SYNOPSIS

Our story begins during the holidays at the home of a young girl named Clara Stahlbaum. Her parents, Mr. & Mrs. Stahlbaum, are hosting a lavish holiday party and their maid helps prepare for the festivities. Clara and her mischievous brother Fritz eagerly wait for the guests to arrive.                  

Clara and Fritz greet all of their friends as the party guests spread holiday cheer. They are in the midst of enjoying the party when a mysterious guest appears. Clara’s Uncle Drosselmeyer is a toymaker and a magician, and he casts a spell on them, having them act out an exciting battle.

But Drosselmeyer has a special gift just for Clara. He’s made her a wooden nutcracker doll. All of the other children marvel at it, but her little brother Fritz quickly becomes jealous. He grabs the nutcracker away from Clara, and as they fight over it, the nutcracker breaks! Clara is devastated. Their father scolds the naughty Fritz, but Drosselmeyer and the maid have already mended Clara’s nutcracker. She thanks them and dances with it in her arms, delighted with her present. She stays up very late at the party, and heads off to bed as soon as the guests say goodbye.

During the night, Clara realizes that she has left her nutcracker doll downstairs. She creeps back to the parlor to collect it, and falls asleep by the Christmas tree. She is woken again, this time to a crowd of mice around her! She is terrified, until her Uncle Drosselmeyer appears and scares them away. Around Clara, the familiar shape of the parlor begins to change.

The tree grows larger and larger, and her Uncle Drosselmeyer reveals the other half of his surprise: he transforms her nutcracker doll into a real Nutcracker Prince!

He does so in the nick of time, because the mice return with the fearsome Mouse King. The Nutcracker calls toy soldiers into battle with the mice. The Mouse King kicks the Nutcracker to the floor, and is just about to finish him off when Clara throws her shoe to distract him. With Clara’s help, the Nutcracker is able to defeat the distracted Mouse King. Clara has only a moment to celebrate their victory when she realizes that the parlor has grown cold and that snowflakes are falling around them. Her Nutcracker Prince leads her to the Land of the Snowflakes, where they dance among the drifting, twirling snowflakes.

But the adventure is not over. Next, the Nutcracker leads Clara to the Land of the Sweets, where angels guide the way and bakers bring in delectable treats. The ruler of this land, the glittering Sugar Plum Fairy, gives Clara her magic wand and welcomes the girl to sit on her throne to watch her courtiers dance. There are treats of all kinds, adorable sheep, and even a giant woman with gingerbread children who invite Clara and the Nutcracker to dance alongside them. At the end of the evening, the Sugar Plum Fairy dances with her chivalrous Cavalier. Clara wishes she could stay in this dreamland forever, but the Sugar Plum Fairy and her courtiers wave farewell. Clara wakes up with the nutcracker doll in her arms and her head is filled with the memory of an incredible adventure!