great deal to Tchaikovsky. His ballet was first choreographed by Marius Petipa, assisted by Lev Ivanov. At first the full staged ballet was less successful than the 20-minute Nutcracker Suite, which Tchaikovsky had premiered nine months earlier. It grew popular in later years.
Since the late 1960s many ballet companies have danced it, especially in North America. Major American ballet companies earn around 40% of their yearly ticket revenue from it. The score is one of Tchaikovsky's most famous works and is known for its use of the celesta. It has also been used in several film adaptations of Hoffmann's story.
For readers, Dumas's tale is the link in that chain. It sits between Hoffmann's original and the ballet that made the Nutcracker part of Christmas for audiences around the world. It suits anyone who knows the ballet and wants the story behind it, and families looking for a Christmas Eve fairy tale about a brave child and a world that opens up after midnight.
