Is Your “Nutcracker” Traditional?
My old pal Alastair Macaulay gives us 10 ways to know for sure: ‘The “Nutcracker†season is upon us — but what’s a “Nutcrackerâ€? And why should anyone care? Before I ever saw it, the idea of “The Nutcracker†seemed to embody all that was trivial about ballet: overfamiliar hit tunes, dancing children, dancing toys, dancing sweets. Yet those standard numbers change when you hear them in context. And those children, toys and sweets become moving in a production that takes childhood seriously. The ballet, building brilliantly, is one of the great 19th-century children’s stories.
