Synopsis

Act One:

It’s Christmas Eve at the Stahlbaum family, family and friends decorate the Christmas tree together and the children joyfully open their presents. At the stroke of eight o’clock, a mysterious figure enters the room. It is Drosselmeyer, Clara’s godfather, a magician and talented toymaker. He has four lifelike dolls who perform a dance, the children watch in admiration. Then the dolls disappear but Drosselmeyer has another gift for them: a wooden nutcracker doll. The children are disappointed and ignore the Nutcracker. Except for Clara, she immediately likes the doll. Clara’s brother Fritz deliberately breaks the nutcracker, Clara is very sad. Clara cannot sleep at night, she goes to the living room to look for her nutcracker. When she finds him, the clock strikes midnight and she sees Drosselmeyer sitting on top of the grandfather clock. Suddenly the room fills with mice, the Christmas tree shoots up and the nutcracker doll grows to human size. Before she realizes what is happening, Clara finds herself in the middle of a battle between an army of gingerbread soldiers and mice. Led by the Mouse King, the mice eat the gingerbread soldiers. The Nutcracker sends reinforcements in the form of tin soldiers and dolls. When the Mouse King approaches the still injured Nutcracker, Clara intervenes by throwing her slipper. This distracts the Mouse King and the Nutcracker is able to stab him. The mice retreat. After the mice are gone, the Nutcracker turns into a handsome prince. He takes Clara to the forest, where the snowflakes dance around them. Together they head towards the prince’s kingdom.

Act Two:

Clara and the Prince travel to Candy Cane Land, where the Sugar Bean Fairy rules awaiting the Prince’s return. The Prince tells the Sugar Bean Fairy how Clara saved him from the Mouse King. In honor of the young heroine, delicacies from all over the world celebrate: chocolate from Spain, coffee from Arabia, tea from China and candy canes from Russia. They bring national dances. They are followed by Danish sheep herders, the ginger mama and her children and waltzing flowers. Finally, the Sugar Bean Fairy and her page bring a pas de deux. The candy brings a final waltz. The Sugar Bean Fairy escorts Clara and the Prince from their throne and takes the two to a reindeer-drawn sleigh. Clara and the Prince leave with the sleigh and wave to all their subjects.