CHICAGO — “The Nutcracker” is traditionally set in Nuremberg, Germany, in the early 19th century. But across America, which presents far more productions of this ballet than any other country, the story is often transposed to the city in which it’s being performed. From New London, Conn., to Nashville, audiences can watch their local “Nutcracker” with civic pride; and certainly these American adaptations appeal to the tourist in me.

The Joffrey Ballet long had a traditional “Nutcracker” by its founder-choreographer, Robert Joffrey, which it continued to perform after moving to Chicago from New York in 1995. Now, however, Christopher Wheeldon has made the company a new production that catches a historic moment in Chicago: the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, a world’s fair. And whereas traditional “Nutcrackers” begin among the gentry, he also makes the young heroine a working-class girl, the child and neighbor of immigrant workers.

This isn’t so very original, mind you. Matthew Bourne’s “Nutcracker!” (1992, often revived) is set in an orphanage. The Abrons Arts Center in New York used to present a joyously modern and multicultural Manhattan in “Nutcracker in the Lower”: The heroine’s widowed mother worked as a maid. As for the world’s fair concept — well suited to the show’s wide assortment of national and ethnic dances — Helgi Tomasson’s 2004 production of “The Nutcracker” (an annual fixture) for San Francisco Ballet likewise takes the ballet to that city’s 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition.

For the new Joffrey production, Brian Selznick’s story, the sets and costumes by Julian Crouch and Basil Twist’s puppetry turn out to be as crucial as the choreography. I loved learning about Chicago history from their work. This narrative occurs on Christmas Eve 1892, when the fair is under construction (and — how neat! — a few days after Tchaikovsky’s ballet had had its premiere in Russia). Yet this version becomes trite as you watch — not because of the Chicago setting but because no individual character is fresh. I couldn’t believe his heart was in this story.