Preview

Nutcracker Review

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
811 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Nutcracker Review
Review: “The Nutcracker Suite” - A Beloved Traditional Classic Tale Charms Audience with a Magical Sensation
December 27, 2009 by Daniel Maikawa
The Nutcracker Suite was an elaborate fairy- tale ballet written by E.T.A. Hoffman in the late 1800’s which was accompanied by the brilliant music of Tchaikovsky. It included two acts consisting of five scenes: The Party Scene, The Fight Scene, The Land of Snow, The Land of Sweets and The Dream Ends. This 1993 version of The Nutcracker Suite performed in New York City was directed by George Balanchine and had a non- traditional ballet aspect in the setting, costumes and dances.
This was story of a little girl named Marie, and an adventure which she had on Christmas Eve. What was unusual about this Christmas Eve was that her mysterious uncle, Drosselmeyer, arrived and brought a special doll for Marie. What happened next was a magical adventure where my favourite scenes were The Christmas Party, The Fight Scene, and The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.
I had never seen The Nutcracker Ballet before, and witnessing it for the first time was a captivating unique experience. It was both visually and musically stunning, and was a treat for both my eyes and ears. The choreography was spectacular and the music accompanied the dancer’s movements very well. Although, I did not anticipate the non- traditional ballet aspect of the production, thinking it would be more old- fashioned since it originated from Russia in the late 1800’s, I still was enchanted with a magical feeling and enjoyed the modernized production. In the near future, I wish to go to a Nutcracker performance in a nearby theatre to take on a different perspective of the story.

Christmas Party – Most famous musical piece of the production
The music is very strong and energetic. I observe that the dancers have colourful costumes of the late 1800s, but they were not quite the traditional ballet attire as in other Nutcracker productions from Russia.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Nutcracker! (2002) by Matthew Bourne is performed to the tradition Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky. It is a narrative ballet and throughout the dance the score is used to enhance the storytelling and the characterisation. At the start of Act One the Matron claps her hands and the orphans get to work scrubbing and cleaning the orphanage. The musical accompaniment is bright and busy with the opening phrase building to a climax, as this happens two orphans wheel on a sad looking Christmas Tree (a twig in a pot). The orphans gather around in excitement and amazement, enhanced by the climax in the score, and this shows how deprived the orphans are that they get excited about the arrival of this very sad tree.…

    • 1203 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The story is mainly about a boy named Roylin who has a crush on a girl named Korrie. He wants to impress her with a gift but he has no money to buy it for her.…

    • 851 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To sum up, I really enjoyed “A Christmas Story: The Musical”, as it is a very joyful show which fits in the holiday atmosphere. It also allows me to see lots of design…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is so many tthings that must happen for a ballet to be presented. The first thing is costumes. Dancers wear uncomfortable things all the time but they don’t mind…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is one of the best known songs in The Nutcracker. Miles Hoffman, the music commentator for Morning Edition and a nationally renowned violinist, once stated, “And many of them [Tchaikovsky’s melodies] in this - just in this one ballet [The Nutcracker]- are immortal” (Hoffman). Tchaikovsky first began work on the music to the now internationally renowned ballet in February 1891 (Schwarm). While in Paris that year, he heard an instrument called the celesta, whose name is derived from the word celestial, being played, and thought its unique, twinkly sound would be perfect for the music of the fairy-tale ballet he was working on. This instrument is used as the melody in the song “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” (“History of Nutcracker”). In March 1892, selections from the orchestral suite were performed for the first time; however, the ballet, based on Alexandre Dumas’ lighter adaption of the fantasy story, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, by E.T.A. Hoffman, premiered on December 18, 1892 along with Tchaikovsky’s opera, Iolanta, at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia (Schwarm). Originally, the ballet was not popular; however, it…

    • 648 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    First performed in Saint Petersburg, Russia, the classic Christmas ballet, The Nutcracker has been shown for over 100 years. The composer, Peter Tchaikovsky, and choreographer Marius Petipa teamed up to create a timeless production as an adaptation of E.T.A. Hoffman’s tale "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King." This pair had previously worked together on another classical ballet, Sleeping Beauty.…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Nutcracker is a wonderful story, and there are many versions of the story, including movies, plays, and ballets. The original story was published in 1816 by E.T.A Hoffman, and the original ballet was in 1892, but some people have change the story over the years, but they kept the plot very similar of the story.…

    • 56 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Nutcracker Dance

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In order to embrace a classic holiday tradition, dancers from Denise Gucwa’s School of Dance performed “The Nutcracker” on Sunday December 6.…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    April 20, 2016, my oldest daughter and I attended the Moscow Ballet’s performance of Don Quixote, an everlasting favorite, at Three Rivers College. This is a classic ballet that has grown in popularity over the years, of which three acts can brilliantly convey every human emotion possible. It is a ballet with which I am vaguely familiar; I have seen it performed on television a few times and at the age of eleven I was thrilled to see a live performance. Don Quixote is chalk full of minuets, jigs, marches, and waltzes, mostly up beat and light-hearted with fun entertaining melodies as to correlate to the comedy. This particular viewing did not have an orchestra, but rather recorded sound. This aspect was suitable for the Tinnin Fine Arts Center…

    • 817 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When people start putting up Christmas trees and hanging up Christmas decorations, we know that the holiday season is around the corner. It’s this time of the year to see one of the Christmas traditions with your family and friends – The Nutcracker. I had a wonderful time seeing this ballet, performed by the Central Ohio Youth Ballet (COYB), at Midland theatre in Newark, Ohio, on the Thanksgiving weekend with my host family, and I was amazed by the great work and efforts that the performers had created. No wonder why The Nutcracker has became the timeless symbol of Christmas around the world.…

    • 1144 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What i first noticed when I first entered the performance center was a duet dancing slowly. The girls’ costume was a purple color and she was wearing a tank top and a flowy skirt. The male dancer was wearing simple purple pants that were obviously moveable. I particularly noticed the lighting that was on the floor. On the floor seemed to be a projection of snowflakes and cool blue lighting on top.…

    • 1724 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Angelas Ashes essay

    • 1379 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Everything was so enjoyable the Christmas morning. All the young adults were mingling, all the kids were playing video games, and all the older adults, or elders, were bragging about achievements that their kids have accomplished throughout that year. One thing that I remember strongly is how all the cousins were getting along for one…

    • 1379 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fantasia

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The third section starred Disney’s most famous character, Mickey Mouse, in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Paul Dukas. In this piece the bassoon represents the broomstick as it comes to life. The fourth segment is The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky. This segment shows the creation of the universe, with volcanoes erupting in time with the orchestra. The piece ends with the extinction of the dinosaurs.…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Harlem Dance History

    • 1303 Words
    • 6 Pages

    “Our company is as strong technically as any professional ballet company,” says Virginia Johnson, artistic director for New York City’s Dance Theatre of Harlem today. The pas de deux from Act 3 of the ballet classic Swan Lake is, after all, part of the company’s repertoire. But, as Johnson explains, the Dance Theatre of Harlem strives for something different. “We are a neo-classical company. Our work is based on the idea of moving ballet forward and giving audiences today something that maybe helps them understand their own lives in a different…

    • 1303 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Amadeus Movie Review

    • 584 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The title of the movie should actually be "Salieri", because the whole movie is really about his jealousy of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and how Salieri was overshadowed musically by Mozart. In the beginning, Salieri makes a "deal" with God so He will make Salieri a musical genius, and Salieri believes he has been granted this gift until the day Mozart comes to Vienna. Salieri immediately becomes jealous that God has bestowed upon Mozart the power he himself worked so desperately to achieve. From that point on, Salieri becomes obsessed with conspiring against Mozart, at one point paying a maid to go to Mozart's place to spy while she is cleaning and report back to him. Eventually, though indirectly, Salieri kills Mozart.…

    • 584 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics