I think I lasted 20 minutes with the Bolshoi NUTCRACKER: it's sad watching young ladies play litle boys playing soldiers and the Nutcracker looks like a stuffed doll rather than a nucracker. The children in the Balanchine production for City Ballet are brilliant, and if the little boy who plays Fritz, the younger brother, is cute, funny and mean, he makes the first half of Act One a hoot. Balanchine (with Jerome Robbins' help) version created a masterpiece of wit, nostalgia, and beauty, not to mention inspiring the Christmas Nutcracker craze in every ballet company for the past 52 years. Onn the DVD the Bolshoi orchestra was wonderful, even with the luxury of two harps, but the staging and design were pathetic. The only other version I think is wonderful besides Balanchine's is Peter Wright's original production for the Royal Ballet in 1985, but his last production screwed it up.
Now, on to A CHRISTMAS CAROL ballet.
So, it's time to watch