Mondays are for dreaming: The Land of the Sweets
Mondays are for dreaming: The Land of the Sweets
For my last Monday dreaming post before Christmas, what better thing to fantasize about than The Nutcracker? I have a long history with this ballet since my sister is a dancer and performed in it almost every year throughout middle and high school. With two boys I wasn’t sure I’d ever see it again, but Tommy surprised me last week by announcing that after studying it in music class, he would like to go. And lo, after consulting my local newspaper, I discovered not one, not two, but eight possibilities in my area. I chose the Academy of Dance production at the DuPont Theatre in Wilmington, Delaware largely because it is performed with a full orchestra and also because I love this small, historic theatre which is located in the tony Hotel Du Pont and has seen everyone from Lillian Gish to Kathleen Turner walk its boards.
If you are unfamiliar with the story, it is simple. A little girl named Clara receives a nutcracker doll from her mysterious and magical godfather named Drosselmeyer at a family Christmas party. Her brother breaks it. After bedtime, she sneaks out to find her doll only to discover that he and the mice of the house have become life-sized and are fighting (in many productions the family Christmas tree also grows to disproportionate heights during this scene). She helps the Nutcracker defeat the Mouse King and his minions and then the two of them journey through the Land of Snow to the Land of the Sweets where the different treats from chocolate to coffee to marzipan dance for the hero and heroine. The last dance is performed by the Sugar Plum Fairy and her consort. It’s diverting, silly, and whimsical even if you have no appreciation of ballet (not to be missed is Mother Ginger, usually played by a man in drag, who hides her children under her skirt). It is perfect for children because the cast often contains large numbers of them. The Royal Ballet in London has a short video montage on its website that provides a great sense of the music and spectacle.
It seems like every locale has its own version of this classic, from the smallest local dance studio to professional ballet companies. If I could take Tommy on a round-the-world tour of performances, here are a few places I’d be sure to stop:
- The Hermitage Theatre in Saint Petersburg (for a 3-D look at the inside, see here). What better place to see this ballet than the city where it premiered? And on Catherine the Great’s own private stage at the Winter Palace? I’m sure the over 3 million items in the collection at the art museum here could keep us busy as well…
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Cape Town City Ballet in South Africa, which looks to have a multicultural cast and a Drosselmeyer who wears a wizard’s cap à la Harry Potter.
- Hong Kong, China, where the Hong Kong Ballet puts on what looks like a surprisingly straightforward but elegant performance
- Sydney, Australia, where The Australian Ballet has reinterpreted the classic story by setting it in Melbourne and telling it from the point of view of an elderly Clara. That we could have the opportunity to see this at the world-famous Sydney Opera House would certainly be part of the appeal.
- And of course, New York, where the iconic American Nutcracker, the one choreographed by George Balanchine, is performed by the New York City Ballet. After reading me A Very Young Dancer countless times when I was a young girl, my mother surprised me with tickets to see the NYCB version when I was eight. I remember wearing wine-colored velvet. I remember my fascination with the fountain in front of Lincoln Center. I remember that the Christmas tree seemed to grow impossibly huge. And I remember how icky I thought the Arabian dance was.
(For those of you who are perhaps a bit younger than I am, A Very Young Dancer was part of a series of books written by a photographer named Jill Krementz in the 1970s. She would follow children who did things like compete as ice skaters or horseback riders, take pictures of them, and then write the text from their point of view. Stephanie, the young dancer named in the title, played Clara in the NYCB Nutcracker and the book documents her story from audition to performance. It is out of print but I still have my copy.)
I’m sure each of these dance companies would put their own spin on this classic, but I’m equally sure that Tommy would thrill to the music, the costumes, the fairy tale every time. It’s a pleasure that can be found all around the world, and I like to think of children in all four corners of the globe enjoying it as much as my little boy did this weekend. Here’s to a little holiday magic sprinkled with some sugar plums.
Photo used courtesy of Clickykbd.
Mondays are for dreaming: The Land of the Sweets
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