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The Nutcracker - Pediatric Therapy Network pediatrictherapynetwork.o... |
This article is about the ballet. For the original story by E.T.A. Hoffmann, see The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. For other uses, see Nutcracker (disambiguation). {{Petipa The Nutcracker (Russian: Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik), Op. 71, is a fairy tale-ballet in two acts, three scenes, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, composed in 1891–92. Alexandre Dumas père's adaptation of the story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" by E. T. A. Hoffmann was set to music by Tchaikovsky (staged by Marius Petipa and commissioned by the directoQr of the Imperial Theatres Ivan Vsevolozhsky in 1891). The plot of Hoffmann's story is much more elaborate than that of the ballet; in the tale, the heroine Marie's adventures with the toys and with the Nutcracker are not a dream, and at the end she marries the Nutcracker/Prince. [1] The suite became instantly popular (according to Men of Music "every number had to be repeated"), [2] In Western world, on 19 March 1892 at an assembly of the St. Petersburg branch of the Musical Society. [3]. [4] er is noted for its use of the celesta, an instrument that the composer had already employed in his much lesser known symphonic ballad The Voyevoda (premiered 1891). Although well-known in The Nutcracker as the featured solo instrument in the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" f
[edit] History[[File:Olga Preobrajnskaya Legat rom Act II, it is employed elsewhere in the same act. -Nutcracker 1.JPG|thumb|right|210px|Olga Preobrajenska as the Sugarplum Fairy and Nikolai Legat as Prince Coqueluche in the Grand pas de deux of the original production of The Nutcracker. Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, c. 1900]]  [edit] Composition historyTchaikovsky himself was less satisfied with The Nutcracker than with The Sleeping Beauty, his previous ballet. (In the film Fantasia, commentator Deems Taylor observes, very accurately, that he "really detested" the score.) Though he accepted the commission from Ivan Vsevolozhsky, he did not particularly want to write it[5] (though he did write to a friend while composing the ballet: "I am daily becoming more and more attuned to my task.")[citation needed] While composing the music for the ballet, Tchaikovsky is said to have argued with a friend who wagered that the composer could not write a melody based on the notes of the octave in sequence. Tchaikovsky asked if it mattered whether the notes were in ascending or descending order, and was assured it did not. This resulted in the Grand adagio from the Grand pas de deux of the second act, which traditionally is danced just after the Waltz of the Flowers.[citation needed] A story is also told that Tchaikovsky's sister had died shortly before he began composition of the ballet, and that his sister's death influenced him to compose a melancholy, descending scale melody for the adagio of the Grand Pas de Deux. [edit] Performance history
The first performance of the ballet was held as a double premiere together with Tchaikovsky's last opera Iolanta on 18 December [O.S. 6 December] 1892, at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. Who exactly choreographed the first production has been debated. Although Lev Ivanov is often credited, contemporary accounts credit Marius Petipa. The ballet was conducted by Riccardo Drigo, with Antoinetta Dell-Era as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Pavel Gerdt as Prince Coqueluche, Stanislava Belinskaya as Clara, Sergei Legat as the Nutcracker-Prince, and Timofei Stukolkin as Drosselmeyer.[6]
An abridged version of the ballet was first performed outside Russia in Budapest (Royal Opera House) in 1927, with choreography by Ede Brada.[7] The first complete performance of the ballet outside Russia took place in England in 1934.[6], staged by Nicholas Sergeyev after Petipa's original choreography. An abridged version of the ballet, performed by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, was staged in New York City in 1940 by Alexandra Fedorova (not to be confused with the university teacher of the same name) - again, after Petipa's version.[6] The ballet's first complete United States performance was in 1944, by the San Francisco Ballet, staged by its artistic director Willam Christensen.[6] The New York City Ballet first performed George Balanchine's staging of The Nutcracker in 1954.[6] The tradition of performing the complete "Nutcracker" at Christmas eventually spread to the rest of the United States. [edit] RolesNote: The two lists of characters below are derived from the score (see reprint of Soviet ed.: Peter Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker: a ballet in two acts. For piano solo. Op. 71. Melville, N.Y.: Belwin Mills Publ. Corp., [n.d.], p. 4). Productions of the ballet vary in their fidelity to this assignment of roles. Characters (translated from Russian preliminaries of the Soviet ed.)
The following more detailed, and somewhat different, extrapolation of the characters (in order of appearance) is drawn from an examination of the stage directions in the score (Soviet ed., where they are printed in the original French with added Russian translation in editorial footnotes):
[edit] Synopsis The story has been published in many book versions including colorful children-friendly versions. The plot revolves around a German girl named Clara Stahlbaum or Clara Silberhaus. In some Nutcracker productions, Clara is called Marie; in others, she is known as Masha. (In Hoffmann's tale, the girl's name actually is Marie or Maria, while Clara - or "Klärchen" - is the name of one of her dolls.)
The work opens with a brief "Miniature Overture", which also opens the Suite. The music sets the fairy mood by using upper registers of the orchestra exclusively. The curtain opens to reveal the Stahlbaums' house, where a Christmas Eve party is under way. Clara, her little brother Fritz, and their mother and father are celebrating with friends and family, when the mysterious godfather, Herr Drosselmeyer, enters. He quickly produces a large bag of gifts for all the children. All are very happy, except for Clara, who has yet to be presented a gift. Herr Drosselmeyer then produces three life-size dolls, which each take a turn to dance. When the dances are done, Clara approaches Herr Drosselmeyer asking for her gift. It would seem that he is out of presents, and Clara, in some productions, runs to her mother in a fit of tears and disappointment. In others, she is still quite happy; in Baryshnikov's version, she whispers into Drosselmeyer's ear, presumably gently hinting that she would like a toy. Drosselmeyer then produces a toy Nutcracker, in the traditional shape of a soldier in full parade uniform. Clara is overjoyed, but her brother Fritz is jealous, and breaks the Nutcracker. The party ends with Tchaikovsky quoting the traditional German dance tune, the Grossvater Tanz[8], and the Stahlbaum family go to bed. (In the Balanchine version, while everybody is sleeping, Herr Drosselmeyer repairs the Nutcracker, but in most productions, he simply binds it with a handkerchief during the Christmas party.) Clara creeps downstairs to have a look at her beloved Nutcracker. When the clock strikes midnight, Clara hears the sound of mice. She wakes up (or is she still dreaming?) and tries to run away, but the mice stop her. In most productions, the Christmas tree suddenly begins to grow to enormous size, filling the room. The Nutcracker comes to life, he and his band of soldiers rise to defend Clara, and the Mouse King leads his mice into battle. Here Tchaikovsky continues the miniature effect of the Overture, setting the battle music predominantly in the orchestra's upper registers. A conflict ensues, and when Clara helps the Nutcracker by throwing her shoe at the Mouse King, the Nutcracker seizes his opportunity and stabs him. The mouse dies. (In some productions, she merely grabs the Mouse King by the tail, and in others Clara kills the Mouse King when she throws her slipper at him.) The mice retreat, taking their dead leader with them. The Nutcracker is then transformed into a prince. (In Hoffmann's original story, and in the Royal Ballet's 1985 and 2001 versions, the Prince is actually Drosselmeyer's nephew, who had been turned into a Nutcracker by the Mouse King, and all the events following the Christmas party have been arranged by Drosselmeyer in order to break the spell.) Clara and the Prince travel to a world where dancing Snowflakes greet them and fairies and queens dance, welcoming Clara and the Prince into their world. The score conveys the wondrous images by introducing a wordless children's chorus. The curtain falls on Act I.
 Clara and the Prince arrive at the Land of the Sugar Plum Fairy. The Sugar Plum Fairy and the people of the Land of Sweets perform several dances for Clara and the Prince - a Spanish Dance (sometimes Chocolate), ta Chinese Dance (sometimes Tea), an Arabian Dance (sometimes Coffee), a Russian dance (in Balanchine's production, performed by Candy Canes — their dance is called the Trepak), the Dance of the Clowns, performed by Mother Ginger and her Polichinelles - sometimes Bonbons, Taffy Clowns, or Court Buffoons (as in Baryshnikov's production), the Dance of the Reed Flutes (sometimes Marzipan shepherds or mirlitons), the Waltz of the Flowers, and the Grand Pas de Deux, which includes the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. The dances in the Land of the Sugar Plum Fairy are not always performed in this order. After the festivities, Clara wakes up under the Christmas tree with the Nutcracker toy in her arms and the curtain closes. (In Balanchine's version, however, she is never shown waking up; instead, after all the dances in the Kingdom of Sweets have concluded, she rides off with the Nutcracker/Prince on a Santa Claus-like flying sleigh, complete with reindeer, and the curtain falls. This gives the impression that the "dream" actually happens in reality, as in Hoffmann's original story. The 1985 Royal Ballet version seems to imply the same thing, since at the end, Drosselmeyer's nephew, who had really been transformed into a nutcracker, reappears in human form at the toymaker's shop.) [edit] Instrumentation
[edit] New choreographyVasily Vainonen In 1934, choreographer Vasily Vainonen staged his complete version of the ballet in the U.S.S.R. It follows standard nineteenth-century tradition in having all the children played by adult women, although contemporary photos reveal that the original 1892 Nutcracker did use children in the cast. The Vainonen production, with sets and costumes first used in its 1954 revival, was staged again in Russia forty years later, by the Kirov Ballet in 1994. This 1994 staging is available on DVD. Willam Christensen It was not until 1944 that the first complete production in the U.S. took place, performed by the San Francisco Ballet, and choreographed by Willam Christensen. Gisella Caccialanza, the wife of Lew Christensen, danced the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy. [9] The company was the first in the U.S. to make the ballet an annual tradition, and for ten years, the only company in the United States performing the complete ballet. They perform it annually to this day, though not necessarily with Christensen's choreography. The stage success of the Christensen version marked the first step in making productions of The Nutcracker annual Christmas season traditions all over the world - a phenomenon that did not really come to flower until the late 1960s. George Balanchine See also: List of New York City Ballet repertory In 1954 George Balanchine followed in Christensen's footsteps by choreographing and premiering his now-famous New York City Ballet version. Balanchine's Nutcracker has since been staged in New York every year and performed live on television twice - although its first television edition, telecast in 1957 on the TV anthology Seven Lively Arts, was severely abridged. [10] Playhouse 90 broadcast a more complete (but still abridged) version of the Balanchine Nutcracker, narrated by actress June Lockhart, in 1958; it was the first Nutcracker broadcast in color.[11] The complete Balanchine version was eventually made into a poorly received full-length feature film in 1993, starring Macaulay Culkin in his only screen ballet role, with narration spoken by Kevin Kline. The other roles were played by members of the New York City Ballet, including Darci Kistler as the Sugar Plum Fairy, and Wendy Whelan as Coffee in the Arabian Dance. [12] In Balanchine's version, the roles of Clara (here called Marie) and the Nutcracker are danced by children, and so their dances are choreographed to be less difficult than the ones performed by the adults. Because Marie and the Prince are children in the Balanchine Nutcracker, no romantic interest between them is even implied. The Balanchine version uses perhaps more children than any other version. The roles of Clara and the Nutcracker/ Prince are performed by adults in most other versions, and in many other productions of the ballet, including the Baryshnikov staging, there is usually at least a hint of budding romance between Clara and the Prince. The Pine forest in winter sequence (right after the Mouse King is defeated) is not danced in the Balanchine version, although the music is played. Instead, Marie faints and falls on the bed after the battle, and the Nutcracker exits. Marie's bed moves by itself across the stage as the music plays, and at its climax, the Nutcracker reappears and through the use of a stage effect, turns into a Prince. He awakens Marie and they exit. (In the 1993 film of Balanchine's Nutcracker, all this is achieved by special effects created by Industrial Light & Magic. In some stage productions of it, the audience does not see the Nutcracker turn into the Prince; the dancer simply removes his nutcracker mask offstage. However, in some productions, the dancer playing the Nutcracker exits, and then returns carrying a cardboard cutout of the Nutcracker, which he holds in front of him. The audience is supposedly unaware that it is a cardboard cutout; and at a precise moment, the dancer drops the cutout on the floor with a loud clatter; revealing himself as a Prince.) The musical changes in the Balanchine version, along with the action accompanying them, are described below in the section The Music. Mikhail Baryshnikov The popularity of the Balanchine Nutcracker could be said to have been seriously challenged, however, by the highly acclaimed American Ballet Theatre version choreographed by and starring Mikhail Baryshnikov, which premiered in 1976 at the Kennedy Center,[13] was re-staged for television and first telecast by CBS with limited commercial interruption in 1977, re-broadcast many times by PBS, and is now a TV holiday classic.[14] Baryshnikov omits the roles of the Sugar Plum Fairy and Prince Koklyush, and gives their dances to Clara and the Nutcracker/Prince; so that in his version, the two do not merely sit out most of the entire second act as they do in other productions (notably Balanchine's). In addition, although the Mother Ginger and her Clowns music is heard, we never see Mother Ginger herself, only four court clowns who perform the dance. Much of the choreography in the Baryshnikov Nutcracker is influenced by Vainonen's for his 1934 production, and Baryshnikov actually uses Vainonen's choreography for the Snowflake Waltz, giving him onscreen credit. In Baryshnikov's version, contrary to what is often written [15] [16][17], it is not Clara's brother Fritz who breaks the Nutcracker, but an unnamed drunken guest at the Christmas party who is trying to make the toy "grow" to life-size. He is last seen in "human" form tipsily leaving with the other guests, but eventually becomes the Mouse King in Clara's dream. Clara, the Nutcracker / Prince, and Fritz are all played by adult dancers in this production, but contrary to what is sometimes written, there are actual children and teenagers in it. However, they appear only during the Christmas party scene (they are played by students of the National Ballet School of Canada). The ending of the ballet in the Baryshnikov version is more melancholy than in the original 1892 production and in many other versions. Drosselmeyer appears during the Adagio of the Pas de deux, apparently trying to coax Clara back into reality, while she prefers to stay with the Nutcracker / Prince. Drosselmeyer apparently gives up and it would seem as if the Nutcracker has triumphed, as he and Clara joyously join the others in the Final Waltz. But during the Apotheosis, the entire Royal Court, as well as the Mouse King, who makes a ghostly final appearance, begin to drift away, moving as if they were only mechanical dolls, and Clara searches frantically for her Nutcracker / Prince, who is suddenly nowhere to be found. Suddenly the palatial surroundings are gone and Clara and Drosselmeyer are left alone onstage; she, holding out her hands in supplication, and he, folding his arms, elaborately ignoring her, and walking away. Clara finds herself back in her own home; she walks to the window and gazes wistfully out at the falling snow. The stage version of this production originally starred Baryshnikov, Marianna Tcherkassky as Clara, and Alexander Minz as Drosselmeyer.[13] However, for the TV version the role of Clara went to Gelsey Kirkland,[18] and it is Kirkland, not Tcherkassky, who has been widely seen in this production of the ballet. Because it is one of her few roles captured on video, Clara is one of Gelsey Kirkland's most widely seen dance performances, and for many, her best remembered. Except for Tcherkassky, the rest of the cast of this production also appeared in it on television. The television version was not a live performance of the ballet, but a special presentation shot on videotape in a TV studio (with no studio audience) in Toronto, Canada. This permitted far greater freedom of camera movement and more use of different camera angles. The Baryshnikov Nutcracker has since become both the most popular television version of the work [19] and a bestselling videocassette and DVD version of the ballet. [20] [21] It usually outsells not only every other video version of The Nutcracker, including the 1993 film of Balanchine's version, but every other ballet video as well. It is still telecast annually on some PBS stations. In 2004, it was re-mastered and reissued on DVD with a markedly improved visual image showing far greater detail and more vivid colors than before, as well as sound that, if not present-day state-of-the-art, was far better than its original 1977 audio. It is only one of two versions of the ballet to have been nominated for Emmys [22] - the other was Mark Morris's intentionally exaggerated and satirical take on the ballet, The Hard Nut, telecast on PBS in 1992. [23] (Seven Lively Arts did win an Emmy for Best New Program of 1957, so one could say that The Nutcracker was included in that win, although the award itself did not specifically say so.)[24] Years later, Alessandra Ferri danced the role of Clara in a stage revival of Baryshnikov's production. Peter Wright In 1985, dancer-choreographer Peter Wright created a new production heavily based on the 1892 original. It was presented at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and shown on television by A&E. Notable for its elaborate set designs recalling a typical nineteenth-century stage work, the production was revived in 2001, filmed with a mostly new cast, and again presented on television (this time by PBS). These first two versions of the Wright production are available on DVD. In 2008, again with a new cast, the production was revived yet again, streamed live to movie theatres in England, and is scheduled to be presented as a high-definition film in selected theatres throughout the U.S. during the 2009 Christmas season.[25] At the end of the Wright version, Clara, seemingly having dreamt it all, awakens in front of the now normal-sized Christmas tree, but without her Nutcracker. Apprehensive, she runs out into the snow in her nightgown, when she accidentally meets Drosselmeyer's nephew, who, under the spell broken by Clara, was the actual toy. Apparently not recognizing her at first, he kindly drapes a cloak over the shivering Clara and asks her directions to Drosselmeyer's workshop; she gives him directions, and just before he leaves, a look of faint recognition comes over him. Once he is gone and she is about to re-enter her house, Clara suddenly gasps and smiles ecstatically as she realizes that she is still wearing the locket that the Sugar Plum Fairy has given her- the events of the previous night were real, and the young man whom she presumably just met is her precious Nutcracker, Drosselmeyer's nephew, whom she had already met and fallen in love with in her "dream". In the 2001 and 2008 stagings (but not in the 1985 one) Clara and the nephew, prompted by Drosselmeyer himself, take a more active part in the dances at the Sugar Plum Fairy's castle than usual; presumably Wright arranged this so that the couple would not have to merely sit out most of Act II watching other people dance. The romantic element between Clara and Drosselmeyer's nephew is made more obvious in the latest filming of the Wright version than in most other Nutcrackers, including earlier stagings of the Wright version; in the 2008 revival, which can currently be seen on the internet [26] , the couple shares a kiss several times (they don't in the earlier Royal Ballet versions) and Drosselmeyer's nephew sits with his arms around Clara during the festivities at the Sugar Plum Fairy's castle. Mark Morris In 1990, Mark Morris began work on The Hard Nut, his version of The Nutcracker, taking inspiration from the horror-comic artist Charles Burns. The art of Charles Burns is personal and deeply instilled with archetypal concepts of guilt, childhood, adolescent sexuality, and poignant, nostalgic portrayals of post-war America. He enlisted a team of collaborators to create a world not unlike that of Burns’ world, where stories take comic book clichés and rearrange them into disturbing yet funny patterns. Morris turned to Adrianne Lobel to create sets that would take Hoffmann's tale out of the traditional German setting and into Burns’ graphic, black and white view of things. With these immense sets and scrims, lighting designer James F. Ingalls created a dark world within retro 1960s suburbia and costume designer Martin Pakledinaz created costumes that helped bring to life Burns’ world, described as being "at the juncture of fiction and memory, of cheap thrills and horror." The last of 10 pieces Mark Morris created during his time as Director of Dance at the National Opera House of Belgium, the piece was his most ambitious work to date. The Hard Nut premiered on January 12, 1991 at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, just short of the 100th anniversary of the creation of Tchaikovsky's classic score. Audiences found it a shocking but exhilarating version of Tchaikovsky's ballet, its impact still felt year after year.[citation needed][neutrality disputed] Shortly after the premiere, MMDG returned to the United States, having finished their three-year residency at the Monnaie. But the Monnaie seemed the most fitting stage to film the production[why?] so the company returned six months later with film crew in hand for encore performances in Belgium's national opera house that were made available on VHS and Laserdisc. A DVD release is scheduled in 2007. Recent Russian versions There have been notable Russian productions of the ballet in recent years, performed by the Bolshoi Ballet and the Kirov Ballet respectively - very traditional ones which follow the usual storyline of the ballet. These have also been released on DVD. The first Bolshoi version on video, recorded in 1978 but not released for U.S. viewing until nine years later, starred the late Ekaterina Maximova. In this version, Masha (the Clara figure) dreams her adventures, but in the dream she is given a bridal veil near the end, signifying that the Nutcracker / Prince has chosen her as his bride, as in Hoffmann's original story. Tandy Beal & Company American choreographer, director, and circus maestra Tandy Beal first choreographed a new version of The Nutcracker in 1982. At the time, "Dance Magazine" referred to it as the first contemporary version of the ballet. Beal's adaptation, called "Mixed Nutz: The Nutcracker Re-Mixed", combines dance and circus artistry—all performed to original and seasonal songs as well as Tchaikovsky's music sung a cappella by Bay Area vocal ensemble SoVoSó (Soul...Voice...Song) Pacific Northwest Ballet and Maurice Sendak Pacific Northwest Ballet's Nutcracker, staged in 1983, and filmed for movie theatres in 1986 under that title (the more familiar poster title is Nutcracker: The Motion Picture), features sets and costumes by Maurice Sendak. This one omits the Sugar Plum Fairy herself. Clara is played by two dancers, the girlish Vanessa Sharp during the Christmas party and the Battle with the Mice, and the adult Patricia Barker throughout the rest of the film - until Clara awakens suddenly from her dream. It should be noted that this version tries to be truer to E. T. A. Hoffmann's original story, complete with its darker aspects and a second act with more context and flavor, although much of that flavor comes from the imaginations of Sendak and choreographer Kent Stowell, rather than from the actual Hoffmann story. Unlike the original tale, the Kingdom of Sweets here becomes a harem, and Drosselmeyer, around whom Clara is somewhat uncomfortable, comes across as a more ominous figure than usual; the pasha in the harem, played by the same dancer, bears an extremely strong resemblance to him, and there is an implication that the Pasha would like to compete with the Prince for Clara's affections. (However, Clara does kiss Drosselmeyer gently on the cheek after he repairs the broken Nutcracker during the Christmas party.) The dream ends in an even more troubling manner for Clara than in the Baryshnikov version. As she and her Prince slowly swirl around wrapped in each other's arms while the Apotheosis plays, the Pasha, by a motion of his hand, magically propels them ecstatically higher and higher into the air; suddenly, the Pasha points his finger at them, which somehow causes the couple to let go of each other. They suddenly begin to freefall in terror, and the Prince again becomes a nutcracker. Just as both are about to hit the ground and presumably be seriously injured or killed, the young girl Clara is jolted awake from her dream; she is still in her own bed. The curtain falls. In the film version, as if to end on a more upbeat note (no pun intended), we then see the dancers at the harem performing the ballet's Final Waltz, over which appear the film's end credits. As in Baryshnikov's version, Mother Ginger herself never appears. The Dance of the Clowns is here turned into a dance for children. As of 2009, this production is still not on DVD. Patrice Bart Patrice Bart's version, available on DVD, created for the Berlin Staatsoper, and premiered there in 1999, reworks the story almost completely to have Clara (here called Marie) kidnapped by revolutionaries to the music of the mice attack. (She is then adopted by the Stahlbaums, who, in most productions, are her real parents.) The Nutcracker himself hardly appears as a character. There are no mice in this version; instead the toys are attacked by what seem to be those same revolutionaries, who again try to carry Marie off, and the Nutcracker does not fight with them. Marie throws, not her shoe, but the actual Nutcracker at them, whereupon they disappear, the Nutcracker becomes life-size, and immediately turns into a prince. The music of the actual battle, having been played already during the kidnapping scene earlier in the ballet, is then omitted and the slow music that accompanies Marie's first dance with the Prince is heard. Drosselmeyer is made into a young man in this version, and he apparently serves at a sort of father figure-psychologist who helps Marie remember and overcome her long-buried memories of the trauma she endured by being kidnapped. This he does by bringing in the revolutionaries again, enabling Marie to drive them off by throwing her toy Nutcracker at them. [27] In the second act, to the same music that accompanies Marie's first duet with the Prince after the Nutcracker's transformation, Marie is joyously reunited with her real mother. Drosselmeyer, it seems, is paired off as a potential romantic partner for Marie's mother, and at the same time, as in most Nutcracker productions, Marie and the Prince are also romantically paired off. As in the Baryshnikov and Pacific Northwest Ballet productions, there are no Sugar Plum Fairy or Prince Koklyush; their dances are again performed by Marie and the Prince. As in the Pacific Northwest Ballet production, the Dance of the Clowns is performed by children, and again, there is no Mother Ginger. The finale is unclear about Marie and the Prince's fate, but through a cloud of smoke, she is seen to be seemingly flying off happily with the Prince, Mary Poppins-like, airborne on a giant umbrella, after Drosselmeyer has suddenly turned most of the second act characters back into dolls. Maurice Béjart Maurice Béjart's extremely controversial 2000 version (also available on DVD) contains graphic sexual symbols as part of the stage design, and throws out the original story altogether, creating all-new characters and including a Freudian mother fixation as the main point of the story. Here the main character is named Bim, and is intended to supposedly be an autobiographical child figure representing Béjart himself. There are no Drosselmeyer, no Clara, no Sugar Plum Fairy, and no Nutcracker in this production, and Mephisto and Felix the Cat appear as characters. A piece of stagecraft seen throughout the production resembles a woman's uterus. Some critics excoriated this version. [28] Helgi Tomasson The San Francisco Ballet has recently taped a new production choreographed by Helgi Tomasson, which has also been issued on DVD and was telecast on PBS during the 2008 Christmas season. The basic storyline of the ballet is followed faithfully, but the new production takes several liberties with the original scenario: the ballet is now set in 1915 San Francisco rather than Germany, and the frightening aspects of Drosselmeyer's character are erased, leaving him a purely benevolent figure. He is very much present in this version, watching the divertissements in the Palace of the Sugar Plum Fairy along with Clara. The second act takes place not in the Land of Sweets, but in a crystal palace reminiscent of one Clara would have seen at the San Francisco World's Fair held shortly before the ballet is set, and the dances are a parade of nations akin to exhibitions at the fair. In this version, during the battle with the mice, rather than throwing her slipper at him, Clara arranges with the help of the toy soldiers to get the Mouse King's tail caught in a huge mousetrap, thus enabling the Nutcracker to fatally stab him. One of the most notable changes is that the final Grand Pas de Deux is danced not by the Sugar Plum Fairy and her escort but by the Nutcracker Prince and Clara, who has been given a crown (as in Baryshnikov's version) and transformed into an adult ballerina specifically for this pas de deux in her dream. (Therefore, Clara in this version is played by two ballerinas.) The Sugar Plum Fairy's role, therefore, is considerably shortened; however, in this version, she takes part in the Waltz of the Flowers, her only extended dance sequence. There is less of a hint of an actual romantic attraction between Clara and the Prince in this version; they seem to be just good friends. The Prince is played by an adult dancer, while Clara appears to be a young girl of about thirteen, except in the pas de deux. In this production, the Nutcracker first "comes to life" at the Christmas party, before Clara's dream even begins. Rather than the Soldier or the Moor (or a bear, as in some versions) being the third of Drosselmeyer's life-size dancing dolls, it is the Nutcracker who performs the dance. After his dance ends, he is put back into the box, and Drosselmeyer then produces the normal-size, inanimate Nutcracker, which he gives to Clara. Mikhail Chemiakin and Kirill Simonov Mikhail Chemiakin's production for the Mariinsky Ballet, staged in 2001, but not yet shown on television, was taped in 2007 and released on DVD in 2008 (but only on Blu-ray). It stresses the grotesque even more than the Maurice Sendak version. Like the Béjart version, though not in such an extreme way, it is not really intended for children at all. The DVD stars Russian ballerina Irina Golub as Masha, but onstage, she and Natalya Sologub alternated in the role. Although the production was conceived and largely created by Chemiakin, it was choreographed by Kirill Simonov. It has proved highly controversial. [29] Critic George Jackson disliked this version intensely, calling it "The Gargoyle Nutcracker" and gave it a withering review, terming Clara (called Masha in this version) a "brat" and (inexplicably) a "mini-slut". [30] Other reviewers, and Chemiakin himself, have stressed that Masha is definitely not intended to come across as a brat, although her brother Fritz is. Chemiakin has stated that he envisions Masha as a lonely girl, snubbed even by her parents, who falls "wildly in love" with the Nutcracker, when, as a toy, he offers her friendship. [31] In the Chemiakin version, all the events in the story really do take place; it is no dream. There is no Christmas Tree that grows, and the first few moments take place in the busy kitchen of the Stahlbaum home, rather than a brightly decorated living room of the nineteenth century. Masha's father Herr Stahlbaum, rather than being a dignified, kindly figure, is a clown-like lecher who is forever chasing one of the kitchen maids. Most of the adults at the Christmas Party (including Masha's own parents) are rather drunk by the end of the festivities. The rodents (in this case rats, rather than mice), are seen to be skulking around already in the ballet's opening scene. Unlike the traditional version, the Nutcracker, who is played as life-sized throughout, instead of being a toy that one can hold in their hands, is not broken by Fritz, only twisted into an awkward position; he behaves as if he were alive almost from the very beginning of the ballet, and does not turn into a Prince immediately after he defeats the Rat King. Masha is also plagued by disturbing visions in the production. During the Grossvater Waltz at the Christmas party, she suddenly hallucinates that the adults have become rodent-like creatures, and is terrified by the sight. The rats are not even clearly seen to be rats in the production, just strange-looking malevolent creatures. Although Chemiakin himself states in his book The Staging of 'The Nutcracker' that the Nutcracker does not become a Prince until the Waltz of the Flowers ends [32], on the DVD his nutcracker mask is removed during the harp cadenza at the beginning of the waltz, and it is not clear at all in this production how or why he is transformed. The romantic element between the Prince and Masha is also strongly emphasized in this version; she is more obviously seen to be in love with the Prince than in most other productions, and the two rush into each other's arms and kiss tenderly at the climax of the Adagio of the Act II Pas de Deux. (According to Chemiakin, it is the kiss which transforms the Nutcracker into the Prince, but on the DVD, this seems not to be the case; the kiss seems simply a declaration of their love.) [33] The Sugar Plum Fairy does appear in this version, but her role is little more than a walk-on. Masha performs all of the Fairy's dances and the Nutcracker Prince all of Kolkyush's, much as Gelsey Kirkland and Mikhail Baryshnikov did in their 1977 version. Although Masha seems to behave as a typical child in the early scenes, once the battle with the rats is over, she assumes a more adult-like demeanor and seems to become a girl in her late teens or early twenties. The Nutcracker is given four sisters in this production, and they welcome Masha warmly when she and the Nutcracker arrive in the Palace of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Unlike the Nutcracker, they do not seem to be under any form of enchantment. It is one of the sisters who performs the task of removing the Nutcracker's "face" (actually the mask that the dancer portraying the role wears), thus revealing that he is actually a Prince. The sisters do not appear in any other major version of the ballet. Drosselmeyer appears to somehow be in league with the rats in this production; they are always hovering around him, and during the battle between the rats and the toys, Drosselmeyer even consults with a new character, the Rat Cardinal; they are both searching through what appears to be a giant cookbook. On the other hand, Drosselmeyer not only drives away the Rat Cardinal at the end of Act I, but also saves the lives of Masha and the Nutcracker during the Waltz of the Snowflakes, which is given a very sinister quality here - the chorus is made up of the ghosts of children who have perished in the snow, and Masha and the Nutcracker nearly suffer the same fate when the dancing snowflakes become a snowstorm. The second act takes place not in the Kingdom of Sweets, but in another kitchen, the Kitchen of Sweets. The final tableau is quite shocking in this version, even ghoulish. The Prince has asked Masha to marry him, she has accepted, and all happily dance the Final Waltz. The scene changes as the Apotheosis begins: we see Drosselmeyer walking with a stagger and clutching at his chest, as if in pain. The stage is dark, except for a grille. Drosselmeyer painfully tries to see through it, but cannot. At a wave of Drosselmeyer's hand, the curtain rises, revealing what is behind the grille. It is a giant wedding cake, so tall it almost reaches the ceiling. Surrounding it, in statue-like poses, are all the characters who appeared in Act II; they have been turned into sweets. Atop the cake stand a miniaturized bride and groom - Masha and her Prince. They also have been turned into sweets, the price they have paid for marrying. The rats nibble on the bottom of the cake; there is an implication that they will eventually eat it whole, including the sweets. [34] Nina Alovert commented disparagingly of the production, saying that it was "full of uncaring human beings and rats who eat people", and that "The one good person [in the ballet] is turned into a sugar-coated doll". [35] [edit] The music The music in Tchaikovsky's ballet is some of the composer's most popular. The music belongs to the Romantic Period and contains some of his most memorable melodies, several of which are frequently used in television and film. (They are often heard in TV commercials shown during the Christmas season.) The Trepak, or Russian dance, is one of the most recognizable pieces in the ballet, along with the famous Waltz of the Flowers and March, as well as the ubiquitous Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. The ballet contains surprisingly advanced harmonies and a wealth of melodic invention that is (to many) unsurpassed in ballet music. Nevertheless, the composer's reverence for Rococo and late 18th century music can be detected in passages such as the Overture, the "Entrée des parents", and "Tempo di Grossvater" in Act I. One novelty in Tchaikovsky's original score was the use of the celesta, a new instrument Tchaikovsky had discovered in Paris. He wanted it genuinely for the character of the Sugar Plum Fairy to characterize her because of its "heavenly sweet sound". It appears not only in her "Dance", but also in other passages in Act II. Tchaikovsky also uses toy instruments during the Christmas party scene. Tchaikovsky was proud of the celesta's effect, and wanted its music performed quickly for the public, before he could be "scooped." Everyone was enchanted. Suites derived from this ballet became very popular on the concert stage. The composer himself extracted a suite of eight pieces from the ballet, but that authoritative move has not prevented later hands from arranging other selections and sequences of numbers. Eventually one of these ended up in Disney's Fantasia. In any case, The Nutcracker Suite should not be mistaken for the complete ballet. Although the original ballet is only about 85 minutes long, and therefore much shorter than either Swan Lake or The Sleeping Beauty, some modern staged performances have omitted or re-ordered some of the music, or inserted selections from elsewhere, thus adding to the confusion over the suites. In fact, most of the very famous versions of the ballet have had the order of the dances slightly re-arranged, if they have not actually altered the music.
There are also several transcriptions of the Nutcracker Suite available on CD, including a noted one played by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. [edit] Structure(Numbers given according to the piano score from the Soviet collected edition of the composer's works, as reprinted Melville, New York: Belwin Mills [n.d.], in English where possible, with explanations added here in square brackets).
[edit] Concert excerpts and arrangementsTchaikovsky: Suite from the ballet The Nutcracker The suite derived and abridged from the ballet became more popular for a time than the ballet itself, partly due to its inclusion in Walt Disney's Fantasia. The outline below represents the selection and sequence of the Nutcracker Suite culled by the composer.
Grainger: Paraphrase on Tchaikovsky’s Flower Waltz, for solo piano The Paraphrase on Tchaikovsky’s Flower Waltz is a successful piano arrangement from one of the movements from The Nutcracker by the pianist and composer Percy Grainger. Pletnev: Concert suite from The Nutcracker, for solo piano The pianist and conductor Mikhail Pletnev adapted some of the music into a virtuosic concert suite for piano solo:
[edit] Early TV versions vs. later onesVersions of The Nutcracker telecast pre-1977 are mostly very abridged, and are rarely if ever seen today. None of these very early versions have been seen on U.S. TV in nearly forty years. The only staging of the Balanchine Nutcracker telecast in the U.S. over the past thirty years is the 1993 film version made for movie theatres; the Playhouse 90 version, from 1958, has not been seen on television since its original telecast, and neither has the abridged version telecast the previous year on the anthology Seven Lively Arts. These two early television productions have not been released on DVD as yet. After its third rebroadcast, the German-American production telecast on U.S. TV originally in 1965 disappeared from American TV screens; however, on November 17, 2009, it was officially released on DVD as part of the Warner Archive Collection, an on-demand DVD service. [38] The 1965 ABC-TV production has not been seen since its first and only telecast. The most often seen pre-1985 TV production of the ballet is the Baryshnikov version. An excerpt of a 1958 British television production starring Margot Fonteyn as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Michael Somes as her Cavalier has been shown in the U.S. as part of a biography of Fonteyn, but the complete production has not. [edit] Popular adaptations"Pop" versions of the suite have been around since the 1950s, but since about the mid 1990s, more unusual versions of the ballet have begun appearing. [edit] Pop versionsIn 1962 a novelty boogie piano arrangement of the "Marche", entitled "Nut Rocker", was a #1 single in the UK, and #21 in the USA. Credited to B. Bumble and the Stingers, it was produced by Kim Fowley and featured studio musicians Al Hazan (piano), Earl Palmer (drums), Tommy Tedesco (guitar) and Red Callender (bass). "Nut Rocker" has subsequently been covered by many others including The Shadows, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Ventures, and the Dropkick Murphys. The Ventures' own instrumental rock cover of "Nut Rocker", known as "Nutty", is commonly connected to the NHL team, the Boston Bruins, from being used as the theme for the Bruins' telecast games for over two decades, from the late 1960s. In 2004, The Invincible Czars arranged, recorded, and now annually perform the entire suite for rock band. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra's first album, Christmas Eve and Other Stories, includes an instrumental piece entitled "A Mad Russian's Christmas", which is a rock version of music from The Nutcracker. On the other end of the scale is the humorous Spike Jones version released in December 1945 and again in 1971 as part of the long play record Spike Jones is Murdering the Classics, one of the rare comedic pop records to be issued on the prestigious RCA Red Seal label. In 2008 a progressive metal / instrumental rock version of The Nutcracker Suite was released by Christmas at the Devil's House. It includes Overture, March, Sugar Plum Fairy, Russian, Chinese, Arabian, Reed-Flutes, and Waltz of the Flowers. In 2009, Pet Shop Boys used the melody of the Nutcracker Suite for their track "All Over the World", taken from their album Yes. [edit] Musical comedy versionDuring the Christmas season of 1961, ABC presented a musical special on television entitled The Enchanted Nutcracker. It starred Robert Goulet and Carol Lawrence, with child actress Linda Canby as Clara, and featured a script by Samuel and Bella Spewack, who had written the libretto for Kiss Me, Kate. The show, advertised as a "free adaptation" of The Nutcracker, was choreographed by Carol Haney. Information on this program is currently scant, so it is not clear how much of Tchaikovsky's music was used, but the story was still about a nutcracker who comes to life and takes a little girl to the Kingdom of Sweets. The Nutcracker was portrayed, not by a dancer, but by French actor Pierre Olaf, who also played a new character named Dr. Gombault. Patrick Adiarte, who had played Prince Chulalongkorn in the 1956 film The King and I, also played a Prince in The Enchanted Nutcracker, though clearly, the Nutcracker and the Prince were two entirely different characters in this version. The roles that Goulet and Lawrence played were also created especially for this adaptation.[39] This television production was shown once and then fell into complete obscurity, never even being rerun on ABC-TV. [edit] Animated versionsThere have been several animated versions of the original story, but none can really be actually considered an animated version of the ballet itself. All of these invent characters that appear neither in the original E.T.A. Hoffmann story nor in the ballet.
[edit] Satirical versionsIn 2003, choreographer Matthew Bourne staged his own controversial version, telecast on the Bravo channel, entitled Nutcracker!. It faithfully retains all of the Tchaikovsky music, but resets the story in a Dickensian-type orphanage, invents completely new characters, and introduces much sexual innuendo.[40] Another satirical version involves a group of presumably gay boys constructing a show involving the "nut cracker". The stage version involves a chorus of singing parts and various out-of-character renditions of "fairies" and "dancing flowers"[41] In 2008, the Slutcracker debuted in at the Somerville Theatre in Somerville, MA. The dance, a satirical burlesque version of the classic, produced, choreographed and directed by Vanessa White (A.K.A. Sugar Dish) featured Boston-area actors, burlesque and can-can dancers, drag kings, hoopers, ballerinas, acrobats, and bellydancers. The plot recasts Clara as an adult, the "slutcracker" as an adult toy, and the rat king antagonist as her jealous boyfriend. Because of the show's sell-out popularity it has been booked at the same venue for extended performances in 2009[42][43]. [edit] Jazz versionsIn 1960, Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn arranged their own adaptation of the Nutcracker Suite for the Duke Ellington Orchestra featuring the Overture, Toot Toot Tootsie Toot (Dance of the Reed-Flutes), Peanut Brittle Brigade (March), Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy), the Entr'acte, The Volga Vouty (Russian Trepak), Chinoiserie (Chinese Tea), Dance of the Floreadores (Waltz of the Flowers), and Arabesque Cookie (Arabian Coffee). The suite is arranged for the traditional five saxophones (two alto, two tenor, one baritone), four trumpets, a small three trombone section, drums, piano and bass, with second alto doubling on clarinet, bamboo flute, both tenors doubling on clarinet, baritone doubling on bass clarinet, and first trumpet doubling on tambourine. The arrangement has been played by Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra side-by-side with the New York Philharmonic performing the respective original movements. The New York Youth Symphony's resident jazz ensemble Jazz Band Classic is slated to perform the Ellington version alongside the original with the orchestra at Carnegie Hall on November 22, 2009. In 1999, the arrangement was expanded to fit Donald Byrd's adaptation of The Nutcracker with modern choreography and themes revolving around an African-American family in Harlem, and an aged Clara's experience through the Civil Rights movement. David Berger composed, arranged, performed, and recorded expansions from Ellington and Strayhorn's suite to mesh with the modern ballet. Shorty Rogers recorded his own version of the suite called The Swingin' Nutcracker for RCA Victor just weeks before Ellington recorded his in 1960. It features an all star West Coast band including the likes of Art Pepper, Bud Shank, Bill Holman, Richie Kamuca, Harold Land, Jimmy Giuffre, Conte Candoli, Frank Rosolino, Lou Levy, and Mel Lewis. In 2001, another jazz version appeared on television, this one entitled The Swinging Nutcracker. Another one, using the Ellington-Strayhorn jazz arrangement of the score, and entitled Nutcracker Sweeties, appeared on cable television in 2006, and is available on DVD. It sets the ballet in the United States during the 1940s, and all of the dances, except for the last two, which he actually sees, are visualized by a World War II soldier on leave roaming the streets of New York in a rented car and listening to the jazz arrangement, which is being broadcast over the radio. The choreography is by David Bintley, and the work is performed by the Birmingham Royal Ballet. A variation of The Nutcracker is performed in the Broadway musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. During a scene in a speakeasy, "The Nuttycracker Suite" is played. It features jazz versions of the famous dances within The Nutcracker, especially the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. [edit] Upcoming filmA feature-length variation on the tale set in 1920s Vienna, Nutcracker: The Untold Story, featuring John Turturro as the Mouse King, Elle Fanning as Mary (rather than Clara; Mary is her name in the original story) and Nathan Lane as a new character, Uncle Albert, is scheduled to be released during the Christmas holiday season of 2009. It is currently (2009) in post-production. The film is written and directed by Andrei Konchalovsky.[44] [edit] CommercialsA humorous adaptation of "The Dance of the Reed Flutes" was used in a 1975 television commercial for "Cadbury's Fruit and Nut" chocolate bars by the Birmingham UK -based chocolate manufacturer Cadbury. The commercial was voiced by writer and television personality Frank Muir and first line of the ditty was "Everyone's a Fruit and Nut case". In addition, the "Marche" was used as the jingle for "Smurf Berry Crunch" cereal in the early 1980s. In 2009, IHOP began producing a series of humorous commercials featuring two digitally animated nutcrackers having conversations. The music used is the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. [edit] LyricsA narrated adaptation of the Nutcracker Suite was released on LP as "Captain Kangaroo (Bob Keeshan) Introduces You To The Nutcracker Suite"; it is believed that this was produced some time in the 1960s although a copyright date is not available. This work is remarkable for the lyrics that were created as an integral part of the narration.[45] [edit] Nutcracker Suite for ChildrenIn the late 1940s, Milton Cross, announcer for the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts between 1931 and 1975, narrated a three-record 78 RPM (and considerably altered) version of the story entitled The Nutcracker Suite for Children, with piano accompaniment. It was released by Musicraft Records.[46] [edit] DiscographyMany recordings have been made since 1909 of the Nutcracker Suite, which made its appearance on disc in what is now historically considered the first record album.[47] But it was not until the LP album was developed that recordings of the complete ballet began to be made. Because of the ballet's approximate hour and a half length, it fit very comfortably onto two LPs. Most CD recordings take up two discs, often with fillers because the ballet runs for between 80 to 90 minutes. An exception is the 81-minute 1998 Valery Gergiev recording on the Philips Classics label that fit onto one CD. 1954, the year in which the Balanchine version of the ballet was first staged, was also the year that the first complete recording - in mono sound - appeared on Mercury Records. It was performed by the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Antal Doráti. Dorati later re-recorded the complete ballet in stereo, with the London Symphony Orchestra in 1962 for Mercury and with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1975 for Philips Classics. Some have hailed the 1975 recording as the finest ever made of the complete ballet.[48] It also is faithful to the score in employing a boys choir in the Waltz of the Snowflakes. Many other recordings use an adult or mixed choir. In 1956, the conductor Artur Rodziński made a complete recording of the ballet on stereo master tapes for Westminster Records, but because stereo was not possible on the LP format in 1956, the ballet was issued in stereo on magnetic tape, and only a mono LP set was issued. (Recently, the Rodzinski performance was issued in stereo on CD.) In 1958, the first stereo LP of the complete ballet, with Ernest Ansermet conducting the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, appeared on Decca Records in the UK and London Records in the US. And with the advent of the stereo LP coinciding with the growing popularity of the complete ballet, many other complete recordings of it have been made over the last 30 years. Notable conductors who have done so include Maurice Abravanel, André Previn, Valery Gergiev, Mariss Jansons, Seiji Ozawa, Richard Bonynge, Semyon Bychkov, and Gennady Rozhdestvensky. The soundtrack of the 1977 Baryshnikov television production, conducted by Kenneth Schermerhorn, was issued in stereo on a CBS Masterworks 2 LP-set, but it has not appeared on CD. (The 78-minute soundtrack would today fit quite easily onto one CD.) The LP soundtrack recording was, for a time, the only stereo album of the Baryshnikov Nutcracker available, since the show was originally telecast only in mono, and it was not until recently that it began to be telecast with stereo sound. The sound portion of the DVD is also in stereo. The first complete recording of the ballet in digital stereo was issued in 1985, on a 2-CD RCA set featuring Leonard Slatkin conducting the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. This album originally had no "filler", but it has recently been re-issued on a multi-CD set containing complete recordings of Tchaikovsky's two other ballets, Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty. Two major theatrical film versions of the ballet have been made so far (although a high-definition film of the most recent Royal Ballet production is set to open in selected theatres in 2009), and each has its own soundtrack album. The first theatrical film adaptation, made in 1986, is of the Pacific Northwest Ballet version, and was conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras. The music is played in this production by the London Symphony Orchestra. It has yet to make its appearance on DVD. The second was a 1993 color film of the New York City Ballet version, titled George Balanchine's The Nutcracker. As mentioned previously, this motion picture used Macaulay Culkin's name for marquee value, although he does dance a few steps, and featured the New York City Ballet. David Zinman conducted. Notable albums of excerpts from the ballet, rather than just the usual Nutcracker Suite, were recorded by Eugene Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra for Columbia Masterworks, and Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for RCA Victor. Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra, as well as Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra have also recorded albums of extended excerpts. Neither Ormandy, Reiner, nor Fiedler ever recorded a complete version of the ballet; however, Kunzel's album of excerpts runs 73 minutes, containing more than two-thirds of the music. Conductors who have recorded only the Nutcracker Suite include such luminaries as Claudio Abbado, Leonard Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan, James Levine, Sir Neville Marriner, Mstislav Rostropovich, Sir Georg Solti, Leopold Stokowski, and John Williams, among many others. in 2007, Josh Perschbacher recorded an organ transcription of the Nutcracker Suite. [edit] Battle of the NutcrackersIn 2008, Ovation TV held their annual "Battle of the Nutcrackers" viewing contest, giving their audience a choice of which Nutcracker to choose as the best. Out of six television and/or film versions of the ballet, The Hard Nut was chosen as the favorite for the second year in a row, with the Macaulay Culkin - George Balanchine 1993 film voted on as one of the least liked.[49] The Pacific Northwest Ballet version, designed by Maurice Sendak was second choice, with the openly sexual and dysfunctional Maurice Bejart version of 2000 coming in third. (Strangely enough, the Baryshnikov version was not among the candidates, though as of 2008, it remains a huge bestseller on DVD.) The contest demonstrated that those who participated in it are perhaps more prone to select unusual, dysfunctional versions of the ballet over more traditional ones. [edit] Samples
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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