Nutcracker 2007 stories

[vicarious]

We had 5 injuries, 5 out with a stomach flu and the snow storm.

 

The first injury was a few weeks before the show so recasting was relatively easy. The next injury was Andrei Bossov who was to play Drosselmeyer. This happened right before dress rehearsal. One of the boys learned his part in two days and performed it fabulously. The next 2 had on going shin splints. They are two of the best jumpers but they kept on going and even filled in other roles as well. What troopers. The stomach flu hit the opening night. That wiped out three dancers before the bus even left the dormitory. One of the stage hands had been a dancer and was called at worked and asked to come early to the theatre and bring her character shoes. She filled in as a parent. The next one to succumb to the stomach flu was the Kissy Doll. Just as the Executive Director was introducing the ballet she started feeling queasy. Her tutu was quickly removed and another girl put in it. This stand in learned the battle scene in the wings before going on. The next injury was the boy doing Harlequin and Spanish. He landed wrong and wrenched his foot. The next day one of the jumpers above danced Harlequin, and Spanish was done as a solo. All of the flu dancers were well and on their feet ready to dance. Also that day was the snow storm. 500 tickets were pre-sold. Only about 100 showed but they were an exuberant audience and the cast appreciated it. All the dancers made it home safe and sound. In that closing show Dream Marie's shoe came off at the end of the Pas de Deux but they kept on dancing with some improvisation. This last trivial on closing night was that the costume mistress got the stomach flu so a parent valiantly filled in leading the dancers in getting the costumes packed up and ready to go. I am so impressed with the team work of all the dancers. Jumping into roles, doing and helping with quick changes, learning choreography on short notice and generally working very hard. Way to go Bossov students!

[pointegirl18]

Wow...thats a lot of stuff....but im glad it went well...we only had a couple problems with ours.

[Redstorm]

The level of stress must have been busting out at the seams! So glad to hear it all turned out so well. What a great school you must be at to have so many ready to jump in at the last minute.

Now, take some time to relax! Sounds like you all could use it!

[Clara 76]

I'm not writing about anything until the last curtain call....

[Muck Luck]

First I send my condolences to all the Nut performers and families who did not get to perform because of the storm/travel advisories and injurues- how heartbreaking!

This was my Nutcracker weekend...On Friday I took my second grade class and four other primary classrooms to see the Nutcracker which my son ended up having five different roles in it due to a broken ankle of a male peer. He did an excellent job by the way even though that is the opinion of his mother. Then after school got out I headed to the airport to catch the red eye to fly to Boston to see my daughter's Nut performance. On the way it seems, my luggage did not make the trip from coast to coast and decided to stay in California. So when I arrived in Boston I had to go shop for a few necessities then check in to the hotel just in time to turn around and go to the Performance. Although the performance before and the performance after were canceled due to the two storms ,my daughter's performance was not-thank goodness. The performance was outstanding. (again, the opinion of a mother.) Then the next day the Nor-easter came through and my daughter and I were stuck in a hotel next to the biggest mall in New England so we had to Christmas shop all day.(-poor us ) When I called my husband to tell him that my daughter and I had nothing to do but shop, he expressed to me a reminder that Nutcracker season expenses had already cleared out our bank account and tried to convince me that we could find something else to do -unsuccessfully.Needless to say we had a great time in an almost empty mall before catching the first flight out Monday morning only to return to a stormy California.All and all, while it may be the last Nutcracker my daughter is cast in for awhile, my son has his eye on an even bigger role next year.

Wishing everyone a Merry Nutcracker Season and a restful New Year...

[tutumonkey]

Just to make our Nutcracker season complete, 1/2 hour befoe the beginning of our last show we had 2 dresssing rooms flood with nasty sewer water from a faulty pumping junction underneath one of the rooms. All the dancers and volunteers pitched in and no contumes were ruined but a few pairs of shoes and pieces of dancewear were non-retrievable. Show began on time and turned out to be the best of the season. I'm now taking a much needed break. Tutumonkey

[askaherm]

We are finally finished with our Nutcracker. Our first two dress rehearsals went OK, third dress rehearsal, day before the show, was a disaster. Angels were not in costume at their call, Sweeties were not dressed at their call (only the 4 who had a quick change made it on stage, and these were 5 and 6 year olds!). Sugarplum, right before the start of 2nd act, on the night of the second show, was getting the elastic sewn back into the casing, as the casing had fallen apart, while she was in costume (myself and another woman were behind her sewing her in while she was leaning over a stool). The Cavalier costume that matched the Sugarplum was too long for the guest dancer and highlighted all the wrong places. We were able to find something appropriate.

 

On the positive side, 7 new russian costumes were made this year and, after telling two of the girls that they would not be able to go out on opening night, due to 2 costumes not being finished, they were able to go on stage after the last 2 costumes were frantically finished at the theater. Opening night had a wonderful audience and all the dancers made it out on time. Our Matinee was standing room only. The videographer had a wide angle view of the show on a DVD 1 day after the show and promised us the edited version in 4 weeks (this had never happened before, usually we get the DVD back well into the next year). Everyone was watching it in the green room.

 

All in all a wonderful show again this year. I will not look at my sewing machine for a few months and I will now start to enjoy the holidays.

[superchauffer]

Yesterday's matinee completed our Nutcracker season. This year our youth ballet moved to a venue that seats four times as many as in the past, added a 38 piece orchestra, and had guest principals from NYCB. While all that is exciting, there were many anxious moments leading up to the performances as we awaited to see how the tickets sales would go. We are in an area with competing Nutcrackers, so every weekend since Thanksgiving, the parents and kids were out in the public eye doing promotional events worked in between the rehearsal schedule. It all paid off in the end as we had mostly sold out shows. All of the kids performed beautifully and there were no major mishaps. Perhaps the greatest gift for me this year was seeing my own two children perform together in the Clara and Prince pas de deux, as DS is probably not going to continue with dance the upcoming year. So yes, I was a little teary-eyed, but what a wonderful memory I will cherish always. Merry Christmas to all!