Nutcrackers, Notcrackers And Joy To The World

Dance Magazine, Dec, 2000 by K. C. Patrick

Once upon a time there were no Nutcrackers! Then the great Czar of snowy Russia called. "Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, you have composed for us two wonderful ballets, Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty. Now make us a new and glorious one for our Imperial Theatre season. I will give you the services of our finest choreographer, Marius Petipa, and Riccardo Drigo to conduct the orchestra. Make us something joyous for the children and to show off our very finest dancers in the Maryinsky company. A lady at court has told us of a gothic story, Der Nussknacker und der Mausekonig, by a German author, E.T.A. Hoffmann, who, I'm told, was much devoted to Mozart." "No, no," protested Tchaikovsky. "I know that tale and it is not suitable for a ballet." "Well, Peter Ilyich, then we will find someone who can make it suitable. Do you know the writings of the Frenchman Alexandre Dumas? Oh, and Peter, the commission will be sizeable." The somewhat one-sided discussion went much like that.

It takes a long time to write and orchestrate the music for a ballet, and in the middle of his composition, Tchaikovsky had to travel to New York to conduct the inaugural concert at Carnegie Hall. "Hmm, snowflakes, beautiful, perfect, how pure," Tchaikovsky perhaps thought one winter day, studying the pointed white crystals on his glove. And later, "Smell those spring flowers; they seem to waltz in the breeze," and "Perhaps I'll use the celesta--it sounds like tiny fairies dancing."

Petipa received the French libretto (Casse-Noisette) and the music as it was written for the ballet, but he became ill and so his assistant Lev Ivanov continued the work. And by December 1892, The Nutcracker (Shchelkunchik in Russian) made its debut at the Imperial Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Czar Alexander III complimented Tchaikovsky on his composition, but audiences weren't sure what to think. The critics hated it. It did not follow the Romantic ballet formulas, the story seemed to begin as one thing and then change to something else--and the prima ballerina did not even enter until nearly the end of the ballet! Tchaikovsky was depressed. But because so many young student dancers were cast in the opening scenes, the ballet was greatly appreciated by the ballet school, and most serious young dancers made it their business to learn the roles in case they might be allowed to dance next time--and maybe someday to dance the wonderful roles of the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier.

Just like Julie G. did.

The Nutcracker story has many twists and turns, and it varies depending on who is devising the choreography. Generally, a girl, Clara (Mary, Made or Masha in other versions), is given a nutcracker by her godfather, Herr Drosselmeyer, at a Christmas Eve party arranged by her parents. Sometimes she has a younger brother, Fritz, who breaks the nutcracker. Late at night Clara comes to retrieve her gift from under the tree, only to find that she must defend him against the evil King of the Mice (or rats, coyotes, occasionally a wicked Mouse Queen). The Nutcracker is transformed into a prince who takes her through a flurry of pure snowflakes to the Kingdom of Sweets, where the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier make her a gift of much beautiful dancing.

Many great choreographers have devised new versions of the ballet--always with Tchaikovsky's music, though: Nicholas Sergeyev, then Frederick Ashton for Sadler's Wells Ballet, George Balanchine for New York City Ballet, Yuri Grigorovich for the Bolshoi Ballet, John Cranko for the Stuttgart Ballet, Rudolf Nureyev for the Royal Swedish and The Royal (English) Ballets, Flemming Flindt for the Royal Danish Ballet, John Neumeier for Frankfurt Ballet, Mikhail Baryshnikov and then Kevin McKenzie for American Ballet Theatre. Wonderful characters are created, such as Bear, Dew Drop, Mother Ginger, Arabian Coffee, grandfather. But one mysterious and vibrant character always is seen: Drosselmeyer. Who or what is he?

In the early 1940s, Alexandra Danilova and George Balanchine visited Willam Christensen in San Francisco. Christensen had lately become director of San Francisco Ballet and he needed a new work for his holiday performances. Drawing from the memories of his Maryinsky guests and his own imagination, Christensen devised the first full-length American Nutcracker (1944). When Willam left San Francisco for Utah, his brother Lew Christensen added his own stamp to The Nutcracker, and today the credit is shared by L. Christensen and H. (for Helgi) Tomasson, the present artistic director. As soon as a professional company was established--Utah Ballet/Ballet West--the original version was revived and has run for some forty-plus years in Salt Lake City. Meanwhile, George Balanchine had established himself as artistic director of New York City Ballet and his new Nutcracker was premiered in 1954 at City Center, then revised when City Ballet moved to the New York State Theater in Lincoln Center (1964). Participation in performances seems to generate a strange need in choreographers to place their own stamp on The Nutcracker, while still continuing to use Hoffmann's or Dumas's basic plot and, always, Tchaikovsky's music.