- Author-designer Mikhail Shemiakin's sinister re-imagining of Tchaikovsky's beloved Christmas ballet.
- This version of "The Nutcracker" gives the classic ballet a tragic spin, with Masha (instead of Clara) now the unloved, unappreciated daughter of the Town Council President. At a Christmas party, Masha is given a seemingly alive Nutcracker by her Uncle Drosselmeyer, and Masha instantly is enchanted with it. The toys come to life at midnight, and after Masha helps the Nutcracker defeat attacking mice, he takes her to his kingdom, where he is later revealed to be a handsome Prince. The Prince and Masha fall deeply in love, but their "happy ending" has a morbid twist not found in any other "Nutcracker".—Albert Sanchez Moreno a.moreno@mindspring.com
- This version of "The Nutcracker" has a dark, morbid, sinister edge to it that most others don't, and a shocking, tragic ending not found in any other production of it.
There is more pantomime in this version of "The Nutcracker" than in others. At times it seems as if we are watching a play in pantomime, rather than a ballet, although all of the music is still there. Sometimes even dialogue is pantomimed, with the dancers moving their mouths as if they were talking, but nothing actually being heard.
Act I - The family of Town Council President Stahlbaum is busily preparing for a Christmas party. In the kitchen, there is a great deal of activity going on, but rats are on the verge of gobbling up all the food. Drosselmeyer (acted by Anton Adasinsky), the mysterious and sinister toymaker, is a friend of the family, and godfather to the beautiful and sweet-tempered Masha, the Stahlbaums's daughter (danced by Irina Golub). Drosselmeyer has brought with him what seems to be a life-sized doll, but the doll acts strangely human and seems to be able to move of its own volition. Just before the party, Masha, who wears a rather dowdy dress, begs her mother for the chance to wear something elegant, but the mother rudely and cruelly shoves her aside. One of the chambermaids, however, takes pity on Masha and gives her a leftover pink sash. Masha is delighted.
As the party begins, Herr Stahlbaum (Masha's father, danced by Vladimir Ponomarev), can't resist tasting some of the punch, which may be spiked (it is never made clear, although the adults are all drunk by the end of the party). He is also lecherously chasing one of the kitchen maids, hoping for a kiss. Masha's parents ignore her and treat her like a nuisance, but they dote on Fritz, Masha's obnoxious, spoiled brother, and give him a leftover Napoleonic hat. In the living room, where the party is being held, Masha and Fritz comically dance together for their own amusement and for the amusement of their father. (In this "Nutcracker", Masha actually seems to "shimmy" at one point during her dance, although Tchaikovsky's music is the same as it has always been.) Fritz blames Masha for the awkwardness of their dancing, though he is as much to blame, and Mrs. Stahlbaum (their mother, danced by Elena Bashenova) rushes to comfort him, again rudely shoving Masha away. Every time Masha comes near her, she is met with the same cruel treatment.
Then Drosselmeyer enters and greets Masha, whom he seems to understand, but clearly voices his displeasure for Fritz, who tries to "horn in" on all the activity, demanding a present from him. Drosselmeyer has brought several life-size dolls, all of which dance to the surprise and wonder of the guests.
After watching these dances, Masha exits to the kitchen, but is soon roughly shoved back out by an unseen hand. Not being able to stand any more of this treatment, she breaks down in tears. Drosselmeyer sees this and brings out the life-size doll he was seen with at the beginning, making sure that Masha notices it. It is a Nutcracker (danced by Alexander Kulikov), and Masha is at once amused by it. The Nutcracker takes Masha's hand and they dance together, while some of the boys annoy one of the elderly guests. Masha silently giggles as she notices that they have gone in the direction of the kitchen, where the rats are hiding. Fritz notices the Nutcracker and tries to get it to crack a too-large nut. Suddenly the Nutcracker not only throws him off but hurls the giant nut at him, much to Fritz's surprise. Masha comforts the Nutcracker and to her delight, he signals that he wants to dance with her again, which they do; he then blows her a kiss. As the Grandfather Waltz begins to signal the end of the party, Masha looks over at the carousing, now drunken adults, and hallucinates that they have suddenly turned into rats. Horrified, she looks away. When she looks back, everything has returned to normal.
As the guests leave through the wine cellar, we see that Masha has not gone to bed. She wanders around the living room, vaguely uneasy. Suddenly she sees the pendulum of the clock strike midnight, and Drosselmeyer is swinging on it. Everything then begins to become giant size, and Masha faints in terror.
The rats invade the living room, and the toy soldiers come to life in preparation for a great battle. Masha, still frightened, is comforted by one of the soldiers, who helps pull her to safety as the battle begins. She hides in a now-giant shoe. Drosselmeyer enters and consults with the Rat Cardinal, who is browsing through what looks like a cookbook. They seem to come upon some sort of special recipe, though this is never made clear at all. Suddenly the Nutcracker appears, and Masha rushes into his embrace, but he must leave her to fight. The Commander of the Rat Army is named Napoleon and bears a certain resemblance to Fritz. As the battle reaches its climax, Masha throws her slipper at the Rat King (also danced by Vladimir Ponomarev) to prevent him from killing the Nutcracker. The Rat King falls as if wounded. Masha's kind heart leads her to comfort her own enemy, but now more unusual things happen. The Army Commander drapes a beautiful queen's robe around Masha as if in acknowledgement of her bravery. Then Masha dances for her beloved Nutcracker (they do not dance together in this scene, as they do in other versions); he climbs into the shoe, Masha climbs in with him, they again embrace, and the shoe rises into the air and sails off for Confiturenburg, in this version the Kitchen of the Sweets. Below, the rats are retreating, carrying their wounded, and a mysterious, life-size "fly-person" (half-fly, half-human) angrily shakes its fists at the Nutcracker.
The flying shoe makes a temporary landing. Masha and the Nutcracker find themselves in a cemetery near the snow kingdom, where snowflakes dance so fiercely for them that a storm comes up and they nearly freeze to death. But they are rescued by Drosselmeyer, and after she recovers, Masha runs to the Nutcracker and embraces him again. The Rat Cardinal, who has been watching, stomps off angrily, apparently disgusted at the fact that Drosselmeyer has rescued them.
Act II - In the Kitchen of Sweets, a great feast is being prepared by none other than the rats. Drosselmeyer is also there, as is the Rat Cardinal, who orders the Fly-Person to challenge the Nutcracker to a duel. (Drosselmeyer does nothing to stop him.) In the Great Hall of Confiturenburg, the Nutcracker's four sisters, all beautiful human women, look upward and see Masha and the Nutcracker arrive in the giant shoe. Masha is warmly gracious to them, and they welcome her. Suddenly, the Fly-Person challenges the Nutcracker. They fight a duel with swords, and the Nutcracker, to Masha's relief, kills the Fly-Person. Masha and the Nutcracker sit down offstage to watch the entertainments that the Sugar Plum Fairy, portrayed as a rather Marie Antoinette-like figure in this version, has arranged for them - the Spanish Dance, the Arabian Dance, the Chinese Dance, the Dance of the Toy Flutes, the Russian Dance, and the Dance of the Clowns. Then Masha and the Nutcracker re-enter, Masha having changed into a more formal evening dress. A waltz is about to begin, but the Sugar Plum Fairy signals to Masha to look away from the Nutcracker. One of the Nutcracker's sisters goes up to him and seems to remove his face - we then see that the Nutcracker has transformed into a handsome, human Prince (danced by Leonid Sarafanov). Masha is astonished, and at the same time, completely enraptured. The couple walks off holding hands and sits down to watch the "Waltz of the Flowers".
They then return to the stage. The Prince kneels down and kisses Masha's hand, and the two begin to dance the beautiful Adagio of the "Pas de Deux". During the dance, it is obvious that the Prince is wooing Masha. The dance becomes more romantic and sensual; at its height, Masha and the Prince rush toward each other and passionately kiss romantically for the first time. Masha feels a sense of unworthiness at first, but the Prince reassures her, and, in ballet pantomime, gets down on one knee and asks her to marry him. As their dance mounts in passion and intensity, the two declare their love for each other in pantomime and, once Masha makes sure no one else is noticing, happily run offstage, perhaps to announce their wedding plans, perhaps to make love - it is left up to the audience's imagination. They then return to the stage and dance, respectively, the "Tarantella" and the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy". The "Coda" then begins, and the room is suddenly flooded with people - the other dancers and the Prince's four sisters have returned, along with some of the citizens of Confiturenburg. Masha is overjoyed; she has been accepted as the Prince's bride and the wedding ceremony is soon to begin. She and the Prince rush toward each other and embrace lovingly yet again, and then all except Drosselmeyer, the Sugar Plum Fairy, and the rats, launch into the "Final Waltz".
During all of the Act II festivities, Drosselmeyer, who in this production appears to be in cahoots with the rats for some reason, has watched and remained strangely disapproving of the events. The scene now changes to sometime later, as the "Apotheosis" begins. The Kitchen of Sweets has apparently been boarded up, but there is light streaming through a giant grille that looks as if it might be part of an oven. Drosselmeyer enters clutching his chest and staggering - whether in pain from gout or simply affected by the cold weather, the audience never knows. He shakes his fist in anger in the direction of the Kitchen, apparently aware of something. He waves his hand, and the grille rises, revealing what is inside. It is a giant wedding cake. All the dancers in Act II surround it, seemingly turned into statues. The rats are quickly climbing the cake and gobbling up parts of it. They will soon reach the top, upon which stand Masha in her wedding gown and the Prince in his military uniform. It is implied that this is the recipe that the Rat Cardinal discovered in the cookbook. Masha and the Prince have been turned into candy statues, perhaps to be soon devoured by the rats. (We are never actually told if they are baked, and in fact, they might not be. We only assume it because we are shown a grille in a kitchen that somewhat resembles an oven, which opens to reveal Masha, the Prince, and almost the entire cast of Act II as candy statues.)
And this is how the ballet ends in this version.
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