Plot Summary:This is a revival of a production first staged in Russia in 1934, before the complete "Nutcracker" was ever performed in the United States. It was choreographed by Vassili Vainonen, and was, from several accounts, highly influential. Despite what a user review says about this production, there are no real children in it; all the boys, including Masha's brother Fritz, are played by adult women in male drag. The costumes are from the 1954 revival of the Vainonen production. Mikhail Baryshnikov borrowed many of Vainonen's ideas for his famous staging of the ballet, such as the puppet show at the Christmas Party in Act I. Like Vainonen and another choreographer before him, Baryshnikov borrowed the idea of having the Nutcracker and Clara (Masha in this case) played by adult dancers rather than children, and letting them dance the final Pas de Deux instead of it being danced by the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier, who do not appear in this version. Vainonen's idea of Masha touching the ...
