The story behind Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker is familiar and straightforward: See, there’s this little German girl named Clara Stahlbaum, whose godfather, Drosselmeyer, is a magical toymaker.

Shiver: [to Clara, as she's attempting to escape the tower] My dear, that doesn't look very secure. Hawthorne: [worried; to Shiver] You can't! It's not gonna work. Clara: It's just the laws of physics ...

Choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov crafted a ballet of the story of young Clara Stahlbaum’s magical Christmas Eve journey to the Land of Sweets guided by the mysterious family friend, Herr ...