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Monday, December 11, 2006

Cracked Nut

My wife and I went to see The Nutcracker yesterday. This was the New York City Ballet version, choreographed 52 years ago by George Balanchine. That's a long damn time for one work of choreography to exist.

I love the music of this show, but I don't recall ever actually going to see it performed. I have very vague memories of going to see a ballet when I was maybe seven or so, but I don't for the life of me remember what the hell it was. Since one out of every two ballets performed in the U.S. are The Nutcracker, I suppose there's a pretty good chance that's what it was.

This production was pretty good, I guess. The story, folks, is not much to speak of. A little girl gets a nutcracker from her freak-ass godfather, she and the nutcracker fight off an assload of mice, then spend the entirety of the second act sitting, while food dances in front of them. Not a whole lot of plot there.

Anyway, we saw a matinee performance and we were surrounded by kids. (And a text-messaging assbite who was apparently conducting a job interview with her thumbs while sitting in the theater; my wife nearly decked her.) They made the standard kid noise throughout--screaming at the approach of the mouse king, laughing at the funny movements during the Chinese tea dance, etc.

Then, when Dewdrop comes on to dance with her flowers, a couple of little girls started squealing and yelled, "Oh! Here come the real ballerinas!" Which made me wince a little in sympathy for the poor schmucks playing the mice, who, I'm sure, were thinking something along the lines of, "I'll show you a real ballerina, you little fuck! Want to see my bleeding fucking toes?"

Poor, poor mice. Will the children never learn?

posted by Joe # 10:24 PM

Comments:

LOL! Poor mice indeed!

The problem with the Nutcracker is it brings out every ignorant mother with no idea how to act in public. The most cultural event they go to all year is the movies and they don't get that there are REAL PEOPLE on stage.

Last time I went the mother next to me provided commentary for the whole fucking show.

"Oh, look. She's wearing red. Oh, look. Here come the mice. Oh, look. The women next to me is going to punch me in the neck."

# posted by

Anonymous : 2:09 AM

Monday, December 11, 2006

Cracked Nut

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		Monday, December 11, 2006 Cracked Nut My wife and I went to see The Nutcracker yesterday. This was the New York City Ballet version, choreographed 52 years ago by George Balanchine. That's a long damn time for one work of choreography to exist. I love the music of this show, but I don't recall ever actually going to see it performed. I have very vague memories of going to see a ballet when I was maybe seven or so, but I don't for the life of me remember what the hell it was. Since one out of every two ballets performed in the U.S. are The Nutcracker, I suppose there's a pretty good chance that's what it was. This production was pretty good, I guess. The story, folks, is not much to speak of. A little girl gets a nutcracker from her freak-ass godfather, she and the nutcracker fight off an assload of mice, then spend the entirety of the second act sitting, while food dances in front of them. Not a whole lot of plot there. Anyway, we saw a matinee performance and we were surrounded by kids. (And a text-messaging assbite who was apparently conducting a job interview with her thumbs while sitting in the theater; my wife nearly decked her.) They made the standard kid noise throughout--screaming at the approach of the mouse king, laughing at the funny movements during the Chinese tea dance, etc. Then, when Dewdrop comes on to dance with her flowers, a couple of little girls started squealing and yelled, "Oh! Here come the real ballerinas!" Which made me wince a little in sympathy for the poor schmucks playing the mice, who, I'm sure, were thinking something along the lines of, "I'll show you a real ballerina, you little fuck! Want to see my bleeding fucking toes?" Poor, poor mice. Will the children never learn? posted by Joe # 10:24 PM Comments: LOL! Poor mice indeed! The problem with the Nutcracker is it brings out every ignorant mother with no idea how to act in public. The most cultural event they go to all year is the movies and they don't get that there are REAL PEOPLE on stage. Last time I went the mother next to me provided commentary for the whole fucking show. "Oh, look. She's wearing red. Oh, look. Here come the mice. Oh, look. The women next to me is going to punch me in the neck." # posted by Anonymous : 2:09 AM Post a Comment << Home		Links The Conversation Special Productions Izzle Pfaff Freida Bee Sometimes I Just Talk Alisa and the Stuff Alisa Does Tuna Girl Defective Yeti The Incurable Insomniac The Savvy, The Extreme and The Idealist Caballito del Diablo The Ambivalence of Open Spaces Bug-Eyed Blog Whiskeymarie Version 53 Things I've Noticed (S)wine: ShortLeanCuts Out of Tune Missives from the Beige Sister of Hairshirt Apostrophe Abuse Jonestown Tobacco Brunette The Public Intellectual That's Why Archives July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 March 2011 April 2011