My mom and I decided to go up to Seattle the day before to give us more time, and to have less traveling time all in one day. Sadly, by the time we got through rush hour traffic, to our hotel, and ate dinner, the stores were all closed for the night so we didn't get to do the big city shopping like we had planned. But dinner at The Cheesecake Factory was yummy, and we had that Limoncello cake that mom discovered and it was soooo delicious. Afterwards, we walked around the city for a bit and admired all the pretty Christmas decorations.
Somehow during the night I rolled over and whacked my mom in the face!! I've never done that before, to my knowledge anyway. Growing up, I wasn't the sibling that took up the whole bed or rolled over you. So that was weird for me. I woke my mom up too, I felt bad.
Anyway, we got up the next morning and it was raining, (Of course, it's Seattle), but I was hoping it wouldn't. We got ready for the ballet since we wouldn't have a place to change and then we went out to our Seattle tour of our favorite spots which included:
Dahilia's Bakery
Got our favorite chocolate and soft ginger cookies and are excited to try an apple cinnamon brioche and pear muffin. Also got English muffins for breakfast and mom said, and I quote, "I can never eat another English muffin again!!"
Drove up to the Queen Anne neighborhood to visit Nancy's Sewing Basket, the ribbon room was kind of a let down after The Ribbonrie in San Francisco, but Mom found a few things she needed. And the windows were done with American Girl Dolls done in outfits of children's book characters. Last year they had the Nutcracker costumes, but I don't know if they are going to do new ones to match the new production.
I was able to take mom to Paper Source, which is a store I first found in Portland, and we had a lot of fun looking at all the pretty things. Also we went to Trader Joe's next door, my first time, and I got to see what they had. I did find they had dried Jack Fruit, which is something I had when I went to Uganda. But fresh. Like they just cut it from the tree and gave me a piece fresh. It was kind of weird to see it on a store shelf. And we found some other fun things to try.
Then it was time to head to the theater. We got there with plenty of time before the show. Mom was getting excited about all the little girls who were dressed up in their holiday dresses, probably because she has a granddaughter now that someday she can dress up like that. Our seats were very good because I bought them and I wanted to be able to have a good view.
The ballet:
This new version had new sets, costumes, and also a slightly different storyline. Ian Falconer, who does the Olivia Pig books, designed the whole thing. I loved the stage set up that had two panels on either side of the stage painted with people who were attending the ballet, and Olivia pig even came to watch the ballet!
The other big difference is that they are now doing the official Balanchine version with Balanchine's choreography. So that changed the storyline a little. It matches most other productions now, where Clara is a young girl and there is a sugar plum fairy. (Last year's didn't have one). Balanchine's version also has the candy/food in the second act-marzipan, coffee, tea, candy cane, etc.
The show also started with an animated sequence that flies you over a snowy forest, through a town and up to the front door of The Stahlbum's house. It is shown during the overture and it was super swanky that PNB had this done. The first set you see is the hallway where Clara and Fritz are waiting to go in the main room where they are getting ready for the Christmas party. The backdrop was painted with lots of family portraits and busts that were in the image of important ballet people like Balanchine, Lincoln Kirstein, Marius Pepita and even Tchaikovsky. I thought that was fun. They also show the room behind it when they backlight the drop so you can see what Clara and Fritz see when they peek through the keyhole.
The main living room set was just gorgeous. It's brand new so everything is so fresh and bright. The costumes were beautiful too. The fabric for the women's dresses was so pretty. They set the story in a New England town sometime after the Civil War, so that was the style they were going for. There was even a window to outside where snow was falling.
Another difference is that they had Drosselmeier come to the party with his nephew, Nathaniel. Clara gets a little crush on Nathaniel so he becomes her nutcracker/prince for the battle scene and second act. Whereas last year Clara was older and the nutcracker doll itself became her prince and they actually danced in the second act.
This year they added a violin solo from "Sleeping Beauty" that Tchaikovsky actually wrote, so it kind of matched, they used it for movement for when the house is shutting down after the party and Clara sneaks back into the living room. It worked fine, just not sure why they needed it.
The mouse king had seven heads and he was gross and scary. I did like the hare drummer, although not sure why they had only one guy dressed up as a bunny when all the rest were toy soldiers. The tree growing scene was not as magical for me as last year. Maybe because I was too close to see it happening, but the effects just didn't do it for me. Also, last year the big grandfather clock was so cool when it split apart in to two legs swinging around. It just worked better. After the battle, Clara falls asleep on her bed which is transported to the forest where snow is falling. The Nutcracker comes out and pulls of his outfit and is dressed as the dashing prince/Nathaniel. Clara and Nathaniel walk around a bit and then the Snow dance happens. PNB did get a Chihuly sculpture that is lit up to be a star in the sky for the snow scene. It's pretty. Last year, they made this part the pas de deux for Clara and her Prince and it was my favorite part of the show. This year that piece of music gets moved to the second act for the pas de deux for the sugarplum fair and her cavalier. It was still breathtaking, but it made for even less ballet in the first act.
The second act opens on the "candy kingdom" and the sugar plum fair dances with her angels. It's the twinkly music you think of when you think of the Nutcracker music, and it made me realize that each production just moves around the music to when they want each dance to occur. Clara and Nathaniel arrive on a boat made out of a walnut and tell their story of defeating the mouse king. Then all the candy dances. The Hot Chocolate dancers from Spain were fun and had exotic costumes. The peacock/coffee dancer had this beautiful peacock headdress on. I loved the Russian candy canes, the guy dancing with the hula hoop was so cool, he would jump and spin it around himself. I also liked the Chinese Tea guy, he did a lot of cool jumping. Another difference is that the waltz of the flowers has a "head ballerina" who they call "Dewdrop", she gets a few solos. It's nice. I love Mother Ginger and her Polichinelles who come out from under her huge skirt. Traditionally, a male dancer plays her, and the PNB guy was actually on stilts to make the costume high enough. I've also seen a different production use a puppet to make the head part of Mother Ginger and that was fun too.
The sugar plum fairy and cavalier dance was amazing. I just get so swept away in the dancing and the music is so epic. When George Balanchine did his version he did this part where the sugar plum fairy is en poine on this conveyor belt thingy to make the illusion that she is floating. PNB put that in their production too, so that was fancy. The illusion didn't work for me so well, the cavalier kept moving; I think if he were stationary you would see the contrast between the moving person and the stationary one better. The sugar plum fairy's purple tutu had so many sparkles on it!!! Ahhhh!! Then everyone comes back and they say good-bye to Clara and Nathaniel. They fly away in a sleigh pulled by reindeer that actually flies. The whole audience gasped at that part. It was truly magical. It was kind of fun going to this the first year it was open because there were a few moments like that. No one had seen this version before so all the surprises were new.
When compared to last year's production, there were things I liked better from that one, and things I liked better from this one. I don't think one was better than the other, they are just different versions. I think it is so fun that I got to see these two versions back to back.
After the show we got a few pics, hit up the merch and then headed home. We were able to get out of town much faster than last year (I think there was construction last year that made it so slow). We stopped in Issaquah for dinner at a Chinese place where I tried dumplings for the first time. Mom was a rock star and drove us safely though Snoqualmie Pass, which was a bit treacherous. It was snowing and they were making the semis chain up. It was a tense little bit, but mom just went slow and our car, Blue Christmas, was amazing as well. We lucked out last year not having snow. But now we know why we don't go to Seattle in the winter if we can help it. It was a fabulous show, mom loved it and had such a good time. I'm so glad we were able to go and have a fun together!
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