Highlight: Neumeier’s Nutcracker has returned to Munich

When a ballet classic is reborn, it carries within that mixture of nostalgia, expectation and electric tension that only the truly great works can evoke. John Neumeier’s Nutcracker, back in the repertoire of the Bavarian State Ballet since 2 November 2025, is such a work. Performed by a company in peak form — from the principal dancers down to the corps de ballet — the choreography and staging show that this Nutcracker has gained poetic radiance since its Frankfurt premiere in 1971. That the Bavarian State Ballet was named the 2025 "Highlight" (Glanzlicht) of the Year by tanz magazine just days prior proved not to be a gesture of goodwill, but an accurate snapshot of a company in the artistic bloom.

On the threshold between childhood, adulthood and art

Neumeier’s Nutcracker is not a fairy-tale ballet for the Advent season. It is a psychological piece of coming-of-age theatre, full of sensitivity, subtle suggestions and a deep understanding of the high art of classical dance. Marie, only 12 years old, does not experience a sparkling Christmas dream but an inner, profoundly moving initiation into the world of ballet. Jürgen Rose’s set and costume designs — so often the ideal frame for narrative ballets — again offer exactly the atmosphere the story requires.

Lizi Avsajanishvili

The first act takes us into Marie’s birthday celebration. Family life, youth, emerging emotions — everything is held in a delicate balance. At the centre stands Marie, danced by Lizi Avsajanishvili, the young Georgian demi-soloist who lends the role naturalness, emotional depth and, as the part allows, technical elegance. Born in Georgia, she trained was at the State Ballet School "Vakhtang Chabukiani" in Tbilisi and at the Vaganova Academy in St. Petersburg. Her first engagement was at the Mariinsky Theatre in 2020; in 2022 she moved to Staatsballett Berlin. Since the beginning of the 2024/25 season she has been a demi-soloist at the Bavarian State Ballet.

Her Marie is not merely a child. She is a person in transition — tentative, curious, wide-eyed. When she receives the nutcracker, something shifts in her gaze: an awakening, a gentle stirring. And later, when she slips on the pointe shoes Drosselmeier has given her, the girl briefly becomes the dancer she may one day be.

Elisabeth Tonev

Ballerina Louise, Marie’s older sister, is danced by Elisabeth Tonev. Born in Berlin, she grew up surrounded by ballet — both her parents were professional dancers. She trained at the State Ballet School in Berlin and performed in many classical productions of the Staatsballett Berlin during her studies. In 2019 she joined the Junior Company of Dutch National Ballet and in 2020 entered the main company, rising from apprentice to soloist within three years. In November 2024 she received the Konstanze Vernon Prize of the Heinz-Bosl Foundation. For the 2025/26 season she was engaged by Laurent Hilaire as a First Soloist of the Bavarian State Ballet.

Tonev shapes the role of Marie’s older sister as a kind, inspiring figure, embodying sovereign, elegant stage presence — and it is no surprise that her younger sister Marie admires her.

Jakob Feyferlik

The cadet leader Günther, portrayed by Jakob Feyferlik, first appears as the object of Marie’s youthful infatuation. Eventually she falls in love with him, and he becomes her "prince in the dream". Born in Vienna, Feyferlik trained at the ballet department of the Conservatory of his home city and at the Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera. In 2016 he was promoted from the corps de ballet to soloist at the Vienna State Ballet and in 2019 became a principal dancer after a performance of Nureyev’s Swan Lake. In September 2020 he joined Dutch National Ballet as a principal dancer, and at the start of the 2023/24 season he joined the Bavarian State Ballet as a First Soloist.

The lively, courageous and graceful cadet he portrays embodies everything that defines an outstanding and technically brilliant dancer.

Soren Sakadales

Soren Sakadales, only recently promoted to demi-soloist, gives the ballet master Drosselmeier a blend of humour, deliberately heightened elegance befitting the role, and genuine kindness. This mixture — and his academically correct steps, positions and pliés — makes the character so endearing. His movements acquire a different, almost whimsical quality.

Born in California, Sakadales trained at the National Ballet School of Canada, where he began ballet at age 15. In January 2022 he became a scholarship student of the Heinz-Bosl Foundation and, from the 2022/23 season onward, an apprentice with the Bavarian State Ballet in the Bavarian Junior Ballet Munich. At the start of the 2023/24 season he joined the main company’s corps de ballet. On 2 November 2025, following the revival of Neumeier’s Nutcracker, he was promoted to demi-soloist by Laurent Hilaire — everything is still very new.

Dreams – the magical scenes of the evening

When Marie follows Drosselmeier in her dream, a new world opens to her: stage, rehearsal room, training, theatre culture — everything becomes visible, everything transforms. Neumeier shows not only the story of a young girl but also the story and many facets of an art form. The encounter with Günther in the dream is one of the most poetic moments of the evening. Marie and Günther dance a pas de deux that in its delicacy and tension symbolically expresses the theme of awakening.

The Grand Pas de deux in the second act is danced by Günther and Louise — brilliantly so — perfectly bridging the world of theatre and translating the transformation of the dream into reality. After a turbulent finale the theatre world fades — Marie is awakened by her mother. It was all just a dream. She takes her leave from it with a touch of melancholy.

Music, lighting, design

Under the baton of Azim Karimov a musical interpretation emerged that maintained a balance between energy and lyrical breadth. Tchaikovsky’s music sounded not sentimental but narrative. When Marie awakens at the end and her dream recedes into reality, a trace of the insight that accompanies every step into adulthood lingers in the air: art remains — even when the dream dissipates.

The first soloists shone, the demi-soloists impressed enormously. An evening that demonstrated that the Bavarian State Ballet is, indeed, the "Highlight" of 2025.

Information:

Performance on 8 November 2025 as part of the UNICREDIT OPENING FESTIVAL

Choreography and staging: John Neumeier

Scenery and costumes: Jürgen Rose

Musical direction: Azim Karimov

Marie: Lizi Avsajanishvili

Louise: Elisabeth Tonev

Günther: Jakob Feyferlik

Drosselmeier: Soren Sakadales 

Premiere at the Bavarian State Ballet: 5 February 1991

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Text: Bettina Krogemann