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.

The company offers its annual performance of The Yorkville Nutcracker, set in 1895 New York. This year once again features guests Abi Stafford and Ask la Cour—both of whom have been New York City Ballet principals—as the Sugar Plum Fairy and her cavalier; Maximilien Baud and Therese Wendler perform the Snow Pas de Deux.

Moscow Ballet's take on Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, choreographed by Stanislav Vlasov, departs from the standard version with a second act that takes Masha and the Prince to the Land Of Peace and Harmony instead of the traditional Sugar Plum Fairy. Its centerpiece is "Dove of Peace," in which two performers play a single bird with a wingspan of 20 feet.

NYTB presents a family-friendly, hour-long Art Nouveau version of the holiday ballet, complete with clockwork elves and an owl that flies over the audience.The set design is by Gillian Bradshaw-Smith and the costumes by Sylvia Taalsohn Nolan.

With its 1970s 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.