Infamous Tea & Honey show
If you’re stuck in Shanghai this holiday, there’s still time to buy tickets for Shanghai Grand Theatre’s staging of perennial Christmas favorite The Nutcracker. Here are a few facts about the seasonal spectacular:
- The Nutcracker was first performed in St. Petersburg on December 18, 1892.
- It is based on a The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by German writer E.T.A. Hoffman, who was known for his macabre tales.
- Original choreography was created by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, who also worked together on other Tchaikovsky-composed works: they also originated The Sleeping Beauty and completed a popular restaging ofSwan Lake.
- On its debut the ballet was considered a failure by both the audience and its composer, Tchaikovsky.
- Tchaikovsky’s score for the ballet contains one of the first uses of a celesta (a French, piano-like instrument that sounds similar to a glockenspiel) in an orchestral suite. It can be heard in the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.
- There have been myriad film adaptations made, including in a 2010 3D version starring Elle Fanning and Nathan Lane, and a Barbie version in 2001 featuring Tim Curry.
// The Shanghai Grand Theatre is putting on its own production of The Nutcracker Dec 23-25.
