Act II: Maria Tallchief as the Sugar Plum Fairy

Photo by Frederick Melton, 1954

Gelatin silver print, 8 x 10 in.

Maria Tallchief originated the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®, and is credited with much of the ballet’s success. Tallchief was Balanchine’s third wife (they wed in 1946 when she was 21 and he was 42), but their marriage had already been annulled by the time his version of The Nutcracker was in production. However, Tallchief remained a muse for Balanchine and she worked for New York City Ballet until 1960. Of her most enduring role as the Sugar Plum Fairy, critic Walter Terry wrote, “Maria Tallchief, as the Sugar Plum Fairy, is herself a creature of magic, dancing the seemingly impossible with effortless beauty of movement, electrifying us with her brilliance, enchanting us with her radiance of being. Does she have any equals anywhere, inside or outside of fairyland? While watching her in The Nutcracker, one is tempted to doubt it.”