By Richard Lutz

Hey, it’s Christmas.

Well, actually, it’s December. But who’s counting when you have online shopping to do, kids’ wishes to fulfil, crowds in shopping malls to avoid?

And, if it’s Christmas (and see above for my meta-sociological analytics), it must be time for The Nutcracker Ballet.

Dancing sugarplums, Yuletime cheer,  battling mice, happiness in leaps, bounds and tinsel, Victorian households that hardly exist except in someone’s tidy imagination.

This year it’s at the Birmingham Hippodrome thanks to the city’s Royal Ballet and the production delivers the Tchaikovsky favourite where a lay audience knows at least half the music they picked up somewhere (maybe from a tv advert)  and are happily entertained by the half they don’t really recognise.

The Nutcracker Ballet is, basically, sheer holiday confection, choreographed by Sir Peter Wright.

I’ve seen 6 year olds with their jaws hitting the floor (while still holding their ice cream steadfast) and older folks with a trickle of mellow tears bubbling down their cheeks.

It’s on ’til the 12th of this month…and you can’t go wrong for the music, the dance and the set design.

*TIX: 0844 338 5000

*brb.org.uk

*0844 338 5000