Has the ‘The Nutcracker’ Ballet Been Improved Upon? Yes!

The Joffrey Ballet’s setting of the classic ballet before Chicago’s 1893 Columbian Exposition was a stroke of genius.

Katie Miller

CHICAGO—Too often memorable classics that are reimagined to fit modern sensibilities don’t work. But every once in a while, a traditional creation is reinvented in such a way that makes it better than the original. Such is the case with “The Nutcracker,” which has replaced the Christmas spectacular based on author E.T.A. Hoffmann’s “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.”