History Theatre / TheNutcracker

** ChineseGirl and/or DragonsUpTheYinYang for Tea

There have been [[TwiceToldTale quite a few]] feature-length adaptations as well, many reincorporating elements of the original Hoffman story, and two straight film adaptations of the ballet itself. For those, check the [[DerivativeWorks/TheNutcracker derivative works page]]

** Mother Ginger and her polichinelles don't appear in every production either. The dance normally associated with her is sometimes performed by all the "international" dancers joining together, a group of harlequins, or else the polichinelles just appear without her.

** Even in productions where the children are played by children, Clara/Marie is usually cast around nine to twelve, not seven as she is in the book since the role's dancing demands would be too much for most seven-year-olds.

* AdaptationSpeciesChange: In the Ballet Jörgen production, the Mouse King is a bat. The Act II divertissements are performed by various animals, the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier are reimagined as Lord and Lady Birch and Mother Ginger is a spruce tree. Justified as Act II is set in a forest during the summer rather than the Land of Sweets.

* AdaptationSpeciesChange: In the Ballet Jörgen production, the Mouse King is a bat. The Act II divertissements are performed by various animals and Mother Ginger is a spruce tree. Justified as Act II is set in a forest during the summer rather than the Land of Sweets.

** The Pacific Northwest Ballet version by Stowell and Sendak uses the "Duet of Daphnis and Chloe" during the party scene, taken from the opera "Theatre/TheQueenOfSpades", also by Tchaikovsky.

** The Pacific Northwest Ballet version by Stowell and Sendak uses the "Duet of Daphnis and Chloe" during the party scene, taken from the opera "Threatre/TheQueenOfSpades", also by Tchaikovsky.

** The Pacific Northwest Ballet version by Stowell and Sendak uses the "Duet of Daphnis and Chloe" during the party scene, taken from the opera "Threatre/QueenOfSpades", also by Tchaikovsky.

** The Pacific Northwest Ballet version by Stowell and Sendak uses the "Duet of Daphnis and Chloe" during the party scene, taken from the opera "Queen of Spades", also by Tchaikovsky.

* RecycledSoundtrack: The Balanchine version borrows a now rarely-used entr'acte theme from another Tchaikovsky ballet, ''The Sleeping Beauty'', to bridge the gap between the end of the party and the battle with the mice.

* ShoeSlap: In most versions, Clara/Marie distracts the Mouse King with her thrown slipper long enough for the Nutcracker to kill him with his sword.

** Some versions, like the Marinsky and American Ballet Theatre versions, apply this to the "Waltz Of The Snowflakes" segment, where the snowflakes take on an almost menacing tone and convey the sense that Clara and the Prince are trapped within a potentially fatal snowstorm. [[https://youtu.be/RF7P6UBX_Z8 The Marinsky version]] is this--the lighting of the scene is very dark and the snowflake dancers are clad in black.

There have been [[TwiceToldTale quite a few]] feature-length adaptations as well, many reincorporating elements of the original Hoffman story, and two straight film adaptations of the ballet itself.

* ''Animation/TheNutcracker'' (1973): A Soviet rendition as a MimeAndMusicOnlyCartoon.
* ''The Nutcracker'' (1979): A Japanese stop-motion animated feature produced by [[Creator/{{Sanrio}} Sanrio Films]]. An English-language dub was released the same year through Creator/ColumbiaPictures as ''Nutcracker Fantasy'' and features an unusually starry cast for this era, including Creator/RoddyMcDowall as the title character, Creator/MelissaGilbert as Clara, and Creator/ChristopherLee (who gets to sing two songs!) as Drosselmeyer and three minor characters. The underscore alternates between adaptations of the ballet score, gentle English-language pop songs, and funky Japanese instrumentals. Plus, two ArtShift sequences feature live-action dancers.
* ''Nutcracker: The Motion Picture'' (1986): A filmed version of the 1983 Pacific Northwest Ballet staging of the ballet (which ran from 1983 to 2014), choreographed by Kent Stowell with conceptual, costume, and set designs by Creator/MauriceSendak. Act One is more or less traditional, but Act Two completely jettisons the Land of Sweets in favor of the magically-aged up heroine and transformed Nutcracker being entertained via the servants of a lecherous pasha (whose dancer doubles with Drosselmeyer) in his palace.
* ''WesternAnimation/CareBearsNutcrackerSuite'' (1988): Featuring [[Franchise/CareBears exactly who you think]] re-enacting the story. (A bit of a misnomer, because "Nutcracker Suite" properly refers just to the instrumental selections of music.)
* Creator/LacewoodProductions' 1990 ''WesternAnimation/TheNutcrackerPrince'', with [[Series/TwentyFour Kiefer Sutherland]] in the title role.
* ''The Nutcracker'' (1993): A filmed version of George Balanchine's staging of the ballet performed annually by the New York City Ballet, with Creator/MacaulayCulkin (who had previously danced in the ballet) as the title character .
* ''The Nutcracker'' (1995): A Direct-to-Video film produced by Creator/JetlagProductions and distributed by Creator/GoodTimesEntertainment.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheNuttiestNutcracker'' (1999): A DirectToVideo ChristmasSpecial with Creator/CamClarke voicing the Nutcracker and Creator/JamesBelushi as the Mouse King.
* ''WesternAnimation/BarbieInTheNutcracker'' (2001): DirectToVideo, [[AllCGICartoon CGI-animated]] retelling starring Franchise/{{Barbie}} (Creator/KellySheridan) as Clara, Creator/KirbyMorrow as the Nutcracker, and Creator/TimCurry as the Mouse King.
* ''Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker!'' (2003): A [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] broadcast of Bourne's staging of the ballet, which relocates Clara's home life from a BigFancyHouse to an OrphanageOfFear, and adds some plot to "Sweetieland" by suggesting "Princess Sugar" (the Sugar Plum Fairy) is trying to steal the Prince from Clara.
* Argus Film Studio's 2004 ''Animation/TheNutcrackerAndTheMouseKing'', with [[WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons Wesley Singerman]] and [[Film/{{Airplane}} Leslie Nielsen]] as the eponymous rivals.
* ''Film/TheNutcrackerIn3D'' (2010): Featuring [[WithLyrics original lyrics]] by Creator/TimRice, a purposeful absence of any dance sequences, and incredibly realistic CGI including [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Nazi rats]], all adding up to a catastrophic BoxOfficeBomb.
* ''The Nutcracker Sweet'' (2015): A CGI animated feature starring Creator/DrakeBell as the titular Nutcracker.
* ''Film/TheNutcrackerAndTheFourRealms'' (2018), Creator/WaltDisneyPictures' InNameOnly live-action movie adaptation.

Perhaps most notably, the music from the ''Nutcracker Suite'' was prominently featured in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'', though without any of the ballet characters.

* TimeShiftedActor: Some versions (like the Mariinsky production) will cast a young student as Clara/Marie in the first act, with another, older dancer taking over for the second act, allowing for more complicated dancing.

** The Harlem Nutcracker makes Clara an elderly woman and turns the Land Of Sweets sequence into a flashback. Graeme Murphy's version uses a similar plot device.

* TimeShiftedActor: Due to a more complicated ''pas de deux'' for Masha in the second act, the Mariinsky production will cast an eleven- or twelve-year-old student from the Vaganova Academy as Masha, and another, older student as Princess Masha for the second act. The best students at the Academy will often have played both roles by the time they graduate.

* WackyWaysideTribe: Unless the director makes a very strong effort to avert it, the plot tends to stall once the characters reach the Land of Sweets. ''The Harlem Nutcracker'' mostly averts this; as stated above, this sequence is a chronological flashback through her life -- meeting her husband, marriage, children, etc.

* ''The Nutcracker'' (1993): A filmed version of the ballet performed annually by the New York City Ballet, choreographed by George Balanchine, with Creator/MacaulayCulkin (who had previously danced in the ballet) as the title character .

* ''The Nutcracker'' (1993): A film of the version of the ballet performed annually by the New York City Ballet (choreographed by George Balanchine), with Creator/MacaulayCulkin (who had previously danced in the ballet) as the title character .

* ''The Nutcracker'' (1993): A filmed version of legendary choreographer George Balanchine's traditional staging of the ballet as performed annually by the New York City Ballet, with Creator/MacaulayCulkin as the title character (whom he'd previously played onstage with the company).

''The Nutcracker'' (Russian: Щелкунчик, ''Shchelkunchikis'') is a ballet composed by Music/PyotrIlyichTchaikovsky, based on Creator/AlexandreDumas's adaptation of Creator/ETAHoffmann's ''Literature/TheNutcrackerAndTheMouseKing'', first staged in 1892. Many different versions of it have been made since.

''The Nutcracker'' (Russian: Щелкунчик, ''Shchelkunchikis'') is a ballet composed by Music/PyotrIlyichTchaikovsky, based on Creator/AlexandreDumas's adaptation of Creator/ETAHoffmann's ''Literature/TheNutcrackerAndTheMouseKing'', first staged in 1892.

* ''Nutcracker: The Motion Picture'' (1986): A filmed version of the 1983 Pacific Northwest Ballet staging of the ballet with conceptual, costume, and set designs by Creator/MauriceSendak. Act One is more or less traditional, but Act Two completely jettisons the Land of Sweets in favor of the magically-aged up heroine and transformed Nutcracker being entertained via the servants of a lecherous pasha (whose dancer doubles with Drosselmeyer) in his palace.

* ''The Nutcracker'' (1979): A Japanese stop-motion animated feature produced by [[Creator/{{Sanrio}} Sanrio Films]]. An English-language dub was released the same year through Creator/ColumbiaPictures as ''Nutcracker Fantasy'' and features an unusually starry cast for this era, including Roddy [=McDowall=] as the title character, Melissa Gilbert as Clara, and Creator/ChristopherLee (who gets to sing two songs!) as Drosselmeyer and three minor characters. The underscore alternates between adaptations of the ballet score, gentle English-language pop songs, and funky Japanese instrumentals. Plus, two ArtShift sequences feature live-action dancers.