“The Nutcracker. Waiting for a Miracle”
Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Theatre
Moscow, Russia
December 29, 2025 (documentary)
by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf
Of the many special moments in Yuri Grigorovich’s The Nutcracker, there’s one you shouldn’t miss: when the Christmas tree is growing, and Marie’s transformation takes place. Then you need to make a wish. At least, that’s the insiders’ tip from the Bolshoi Ballet’s artists involved in the production.
Grigorovich’s The Nutcracker premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1966 and was performed for the eight hundredth time earlier in December. Perhaps that’s why the Russian Channel One broadcast a one-hour documentary about The Nutcracker at the end of December. The film outlines the plot, provides insight into the music, set, and costumes, and looks at sixty years of performance history, during which nothing changed. Numerous coaches and ballet masters guarantee that Grigorovich’s legacy is preserved and kept alive. “Our profession is passed on from hand to hand, from foot to foot,” Maria Allash told. Regina Nikiforova, who has served the Bolshoi Ballet for sixty-five years, added: “Of course, we look at the records and ask the performers of past years what Yuri Nikolaevich told them. Though taking any liberties isn’t allowed, the individuality of each artist still shines through. Their charisma is what catches the audience.”
The Bolshoi’s doyen, Boris Akimov, narrated the film, his voice wavering between excitement and appreciation. Aged seventy-nine, Akimov’s élan and warmth were as intense as always. Among others, he and the company’s artistic director, Makhar Vaziev, touched on one invariable ingredient in all The Nutcrackers: Tchaikovsky’s music. “There are no other composers whose works are performed thousands of times throughout the world per season,” Vaziev said. However, the Bolshoi’s (and presumably the Mariinsky’s) The Nutcracker is played quicker than elsewhere, as general director Valery Gergiev insists on conducting at exactly the pace Tchaikovsky determined.
Even its aerial shots of Moscow’s Christmas-lit Theatre Square and the fabulous camera work inside the theater make the film a must-watch. It also pays a visit to Moscow’s Choreographic Academy, where the Bolshoi’s principal, Mikhail Lobukhin, substituting 
for Drosselmeier, assisted in the selection of the youngest performer of the production, the student for the role of the Nutcracker doll. “Usually, the doll is just an ordinary toy in the hands of a dancer, and I’m surprised about the solution Yuri Nikolaevich found, a living doll with a unique dancing technique as the leitmotif of the entire production,” Vaziev explained. When Marie’s naughty brother, Fritz, accidentally breaks the doll, it is the springboard for Marie’s magical dream journey. She dreams the sort of dreams that are so strong that they might become true. Something similar happened to Lyudmila Semenyaka as a young girl in Leningrad when she first saw a photo of a ballerina in a tutu: Alla Sizova as Masha in Vasily Vainonen’s version of The Nutcracker. Semenyaka cut out the photo and pinned it to the piano, where it stayed. Twelve years later, in 1972, the twenty-year-old Semenyaka gave her debut as Marie in Grigorovich’s The Nutcracker on the Bolshoi’s stage.
Of the many other dancers who shared their thoughts about The Nutcracker, Denis Rodkin revealed that “When watching the performance, you always expect some kind of miracle in your soul,” and Kristina Kretova admitted to getting goosebumps the moment the Nutcracker toy awakens as a real prince. About the same scene, Vladislav Lantratov said, “You know, love is born, and you just want it. Take Marie very carefully and lean her head onto your shoulder—this is the feeling.”
Love is at the core of Grigorovich’s The Nutcracker, and now and then, the dancers in the main roles fell in love with one another. Such was the case for Artem Ovcharenko and Anna Tikhomirova, for example, who got married in 2016. “At some point during the performance, you touch something sacred that you cannot put into words,” Ovcharenko explained. Sometimes, swearing love to each other on stage spurs real-life romances.
Ekaterina Maximova and Vladimir Vasiliev were already a married couple when they danced the lead roles at The Nutcracker’s premiere in 1966. Their performance is the threshold for today’s generation of dancers. Shortly before stepping on stage, Elizaveta Kokoreva and Daniil Potaptsev were lucky enough to be coached by Vasiliev in a masterclass that ran like a golden thread through the documentary. Kokoreva gave her debut as Marie in 2019, and Potaptsev was about to dance the Nutcracker Prince for the first time. It was a pity that I couldn’t see their performances and missed the live stream on December 31 featuring Kokoreva alongside Dmitry Vyskubenko as the prince.
The live stream of December 2024 can be watched on the Bolshoi Theatre’s vimeo site until January 11.
| Links: | Website of the Bolshoi Theatre | |
| The Nutcracker—live stream December 2024 (online until January 11, 2026) | ||
| The Nutcracker. Waiting for a Miracle—Channel One | ||
| Photos: | 1. | Elizaveta Kokoreva (Marie), Denis Savin (Drosselmeier), and ensemble, “The Nutcracker” by Yuri Grigorovich, Bolshoi Ballet 2025 © Bolshoi Theatre/Damir Yusupov |
| 2. | Artem Ovcharenko (Nutcracker Prince), Mikhail Kryuchkov (Mouse King), and ensemble, “The Nutcracker” by Yuri Grigorovich, Bolshoi Ballet 2025 © Bolshoi Theatre/Damir Yusupov |
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| 3. | Klim Efimov (Nutcracker Prince) and ensemble, “The Nutcracker” by Yuri Grigorovich, Bolshoi Ballet 2025 © Bolshoi Theatre/Mikhail Logvinov | |
| 4. | Ensemble, “The Nutcracker” by Yuri Grigorovich, Bolshoi Ballet 2025 © Bolshoi Theatre/Mikhail Logvinov | |
| 5. | Ensemble, “The Nutcracker” by Yuri Grigorovich, Bolshoi Ballet 2025 © Bolshoi Theatre/Damir Yusupov |
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| Editing: | Kayla Kauffman |
