The Nutcracker (Russian: Щелкунчик, English: Shchelkunchik), Op. 71, is a fairy-ballet in two acts, three tableaux, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, composed in 1891–1892, and based on The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (German: Nußknacker und Mausekönig), a story by E. T. A. Hoffmann (1816). Alexandre Dumas’ adaptation of the story was set to music by Tchaikovsky (after the libretto of Marius Petipa) and has become the most popular ballet performed around Christmas time. It is appealing to children and adults alike and has been a standard yearly feature of theatres in many cities. A selection of eight of the more popular numbers from the ballet was made by the composer, forming The Nutcracker Suite, designed for concert performance. The titles of the ballet (simply The Nutcracker) and the suite (The Nutcracker Suite) are frequently confused.

Tchaikovsky composed the ballet in 1891–1892, but he was unsatisfied with it and considered it to be one of his less successful pieces.

The first performance of the ballet was held as a double premiere together with Tchaikovsky’s last opera Iolanta on December 6/18, 1892, at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, Russia. The ballet was conducted by Riccardo Drigo and choreographed by Lev Ivanov. However, this performance had just limited success.

The current popularity of The Nutcracker is due in part to Willam Christensen, former Ballet master of the San Francisco Ballet, who imported the work to the United States in 1944. The success of the ballet and George Balanchine’s choreography for his own 1954 version created a winter tradition of Nutcracker performances in the United States.

Ok, so on to where you should hunt for tickets. The box office is always a good place to start, but tickets sell out fast so here is where you should look to find just to the tickets you want:

1. First, check out these ticket vendors for pricing:

2. Next come back and check our favorite vendors:

We Have Seats has tickets starting at $220
Stubhub is coming in at about $211
TicketsNow has good seats too

You ought to find what you need between all of these choices.

Happy mouse (king) hunting.