Where to see The Nutcracker ballet in NYC

This magical 1954 production, set to Tchaikovsky's incredible score, includes the full New York City Ballet company and two casts of School of American Ballet students, as well as an onstage blizzard and a Christmas tree that grows from 12 to 40 feet. In the end, however, Balanchine's choreography is what holds it all together. It's enchanting.

Austin McCormick and his risqué neo-Baroque dance-theater group Company XIV present a lavish erotic reimagining of the classic holiday tale, complete with circus performers, operatic singers and partial nudity.

With its 1960s setting, comic-book–style art design and cross-dressing lyrical dancers, this is one of the kookiest productions of The Nutcracker. Using the entirety of Tchaikovsky’s composition and including a section from the original E.T.A. Hoffmann story that even the original version of the ballet left out, Mark Morris Dance Group’s annual take is still fresh and very, very fun, especially after a few boozy hot cocoas during intermission.

Tchaikovsky's ballet gets a facelift as rap icon Kurtis Blow MCs a ferocious contemporary reimagining with hip-hop dancers, digital projection and a beat-driven score. 

Choreographer David Parker and his Bang Group reprise their neovaudevillian version of The Nutcracker, a comedic deconstruction of the holiday classic that mixes tap, ballet, contemporary dance and disco. The cast includes teen dancers from the Dalton School and the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts.

Conceived by Martha Tornay and directed by Tornay and Victoria Roberts-Wierzbowski, this production sets its Nutcracker in the East Village, where a child and a PTSD-stricken vet visit neighborhood landmarks and learn to heal. Youth performers for the East Village Dance Project, ages 4 to 19, are joined by more than a dozen professional guest dancers and choreographers, including Detroit-based dance artists Shaina and Bryan Baira and New Mexico's Project in Motion.

American Liberty Ballet's annual twist on The Nutcracker preserves Tchaikovsky's score but sets the dreamlike action in New York City. The choreography is by Valerie Mae Browne; Allie Hutchins plays Clara.