31 Days Has December - Day 4

[memphis86]

Brian Setzer Orchestra - Nutcracker Suite

I mean, really! Who throws a shoe? Little German girls apparently, but honestly, there has got to be a better way to get rid of those pesky gigantic mice kings. I mean sure, you CAN throw a shoe, but what if you miss? Then you've got one more piece of ammo left and honestly, if you couldn't hit a gigantic

Comments

[halfshellvenus]

There's a version where Clara throws a shoe at the Mouse King? Well, at least it's better than cowering and crying-- that's what she usually does.

Our local production has amubulance mice bring out a stretcher, and when it's too late there is big mouse-wide mourning. ;)

[memphis86]

I've never seen her not throw her shoe? I thought that was in the story? And now that I look, in some versions she pulls his tail, now that is clever!

[halfshellvenus]

Never seen the shoe-throwing, and that's with productions in Sacramento, on TV, and courtesy of the Moscow Idaho Ballet.

So many of those details are production-dependent, even the ones that you'd think would be part of the original ballet.

Our production has a man in drag in a 100+ pound hoopskirt dress as Mother Ginger. This is so all the little 3-5 year-olds dressed as gumdrops can fit under the skirt when it's time to shuffle offstage. It's kind of a gingerbread dress, very awkward and heavy, and obviously needs a minimum "clearance" level.

One of my favorites is the little bakers pushing the iron stove, with the "cookie" that pops out and runs away. ;)

[memphis86]

True, it was just something that always stuck out for me as completely ridiculous. I mean, it's a shoe, but then again, it's a fairytale; spinning wheel spindles and apples are deadly weapons!

I'm so jealous you get to see the performance yearly! My local production would probably count as the New York City ballet, which is a little too expensive for me right now! I did get to see it for free at college (we had a performing arts conservatory) and it was so awesome watching my friends and the local kiddies dance!

[halfshellvenus]

I'm so jealous you get to see the performance yearly! My local production would probably count as the New York City ballet, which is a little too expensive for me right now!
Ours is the Sacramento Ballet, which is pretty affordable up in the second balcony. ;) The "Clara" is alway a local girl aged 9-12, with a mix of little kids and grownups depending on the role. There's the ABT filmed version with Barishnikov (!), but Giselle Peters looks like a dumb bunny in that one, and with an adult Clara the "sitting and watching the dances" part in the second act is even more bizarre.

The production I always wanted to see, which I was told parents weren't invited to, was my daughter's grade school mid-day assembly. Various grades sang some of the more familiar tunes (with added words) and the teachers acted out the parts. A white-haired older teacher (female) always got to be the naughty brother Fritz, another older teacher was Clara, the only 30-something male teacher was the Nutcracker and the music teacher was always Drosselmeyer. How