Ten Ways To Tell If Your ‘Nutcracker’ Is Traditional (And They’re Not Necessarily The Ways You Think)

As Alastair Macaulay points out, changes to the original Tchaikovsky/Petipa scenario have been made ever since the ballet’s 1892 premiere. “Many people crave a traditional Nutcracker, often the one they grew up with. But frequently it turns out that their notion of Nutcracker tradition goes back only to the mid-20th century. … So here are 10 Nutcracker checkpoints to help you work out where your Nutcracker is or isn’t true to the ballet’s heart and (a different thing) its tradition.”