The Nutcracker Score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Choreography by Helgi Tomasson

Principal Dancers Uncle Drosselmeyer - Darren Smythe Clara - Ellen Parry Nutcracker Prince - Curtis Weiller Snow Queen - Taryn Jones Snow King - Peter Sampson Sugar Plum Faery - Valerie Franks Genie - Samantha McKenzie Chinese Man - Nick Tan Russian Lead - Nischa Ivanov Grand Pas De Deux Ballerina - Claire Morris Grand Pas de Deus Ballerino - Dennis Mitchell Corps de ballet - Ballet Students of the Black Cat Dance Studios

Act I:

Scene 1: The curtain rises on the interior of a clock and toy-making shop. Behind a counter covered with beautifully wrought clocks and toys stands a man, Uncle Drosselmeyer, with a patch over his right eye. He is wrapping a large Nutcracker soldier in a Tiffany-blue box dotted with stars. He finishes wrapping the soldier and goes to turn the sign in the window from "Open" to "Closed". Just as he does so, a mother and daughter enter and the daughter purchases a last-minute gift - a beautiful mantel clock in gold tones. Uncle Drosselmeyer escorts them to the door and exits the shop.

Scene 2: Against the backdrop of a group of "painted ladies" - San Francisco's grandly elegant Victorian row houses - is a street scene: a woman selling flowers from a wicker basket, men making deliveries, including a large fresh-cut Christmas tree and a goose, a police man chatting with a governess with a pram. A small group of children skip past the police man and enter a house, excited chatter following them. Uncle Drosselmeyer enters the scene, carrying the Nutcracker. He purchases a flower from the girl and delivers it to the governess before he, too, enters the same house as the children had just gone into and disappears.

Scene 3: Inside the Stahlbaum house, a Christmas Eve party is taking place. There is an enormous tree in the corner of the room and Herr Stahlbaum is lighting the tree as the curtain rises on the scene. Everyone is dressed in their finest clothing and there is chatting and sipping of mulled wine.

Clara Stahlbaum descends the staircase, followed by her brother, Fritz, and a group of other children. As soon as the children are present, Frau Stahlbaum arranges them into couples and they dance for the adults. After they are finished, the Stahlbaum's maids collect them and distribute presents - tin soldiers and dolls and dolls houses. Clara receives a beautiful wind-up ballerina and Fritz is given a drum. While the children play, the adults dance themselves, with Herr Stahlbaum dancing with his daughter.

When the dancing ends, Uncle Drosselmeyer enters and greets the family and guests. Then he gathers up the children and performs some magic tricks for them. Soon he brings out a large box, out of which springs a jack-in-the-box. He dances for the children, until he winds down and the boys drag him off to play with. Another box appears, this time with a clockwork ballerina inside. She performs until she winds down and the girls fawn over her.

Uncle Drosselmeyer then unveils the Nutcracker and places him inside a third box. After this box is opened, the Nutcracker is now life-sized and performs a militaristic dance for the children. He returns to the box and becomes the Nutcracker doll once more, which Uncle Drosselmeyer gives to Clara. Fritz attempts to take it from her and the doll is broken in the scuffle. Uncle Drosselmeyer fixes him with his handkerchief and the children are ushered off to bed. The guests leave and the house goes quiet and dark.

Scene 4: Clara appears just as the clock strikes midnight. She finds the Nutcracker and falls asleep holding him on a divan near the fireplace. The jack-in-the-box and clockwork ballerina appear and then Uncle Drosselmeyer does as well. He removes the handkerchief from the Nutcracker, revealing him whole and hardy once more.

Then Uncle Drosselmeyer makes everything in the room - the tree, the hearth, the staircase and presents - grow in size...or perhaps he makes Clara shrink to the size of a doll.

Clara awakens and sees a group of mice appear. The mice harass her, until the Nutcracker calls in tin soldiers. The Mouse King soon arrives and a battle between the mice and the soldiers ensues. There is a cannon and cavalry and it appears as though the mice are winning, until a group of soldiers led by Clara bring in a mouse trap. The Mouse King steps into the trap and is defeated, but not before he strikes a death-blow to the Nutcracker, who falls to ground.

Clara and Uncle Drosselmeyer rush to his side. Uncle Drosselmeyer revives him and he removes his helmet - to reveal the Nutcracker Prince! Clara and the Prince share a brief dance and then Uncle Drosselmeyer leads them into the Snow Kingdom.

Scene 5: The Snow King and Queen and their attendants appear and offer the use of their horse-drawn sleigh to Clara, the Prince and Uncle Drosselmeyer. As the curtain falls on Act One, the trio is riding the sleigh into the realm of the Sugar Plum Faerie.