A lavish production of ballet The Nutcracker choreographed by Rudolf NureyevBallet — 20. November 2025.
The Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb will premiere a new production of ballet The Nutcracker on November 21, 2025. This iconic version by Rudolf Nureyev is one of the most significant and technically demanding interpretations of this work, performed on stages such as the Paris Opera and La Scala in Milan, and is based on the choreography of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, with the timeless music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
The most performed classical ballet in the world is also a symbol of holiday magic, childhood and imagination. The story of a girl named Clara and a wooden doll that comes to life and takes her to a world of dreams and adventures is based on the story by E.T. A. Hoffmann. In Nureyev’s version the plot is adapted after Alexandre Dumas and the center of the dramatic action is transformation: the world of reality overflows into the world of dreams.
The director of the Ballet of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, Massimiliano Volpini, highlights the artistic strength of this production: This is a large-scale production involving a multitude of ballet artists and an exceptionally high level of technical complexity. Our Ballet approached this challenge with great responsibility, but also with enthusiasm. After 21 performances of The Nutcracker, the ensemble will certainly be even stronger, and the audience can expect a performance of exceptional beauty, production-demanding, and artistically very refined, with our top-level ballet ensemble.
The choreographic history of The Nutcracker is rich: since its premiere in 1892 at the Mariinsky Theatre, Petipa and Ivanov's choreography has been reinterpreted by numerous masters; Alexandr Gorsky, Fedor Lopuhov, Vasily Vainonen, Yuri Grigorovich and George Balanchine. The Croatian audience first saw The Nutcracker in Zagreb in 1931, choreographed by Margarita Froman, and over the decades the Zagreb Ballet has performed various versions. Nureyev's new interpretation brings a return to a great tradition and at the same time an aesthetic and technical breakthrough for the ensemble.
As expected, The Nutcracker aroused great interest from the audience this year as well, all performances were sold out in just one day, and the audience will have the opportunity to see as many as 21 performances during the holiday season.
In order to make The Nutcracker accessible to everyone, including those who were unable to get tickets, the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb is organizing a live broadcast of the performance in front of the theater, on a large screen set up on the Republic of Croatia Square, for a third year in a row. Thus, on December 23 at 7.30 p.m., citizens will be able to experience this lavish production live in a festive atmosphere, on the eve of Christmas.
