The Nutcracker and the Mouse King: A BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisation

Tony Robinson stars in this BBC Radio full-cast dramatization of E.T.A. Hoffmann's renowned Christmas story, which inspired Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker. It is Christmas Eve, and young Mary and Fred are opening presents from their godfather, Drosselmeier the toymaker. Mary's favorite gift is a nutcracker soldier, and she is disappointed when his jaw breaks on a particularly hard nut. She puts him away carefully, promising that Drosselmeier will mend him - and at that moment he seems to come alive. Surely she is just imagining things? But as the grandfather clock begins to chime midnight, all her toys spring to life Led by the Nutcracker, they rush into battle with an army of mice who emerge from beneath the floorboards - including the seven-headed Mouse King. Hoffmann's classic children's tale is adapted by Brian Sibley (who also dramatized The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia for radio). Starring Tony Robinson as the Nutcracker, Edward de Souza as Drosselmeier, Eric Allen as the Mouse King, and Angela Shaftoe as Mary, it is sure to delight fans of Tchaikovsy's famous ballet - and anyone who loves the magic of a good fairy tale.

Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, better known as E.T.A. Hoffmann, was a German Romantic author of fantasy and horror, a jurist, composer, music critic, draftsman, and caricaturist. His stories form the basis of Jacques Offenbach's famous opera, The Tales of Hoffmann, in which Hoffman appears (heavily fictionalized) as the hero. He is also the author of the novella The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, on which the famous ballet The Nutcracker is based. Brian Sibley is an English writer. He is the author of over 100 hours of radio drama and has written and presented hundreds of radio documentaries, features, and weekly programs. He is widely known as the author of many movie "making of" books, including those for the Harry Potter series and The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies.