Based on Hoffman's fairy tale, "The Nutcracker and the mouse king," the beloved classical ballet takes place one Christmas Eve in a small 19th century Russian town. Marie's brother breaks the doll given to her by her Uncle Drosselmeyer. She falls asleep and has a wonderful dream about the nutcracker's coming to life. The ballet is performed.

This 1976 live performance showcases the incredible Mikhail Baryshnikov, at the peak of his talents, shortly after arriving in the West. His American television debut spotlights solos and Gelsey Kirkland, his first great U.S. partner.

Retellings of six of the world's greatest ballet stories are accompanied by two story CDs read by Juliet Stevenson.

"With a promising career in classical ballet ahead of her, Ellen O'Connell Whittet was devastated when a misstep in rehearsal caused a career-ending injury. Ballet was the love of her life. She lived for her moments under the glare of the stage-lights--gliding through the air, pretending however fleetingly to effortlessly defy gravity.Yet with a debilitating injury forcing her to reconsider her future, she also began to reconsider what she had taken...

A complete and unabridged translation of the fairy tale of a young girl gifted with an enchanted Nutcracker by her mysterious godfather Herr Drosselmeier; later, he relates The Tale of the Hard Nut to Marie, which explains how her Nutcracker came to be.

Presents Rudolf Nureyev's interpretation of Shakespeare's tale of ill-fated young love.