Alexandre Dumas’s adaptation of E.T.A. Hoffman’s children’s tale, “Nutcracker and Mouse King” was first transformed into a ballet by Marius Petipa and Ivan Vsevolojsky. The choreographers commissioned a reluctant Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky to compose a score under their strict instruction. The ballet debuted in 1892 with little success and remained in obscurity until William Christensen crafted a full production in San Francisco in 1944. Soon other choreographers made their own interpretation and the Nutcracker Ballet became ubiquitous in American cities during the Christmas season. Though there are myriad variations and choreographies of the Nutcracker performing today, my essay will use Loyce Houlton’s “The Nutcracker Fantasy” now entering its 48th year of existence for comparison.…show more content… In fact, if the story were divided into three acts, the ballet would be entirely missing the middle act. However, Hoffman’s tale begins with a simple enough beginning and plot that the ballet is able to convey. The ballet succeeds in catching the small details in Hoffman’s text and communicating them to the audience through music and dance. In the text foreshadowing of the fantastical story to come is also not lost in the ballet as it follows the text closely to develop the story. Though the middle of Hoffman’s story is lost in the ballet, the two are rejoined when Marie and the Nutcracker explore the dream world of candy and marzipan. It is here that Hoffman’s text tries to utilize the power of music and dance to express beauty and the sublime to the reader. Tchaikovsky’s score and the ballet take liberty to deliver a rich beauty that is incommunicable within text, sharing with the audience the Nutcracker Prince and Marie’s blissful experience. The two works independently stand alone, but together provide a fuller experience that neither medium can achieve on its
