The sugar plum fairy dances ... for today's Geo Quiz. The Nutcracker is arguably Tchaikovsky's most popular work and it gets a workout this time of year.

We want to know where this fairy tale-ballet that pits a nutcracker prince against a mouse king was first performed?

We can tell you WHEN it was performed. It was 115 years ago.

WHERE is the question though...

It's the same city where Tchaikovsky began his music studies at the age of 21. Walt Disney's 1940 animated film Fantasia features the suite. The Nutcracker was first performed at a theatre named after the wife of Russia's Tsar Alexander the second. She was Empress Maria Alexandrovna, so the theatre is the Mariinsky.

Mariinsky Thearte

Name the Russian city if you can ...