Clara's Christmas Dreams is based upon the Dumas (pere) version of The Nutcracker, also used by Tchaikovsky for his ballet. It relates the story of a young girl's journey from childhood to emotional maturity, condensed into a series of dreams brought on by a high fever during a single meaningful evening. She learns some valuable lessons from the beautiful and frightening figures that she encounters and from whom she is saved by the Nutcracker Prince.

With duels to the death and high-spirited action, the show mesmerizes even boys... The lovely score by Tim Starnes dips into martial music, circus tunes and even Celtic influences.

The New York Times

We performed Clara's Christmas Dreams...I worked with a choreographer who has been doing the Nutcracker Ballet for several seasons. In this collaboration we thought we would try something different and Clara's Christmas Dreams really seemed to fit the bill. This presentation was performed by young people with teens playing the adult parts. We added choreography for the Mouse, Snow Queen and Christmas Treats sections. It was the perfect holiday show and very well received. We are considering doing another version next year with adults and children.' - Barb Sturman, Center Church, Windham “The dream sequences interspersed with the “real” illness scenes made sense of the ballet storyline to me. The characters were simple and clear, appropriate for a fable/fairytale. I enjoyed the dialogue in verse... I felt that the play was an enjoyable alternative to the ballet, yet it still holds the potential for lots of spectacular elements. The staging could be as simple or elaborate as production budgets allowed... I found Clara’s fight for her life and character journey stronger than in the ballet...” - Reader testimonial“E. Thomalen's dulcet adaptation of The Nutcracker with music by Tim Starnes … is a traditional take on the famous holiday classic... Many audience members were strongly affected by the musical composition... Clara's Christmas Dreams is a classic tale of a young girl's adventures into a fantasy world. For a traditional Christmas production, this is a charming, sweet, show worth seeing.

Hi! Drama Review

Premiere Production: Clara's Christmas Dreams was first performed Off-Broadway at the St. Clements theatre in New York City on November 26, 2004. It was produced by StageRight Productions and directed by Bruce Merrill.