Nutcracker Ballet

In Nuncrackers, the Nutcracker ballet sequence at the end of the first act is 243 measures (about 7 minutes) of difficult to block/choreograph fluff and visual jokes... exactly my cup of tea, believe it or not.

On Tuesday night, we approached it head on.

The sequence starts with Sister Hubert restarting the story (after the earlier fiasco with Sister Leo and a baton), and we are introduced to Clara (Maria) and Fritz (John). Herr Drosselmeyer (Robert Anne) enters with the Nutcracker gift for Clara and Fritz deliberately breaks it. Drosselmeyer blesses it and says it will be good as new in the morning. He leaves, and the kids go off to bed.

Next, Clara sneaks downstairs and finds that the Nutcracker (Billy) has come to life. Immediately, he engages in a battle with the Mouse King (Louise) and runs off stage, returning as a handsome prince to the delight of Clara. They exit to the land of sweets.

Next, Hubert is set to explain that the Sugar Plum Fairy won't be appearing when Mother Superior enters, dressed as the Fairy. Moments later, Father Virgil, still tipsy from the Sister Julia fiasco, enters, also dressed as a Sugar Plum Fairy. They wrestle, with Virgil winding up being thrown head-long off stage by the Mother Superior. She takes her bow and exits.

Next, the swans enter (Mary George, Amnesia, and Robert Anne) in the usual trepak, dance around a bit, and exit.

Then, the Russian/Chinese dancers (John and Louise) come in to perform their dance, but they are interrupted again by Virgil, still in his Sugar Plum Fairy garb. He devolves from ballet to Fosse, winding up in a Graham-esque floor pose. The Reverend Mother takes advantage of the situation and comes in and sits on him, pinning him to the floor for several measures. Virgil escapes, sending the Reverend Mother flat on the floor on her rear end. He prances about a bit, making two offers to help her up, and denying assistance each time, then finally leaves the stage triumphantly. Maria and John come back in to help the Reverend Mother up. She yells "Stop Tape" and the first act ends.

So, the "mushy" parts right now are the following areas:

• When Clara comes in after the stroke of midnight, we need to have her discover the life-sized Nutcracker earlier so the Mouse King battle can happen and end before the music finishes. That will be a combination of cuing Sister Hubert a bit earlier, having Clara come in sooner, and cleaning up the battle movements.
• When Virgil and RM are on stage together the first time, I need to provide some more specific ballet-like movements to give them.
• When Virgil and RM wrestle, I have them start off with Sumo-like foot stomps, but that happens too early, and needs to have a short circle before hand. And the wrestling seems a bit unfocused. We'll clean that up as well.
• When Virgil comes back in in front of the Russian/Chinese dancers, I need to give him more specific and ballet-like moves to begin with. Then, after he tells the kids to get out, I need to give him a specific regiment of movements that will devolve to the floor pose.
• Finally, the point where RM sits on Virgil, and the struggle there needs to be worked out.

The GREAT parts (so far) are as follows:

• Fritz' taking and breaking the Nutcracker is funny, as is Clara's reaction.
• Herr Drosselmeyer's bit is funny.
• Sister Hubert's verbal reaction to both RM and Virgil is beyond hilarious.
• The trepak of swans is very funny, especially when they bob their heads in time with the music or indicate their intended direction.
• The Russian/Chinese dancers part is good

That's it. Great work so far everyone!

- Sean