Dancers: Koko Bamford, Luiza Bertho, Kira Hilli, Beatriz Kuperus, Arianna Maldini, Alexandria Marx, Sebia Plantefève-Castryck, Laura Rosillo, Lore Zonderman | Photo: Hugo Thomassen Classic for the festive period Choreography Toer van Schayk and Wayne Eagling Music Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Set and costume design, and artistic supervision Toer van Schayk Lighting design Hans-Åke Sjöquist Musical accompaniment Dutch Ballet Orchestra conducted by Johannes Witt Nieuw Amsterdams Children’s Chorus (part of Nieuw Vocaal Amsterdam) Performance for schools We offer an exclusive school matinee for primary school students. See: operaballet.nl/en/ school-performances Main sponsor Junior Company Partners Junior Company Whereas an annual visit to a Nutcracker production was initially an Anglo-Saxon custom, in recent years Dutch audiences, too, have fervently embraced this festive family tradition. Following last year’s huge success – ticket sales went through the roof – we’re presenting our version of this magical Christmas ballet once again this season. It immediately makes the dark days look a lot brighter. What’s more, December without Nutcracker is like a Christmas tree without a tree topper, or like St Nicholas without Pete. Dutch fairy tale The two aforementioned figures also appear in The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. That’s because Van Schayk and Eagling have set their version not in a small German town on Christmas Eve – as in the original story by E.T.A. Hoffmann – but on the eve of St Nicholas in Amsterdam, around 1810. St Nicholas gives Clara, the younger daughter of the Staalboom family, a nutcracker doll. When she falls asleep after the party, she dreams that her Nutcracker Prince comes to life and has to fight an army of mice. Reality and fantasy mingle together and the audience is drawn into a magical world. Feast for the eyes Van Schayk not only choreographed a great deal of the ballet, but he also thought up the concept and designed the delightful sets and costumes. In doing so, he was inspired by the over seven hundred drawings in the ‘diary’ of Christiaan Andriessen (1775-1847), which sketches an amusing, almost photographic picture of domestic life in Amsterdam at the time. Pure magic for young and old The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, by Toer van Schayk and Wayne Eagling, has captured countless hearts since its premiere in 1996. Skaters swirling over a frozen Amsterdam canal, a party in a drawing room that transforms into a snowy forest, and a colourful voyage around the world in a magic lantern: they are scenes that enchant both adults and children, time after time. Premiere 12/12/2025 Subsequent performances: 14*, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21*, 23, 24*, 25*, 27*, 27, 29*, 30*, 30, 31* December 2025, 1*, 2* January 2026 | Curtain-up: 20:15 / *14:00 | Ticket sales start on: 8 May 2025 | Price Category: A | Location: Main Stage, Dutch National Opera & Ballet “More than twenty years on from its premiere, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King has lost none of its magic. The action is naturalistic and filled with delightful detail” Dance Europe 79
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