ABSOLUTELY crackers! The Nutcracker will be staged in two places at once in York on October 27.

The Vienna Festival Ballet presents one Nutcracker at the Grand Opera House, while the Russian State Ballet and Opera House performs another Nutcracker at York Barbican simultaneously at 7.30pm.

The Vienna Festival Ballet invites you to be "swept away on a magical adventure in one of the most famous classical ballets of all time", with its combination of enchanting choreography and unforgettable Tchaikovsky music making this fabulous ballet "a Christmas treat like no other".

The Russian State Ballet and Opera House promise a live orchestra with more than 30 musicians on their annual British tour with a "vibrant and enchanting full touring ballet production".

"Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas" – even on October 27 – "without a trip to your local theatre for a dazzling production of the most famous ballet in the world," reckons the Barbican blurb.

Expect snow flurries, sweets, princes, magic and love, plus such familiar Tchaikovsky music as the Waltz Of The Flowers and the Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy in a performance directed and choreographed by former Bolshoi Ballet soloist Konstantin Uralsky.

Should you wish to compare Nutcrackers, Vienna Festival Ballet has an earlier show at 2.30pm too. To go nuts twice over, GOH tickets are on sale on 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york; Barbican tickets, 0844 854 2757 or at yorkbarbican.co.uk.