The Nutcracker
Cast sheet
Saturday 22 November 2025
|
7.30pm
Exceptional philanthropic support from Royal Ballet and Opera Principal Julia Rausing Trust
Generous philanthropic support from Kenneth and Susan Green, Sandra and Anthony Gutman, Alan and Caroline Howard and Huo Family Foundation
The 2025/26 Royal Ballet Season is generously supported by Aud Jebsen
Production generously sponsored by Van Cleef & Arpels
The role of The Sugar Plum Fairy is generously supported by Mimi and Alistair MacRae-Yan and Alexandra and Sam Morgan
Tonight we celebrate Sir Peter Wright’s 99th birthday and all he has done for the Royal Ballet companies – Kevin O'Hare | Director of The Royal Ballet
Approximate timings
Choreography
Peter Wright after Lev Ivanov
Music
Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
ORIGINAL SCENARIO
Marius Petipa after E.T.A. Hoffmann's Nussknacker und Mausekönig
Production and scenario
Peter Wright
Designer
Julia Trevelyan Oman
Lighting designer
Mark Henderson
Production consultant
Roland John Wiley
Staging
Christopher Carr, Samantha Raine
ARABIAN DANCE ADAPTED BY
Gary Avis
Senior Répétiteur
Samira Saidi
Répétiteurs
Zhan Atymtayev, Sian Murphy
Principal Coaching
Alexander Agadzhanov, Darcey Bussell, Stuart Cassidy, Olga Evreinoff, Isabel McMeekan, Christopher Saunders, Edward Watson, Zenaida Yanowsky
BENESH CHOREOLOGIST
Daniel Kraus
The Sugar Plum Fairy
Fumi Kaneko
The Prince
William Bracewell
Herr Drosselmeyer
Thomas Whitehead
replaces Gary Avis
Clara
Viola Pantuso
Hans-Peter/The Nutcracker
Leo Dixon
Drosselmeyer’s assistant
Harrison Lee
Dr Stahlbaum
Christopher Saunders
Mrs Stahlbaum
Elizabeth McGorian
FRITZ
Milan Yep
Clara’s partner
Joshua Junker
Grandmother
Lara Turk
Grandfather
Philip Mosley
Housekeeper
Barbara Rhodes
Aunts
Caroline Jennings, Clare Lumley
Dancing mistress
Christina Arestis
Captain
Harris Bell
Harlequin
Téo Dubreuil
Columbine
Mica Bradbury
Soldier
Taisuke Nakao
Vivandière
Chisato Katsura
Mouse King
Francisco Serrano
Snowflakes
Artists of The Royal Ballet
Spanish Dance
Amelia Townsend, Brayden Gallucci, Sumina S. Sasaki, Joshua Junker, Lara Turk, Aiden O'Brien
Arabian dance
Melissa Hamilton, Nicol Edmonds
Chinese dance
Caspar Lench, Taisuke Nakao
Russian Dance
Francisco Serrano, Harrison Lee
Dance of the Mirlitons
Chisato Katsura, Charlotte Tonkinson, Marianna Tsembenhoi, Ginevra Zambon
Rose Fairy
Sae Maeda
Rose Fairy Escorts
Harris Bell, Téo Dubreuil, Giacomo Rovero, Joonhyuk Jun
Leading Flowers
Annette Buvoli, Olivia Cowley, Leticia Dias, Mariko M. Sasaki
Flowers
Artists of The Royal Ballet
Actors
Actors of The Royal Ballet
Conductor
Koen Kessels
Orchestra
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Principal Guest Concert Master
by arrangement with Trittico
Vasko Vassilev
Singers
The Schola Cantorum Of The London Oratory School, London Oratory Junior Choir
Director
Charles Cole
Director
Kevin O’Hare CBE
Music Director
Koen Kessels
Resident Choreographer
Sir Wayne McGregor CBE
Artistic Associate
Christopher Wheeldon OBE
Administrative Director
Heather Baxter
Rehearsal Director
Christopher Saunders
Clinical Director Ballet Healthcare
Shane Kelly
Synopsis
Drosselmeyer, a timeless magician and creator of mechanical toys and clocks, was once employed in a royal palace...
Drosselmeyer, a timeless magician and creator of mechanical toys and clocks, was once employed in a royal palace where he invented a trap that killed off half the mouse population. In revenge the wicked Queen of the Mice cast a spell over Drosselmeyer’s nephew, Hans-Peter, which transformed him into an ugly Nutcracker Doll. The only way to break the spell was for the Nutcracker to defeat the Mouse King, thereby committing an act of great bravery, and for a young girl to love and care for him in spite of his awful appearance.
When Drosselmeyer is invited to entertain the guests at a Christmas party that his friends, the Stahlbaums, are giving, he decides that this could well be the opportunity he has been looking for.
Their daughter, Clara, is a little younger than Hans-Peter imprisoned in the Nutcracker, and what better time than Christmas, when the mice are busy stealing the leftovers, for a confrontation between the Mouse King and the Nutcracker? He decides to put the Nutcracker in the tender care of Clara and makes a special Christmas Angel to guide her through her task.
When all the guests have departed and the house is asleep, Clara, in search of the Nutcracker, creeps downstairs and discovers Drosselmeyer waiting for her. He draws her into his own special world of fantasy where time is suspended, and exerts all his powers to transform the living room into a great battlefield and summons the Mouse King. In the ensuing fight between the mice and the toy soldiers the Nutcracker defeats the Mouse King, but only through the intervention of Clara, who, out of compassion, saves the Nutcracker’s life. Transformed into his real self, he dances with Clara and they find themselves in the Land of Snow. Drosselmeyer then sends them on a magic journey to the Sugar Garden in the Kingdom of Sweets where they meet the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Prince.
Freed at last from his imprisonment inside the Nutcracker, Hans-Peter recounts to the Sugar Plum Fairy his great adventure and how Clara saved his life. They then join in a magnificent entertainment put on by Drosselmeyer to honour them for their bravery.
Returning to reality, Clara runs out into the street in search of Drosselmeyer and encounters a strangely familiar young man, while back in his workshop Drosselmeyer prays that his efforts will be rewarded. His nephew returns; the spell has indeed been broken.
— Peter Wright
Further information
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