The original Nutcracker, written in 1816 by E.T.A. Hoffman, was a morbid story not fit for children to read. Alexander Dumas revised it into a children's story about a little girl named Clara and what happened to her at Christmas time when she received the gift of a nutcracker doll, a popular children's toy at the time, from a beloved godfather. On Christmas Eve she had a dream in which many of her toys became lifesize. There was a beautiful princess in the story who was cursed to be forever ugly by a Mouse King's evil mother. The only way the curse could be lifted was for a handsome man to crack a hard nut in his teeth and then deliver the kernel inside to the princess to eat. When this happened, the princess immediately became beautiful, but at the same time, the man became very ugly with elongated features like those of a wooden nutcracker. The Rat King battled the Nutcracker and Clara came to the rescue by killing the Rat King. The Nutcracker then turned into a handsome prince who took Clara away to his magnificent palace through an enchanted land of the Snow Queen, magical Snowflakes, and Candyland -- everything dear to the heart of a little girl. When she awoke from the dream, Clara was saddened that the prince was gone, but found herself under the Christmas tree surrounded by friends and family all looking forward to a happy Christmas.
Petr Ilich Tchaikovsky was commissioned to write the music for The Nutcracker Ballet which debuted in Moscow on December 17, 1892. It was not performed outside of Russia until 1934 when it appeared in England and then in 1940 in the United States. A new staging was created in 1954 which became the Nutcracker most American audiences came to know.
