Cover Story; 'The Nutcracker' in a Nutshell; With so many versions from which to choose, the trick is to find one that embodies the Christmas ballet's core values. Take it from someone who has seen more than her fair share.: [Home Edition]

Sometimes, Christmas arrives looking just like a postcard, and then it gets better and better.

OK, maybe not at your house, but consider "The Nutcracker," in which Clara's fun Christmas Eve party gives way to a midnight fantasy of spectacularly picturesque proportions. Her ordinary tinsel-laden tree expands in a fit of gigantism, while Tchaikovsky's emotionally expansive chords make it seem even more majestic. Snow starts to fall--not the messy kind that clogs roadways but the pristinely floating kind that turns Clara's world into a snow-globe paradise. No one says a word, but graceful dancing speaks volumes about an imaginary world, full of positive pleasures.

Or at least that's what happens when "The Nutcracker" fulfills its destiny. This season in the Southland alone, more than a dozen productions will attempt to deliver on the ballet's holiday promise, from dancing school extravaganzas to pitch-in community efforts to big-name touring companies and local ballets of different levels. And all of them will participate in the evolution of the annual "Nutcracker," a ballet that's undergone constant change from the moment in 1892 when a tale by E.T.A. Hoffmann was radically simplified for the Russian imperial ballet stage. There are versions including a "Harlem Nutcracker" and a Barbie "Nutcracker"; there are stiff Russian versions and hometown American ones; and there are versions that make you want to see your shrink.

With so many "Nutcrackers" available, how do you decide which one to see? It's all a matter of looking for the ballet's core values, finding what you might call the Essential "Nutcracker." First, you need Tchaikovsky; then comes basic fidelity to the story--girl gets doll, doll comes to life and fights battle, doll takes girl through a snow forest and into Candy Land, where everyone feels so darn good they just have to dance. Add to that liberal amounts of magic, crowds of children and a home-and-hearth holiday mood, and you've got yourself a real "Nutcracker."

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In the beginning, there was Tchaikovsky, whose music buoys every production today. That is, when the score is used judiciously. Orchestras aren't always necessary; a stellar recording of the score can be preferable to a sketchy live performance.

For all the variations in the story, setting and characters, there's really no need...