Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • The Independent

    How The Nutcracker became the most popular ballet in the world – and a holiday colossus

    by Clémence Michallon Dec 24, 2023 5 minutes
    Source: Getty/Erin Baiano

    It’s Christmas Eve. A girl is given a wooden nutcracker. She falls asleep; suddenly, she’s transported into another world, where toys are as tall as humans, mice rebel against their king, and flowers are free to waltz. Every December, the story gets told anew: At dance companies around the world, Nutcracker season whirls in.

    The Nutcracker is one of the most popular ballets in the world. It’s at the Royal Opera House in London, at the Joffrey in Chicago, at the Opéra Bastille in Paris. It’s at an untold number of smaller companies around the US and abroad. In New York City, more than 100,000 people each year attend New York City Ballet’s famed production of The Nutcracker, staged and choreographed by George Balanchine.

    Some love . Others are sick of it. Regardless, it endures. At City Ballet, it has been an annual event since

    You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

    More from The Independent

    The Independent4 min read
    Erik Ten Hag Is Out Of Excuses – Manchester United Are Just A Mid-table Team
    The last rites were administered by Aston Villa. Perhaps it was fitting that, just as Manchester United did five hours earlier on Saturday, Unai Emery’s side did it while losing a lead. But their draw against Chelsea made the obvious a mathematical c
    The Independent1 min read
    London Horses – Live: Health Update Issued On Return Of Household Cavalry Horses As Quaker ‘Not Looking Good’
    The Household Cavalry horses that did not sustain serious injuries after they bolted through London will return to duty in due course, the Army said. One of the five horses that rampaged through central London has had their condition described as “no
    The Independent5 min read
    Moving House? How To Tackle A New Garden
    When Gardeners’ World presenter Frances Tophill moved to her two-bedroom stone cottage in Devon, she inherited the biggest garden she had ever owned, at 9m x 10m, with a little lawn, a rose archway, a small pond and a wood store. There, she has creat

    Related Books & Audiobooks