If you had been to inform the common particular person on the road that your favourite stage model of “The Nutcracker” featured neither ballet nor the enduring Tchaikovsky rating, they’d assume you had been an unbearable hipster at finest — and maybe completely deranged at worst. But such an individual would clearly have missed the heartfelt marvel that's The House Theatre of Chicago’s 10th anniversary manufacturing of “The Nutcracker,” based mostly on E.T.A. Hoffmann’s darkish and magical story. So inform them: Go see it. You’ll thank me later. The House Theatre of Chicago’s ‘The Nutcracker’: 3.5 out of 4