THE NUTCRACKER くるみ割り人形 Music: P. I. Tchaikovsky Length: 45 Minutes

The Story:
It's Christmas at the Stahlbaum home and many guests arrive to celebrate with the family. Clara's godfather, Herr Drosselmeyer, makes magical toys. He entertains the guests with two life-sized dolls that dance around the room. Then he gives gifts to the children, and gives Clara a very special gift of a nutcracker. Her brother, Fritz, is jealous, and grabs the nutcracker and it gets broken! Clara is very upset, so Herr Drosselmeyer repairs the doll before handing it back to her.

Soon after, all the guests leave and the children go to bed. Clara gets up in the night and goes downstairs to get her nutcracker from under the tree.

Suddenly the Mouse King attacks the Nutcracker, but Herr Drosselmeyer appears and mysteriously grows the Nutcracker to the size of a human. The Nutcracker Prince tries to valiantly defend young Clara, but is struck down in the battle. Clara in turn saves her Nutcracker Prince by throwing her shoe at the Mouse King and defeating him.

With the nasty Mouse King out of the way, Clara runs to the Nutcracker Prince. She thinks he is dead but her love turns him into a human and he rises to take her to his fantastic Kingdom. All the inhabitants of the Kingdom bow to her and crown her princess of their Kingdom for breaking the spell of their prince Nutcracker. The inhabitants of the Kingdom and the Sugar Plum Fairy dance for their new Princess.

After having danced with prince Nutcracker himself she says Farewell to all puppets in the fantastic Kingdom. In the next moment she finds herself at home again. Was all this just a dream?

I would highly recommend the ABC to schools wishing to bring the joy of professional ballet to their students without having to transport the kids to a theatre.
Lance Kelly
V-principal
Tokyo International School.

TISはABC Tokyoを迎えることができ、大変嬉しかったです。クリスマス休暇の始まりとして、クルミ割人形はこの上なくうってつけのパフォーマンスでした。クリスチャンとカンパニーの皆さんは完全にプロフェッショナルで、パフォーマンスに参加した多様な子供達と係わり合っていました。私たちの子供（生徒）はコスチュームやカリカチュアに包まれた美しいダンサー達は言うまでもなく、登場人物や色使い、音楽のとりこになっていました。私はABCを生徒達を、楽しく、大変な思いをして劇場に足を運ばせることなく、プロのバレエを見に連れて行きたいと願う学校に高く推薦します。
ランス・ケリー
東京インターナショナル・スクール副校長先生