The Nutcracker Ballet is based on the story “The Nutcracker and the King of Mice” written by E.T.A. Hoffman in 1816 and revised by Alexandre Dumas in 1844. It is set to the music of composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and originally choreographed by Marius Petipa. The Nutcracker premiered in Saint Petersburg at the Marinsky Theater in December 1892. Its first United States performance was in 1944 by the San Francisco Ballet. The ballet did not achieve popularity in the United States until The New York City Ballet first performed George Balanchine’s version of The Nutcracker in 1954. The now-beloved ballet has become a holiday tradition for many families across the country for more than 60 years.