The Nutcracker (theatre)/YMMV

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These things about The Nutcracker (theatre) are subjective - not everyone will agree with all of them.

• Adaptation Displacement: Were you aware there was a book before the ballet?
• Creator Backlash: Reportedly, Tchaikovsky was none too pleased with the music, which of course proceeded to experience Magnum Opus Dissonance and become his most popular work.
• Crowning Music of Awesome: Oh, don't tell me you've never heard the Waltz of the Flowers, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, or Trepak without liking it... at least before you've gone insane from hearing them in every single Christmas movie trailer.
  • Or Pas De Deux. It's incredibly romantic, and was written on a dare to write a piece of music that played the scale in order.
• Freud Was Right: The Baryshnikov version, once aired on PBS every Christmas, features adults in the roles of the Nutcracker and Clara...even though the latter is still playing a young girl . (This adds a certain frisson to their pas de deux.) The Mouse King is the nastiest of the party-goers, and the other gentlemen show up as the rest of the mice. Meanwhile, the whole ballet is orchestrated as a coming-of-age for Clara, who gets a hint of romance with the Nutcracker Prince before being brought back by the ever-watchful Drosselmeyer.
  • The 1983 Pacific Northwest Ballet version filmed as Nutcracker -- The Motion Picture (1986) had set and costume designs by Maurice Sendak and also takes on coming-of-age themes. Clara is played by a young girl in Act One, and Drosselmeyer is, as Roger Ebert and other critics noted, at least a bit of a Dirty Old Man who plunges her into the battle of the Nutcracker and Mouse King. Once the King is killed, the now-human Nutcracker and Clara are played by adults. They travel to a kingdom ruled by a pasha, played by the same actor as Drosselmeyer, who is jealous of their romance and tries to distract her with his dancing subjects (who replace the Land of Sweets characters).
• Parent Service: Most of the dances are playful or, at most, romantic. Some performances of Arabian Coffee, however, involve a woman in a harem costume climbing out of a giant mug. It's usually considered an adult drink.
  • Yeah, in our production of The Nutcracker there was a partner who had to lift her by her...um...crotch.
• Tastes Like Diabetes: A common criticism from serious ballet fans, especially ones who are tired of seeing companies re-stage The Nutcracker every year rather than embracing edgier (though less commercial) fare. Give them their due; the entire second half of the ballet does take place in the "Land of Sweets."
• Vindicated by History: Although the music was well-liked, the ballet itself was never very popular until the mid-20th century, when it practically became a Christmas tradition.

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