The nutcracker, Yacobson Ballet, 2015

Photograph of The Nutcracker, performed by the Yacobson Ballet in January 2015 on the stage at the Opéra de Massy. Choreography by Vasily Vainonen to the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and libretto by Marius Petipa and Vasily Vainonen. Costumes and set by Vladimir Firer and Aleksandr Khramtsov. In Act Two, when everyone is abed and the clock chimes midnight, Clara hears the sound of mice in the parlor. She gets up and discovers that bizarre things are happening. She feels as though she is shrinking until she is as small as a toy. She sees an army of mice, led by a king, approaching the Nutcracker and surrounding it. The Nutcracker calls on Fritz's toy soldiers for aid, but it looks like the mice will overwhelm them.