Mariinsky Theatre

This guide to the Mariinsky Theatre reconstructs December 1892, when Saint Petersburg's audience grew restless waiting through two hours of dancing children and toy soldiers for a ballet premiere: The Nutcracker. It follows choreographer Marius Petipa's illness, his assistant Lev Ivanov's uncredited work finishing the staging, and the critics who called the result confused and unfaithful to the fairy tale behind it. Look up at the gilded, horseshoe-shaped hall, rebuilt after a fire by architect Alberto Cavos.