THE NUTCRACKER

This provides the same rush of warm Christmas nostalgia you get unpacking the much-loved baubles you hang on your tree year after year. Yet this ballet loses not a snowflake of its magic regardless of how many times you see it.

The Royal Ballet’s latest adaptation of Tchaikovsky’s haunting Victorian score is one of the best yet, telling the tale of Clara’s gift of the Nutcracker, and their crazy journey into the Sugar Plum Fairy’s ethereal kingdom. Perfection.

London, The Royal Opera House, until January 15