Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker - Australian Ballet - Graeme Murphy (1994)

This is no ordinary Nutcracker; it is a quintessentially Australian reinterpretation created by the incomparable Graeme Murphy, who was for many years the driving spirit of the Sydney Dance Company. It is a reinterpretation that celebrates the history of ballet in Australia, and of the Australian Ballet itself with its links to the great Russian ballet tradition. In this version, Clara is not a child but a frail Russian ex-ballerina, reliving her illustrious career on a hot summer night in Melbourne, and looking back on her St Petersburg days with a group of her fellow expatriate dancers. In the course of this career we see child Clara on her opening night, Clara at the height of her career, and the older Clara looking back. – Australian Observer

**Note: This is a contemporary Australian interpretation of the Nutcracker, so don't expect to see the norm.

Recorded live at the Arts Centre, Melbourne, Australia, 22 September 1994.
Produced for television in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporating, DVD released in 2006.