Boston Ballet’s stunning re-visioned Nutcracker is the best $2 million–plus investment this company has ever made. Director Mikko Nissinen explains that for its first new Nutcracker in 17 years, he consulted an 1844 Alexandre Dumas, père, libretto based on the 1816 E.T.A. Hoffmann story. Robert Perdziola’s new Regency-era decor, thoughtfully lit by Les Dickert, carries a literary undercurrent. We meet the svelte and classy Drosselmeier (Sabi Varga) in a magic store out of Hugo and glimpse the Snow Queen and King (Kathleen Breen Combes and Paulo Arrais) in a breathtaking, winter birch-forest scene fit for Anna Karenina. Alcoves nest within rooms like ribboned gift boxes. By act two, extra stage chandeliers hung in the Opera House extend the Nutcracker Prince’s kingdom into the audience. Perdziola and Nissenen have created a glittering fable about the wonders of vision. James Vogel and Randy Carfagno built the Nutcracker Masks and the Carabose masks for Boston Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty.