THE NUTCRACKER - FOR EVERYONE'S UNDERSTANDING

Perhaps one of the most famous ballets of all time ( composed by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ), which doubles as one of the most famous classic Christmas tales of all time ( The Nutcracker and the Mouse by ETA Hoffmann and The story of the Nutcracker by Alexandre Dumas Sr / the father) an unforgetable tribute to imagination )

 

PROLOGUE - part of the tale but not included in the ballet libretto

Herr Drosselmeyer, a magician and creator of mechanical toys and clocks, was once employed in a royal palace where a happy family lived - The King , the Queen and their little baby daughter princess Pirlipat.

According to Drosselmeyer's story Madam Mouserinks ( The Queen Mouse ) tricked Pirlipat's mother ( The Queen of the Royal Palace ) into allowing her and her children to gobble up some of the lard that was supposed to go into the sausages that the King was to supposed to eat at dinner. As the Queen Mouse and the mice ate all the lard The King, enraged at Madam Mouserinks for spoiling the supper and upsetting his wife. He had then his court inventor, Drosselmeyer, create traps for the Mouse Queen and her children. Madam Mouserinks, angered at the death of her children, swore that she would take revenge on Pirlipat.

Pirlipat's mother surrounded her little Princess Pirlipat with cats which were supposed to be kept awake by being constantly stroked. The nurses who did so fell asleep, however, and Madam Mouserinks magically turned Pirlipat ugly, giving her a huge head, a wide grinning mouth, and a cottony beard like a nutcracker. The King blamed Drosselmeyer and gave him four weeks to find a cure. Drosselmeier went to his friend, the court astrologer.
They read Pirlipat's horoscope and told the King the only way to cure her was to have her eat the nut Crackatook (Krakatuk), which must be cracked and handed to her by a man who had never been shaved nor worn boots since birth. He must, without opening his eyes, hand her the kernel and take seven steps backwards without stumbling.

The King sent Drosselmeyer and the astrologer out to look for both. The two men journeyed for years without finding either the nut or the man. They then returned home to Nuremberg and found the nut with Drosselmeyer's cousin, a puppet-maker. His son / Drosselmeyer's nephew turned out to be the young man needed to crack the Crackatook. The King promised Pirlipat's hand to whoever could crack the nut. Many men broke their teeth on it before Drosselmeyer's nephew cracked it easily and handed it to Pirlipat.

The ugly princess who swallowed it turns into a young girl of angelic beauty. But, while walking backward, the young man -Drosselmeyer’s nephew stumbles and crushes the mouse Queen to death. With her last bit of strength she turns the young man into a toy for cracking nuts – the Nutcracker ( the same large head ,wide grinning mouth, cottony beard as Pirlipat had before so The Mouse Queen put the same curse on him ) Pirlipat, seeing how ugly he had become, refused to marry him and banished him from the castle.

The only way to break the spell was for the Nutcracker to defeat the seven headed Mouse King ( the child of Mouse Queen ) , thereby committing an act of great bravery, and for a young girl to love and care for him. Right from that moment Herr Drosselmeyer was looking for an opportunity to break the curse of his nephew.

 

ACT I - The Christmas Eve

It is Christmas Eve in Nuremberg, in the 1820s. In the german town square, Herr Drosselmeier presents a performance in his Children’s Street Theatre and then hurries off to the Sthalbaums’ Christmas party with his gifts. When Herr Drosselmeyer is invited to entertain the guests at a Christmas Eve party that his friends, the Stahlbaums, are giving. He decides that this could well be the opportunity he has been looking for. ( to break the curse of his nephew)

Their daughter, Marie, is a little younger than Drosselmeyer's nephew , who is imprisoned in the Nutcracker. Drosselmeyer decides to put the Nutcracker in the tender care of Marie and makes a special Christmas Angel to guide her through her task.Family and friends gather at the Stahlbaums ’ home to celebrate the holiday.

The children are excited to receive Christmas gifts. Herr Drosselmeier,the godfather of Marie and her brother Fritz arrives late and gifts them a clockwork castle with mechanical people moving around inside. However, the children quickly tire of it and eagerly ask him for more. The children receive : a mechanical doll, a toy soldier, Harlequin and Colombine. Stalhbaums orders the more expensive toys to be moved to his study, but Marie and Fritz want to play with them. Marie bursts into tears. To console them, Drosselmeyer gives them a huge Nutcracker in the form of a soldier, which enchants Marie.

Fritz hears the noise of the nuts cracking, and tries to seize the nutcracker. Disenchanted with his own gift ( a drum ), Fritz becomes jealous and when Marie reluctantly lets him play with it, he tries to crack a nut so big that it is the Nutcracker which breaks. Drosselmeier repairs him and Marie and cradles it in her arms, singing it a lullaby, while the boys tease her. Soon it is time for the traditional grandparents’ dance. With the children tired, the party winds down, and the guests depart. The Governess escorts Marie and Fritz to their rooms and the Sthalbaum family retires.

The Transformation
When the guests have departed and the house is asleep Marie is too excited to sleep as she recalls the evening’s party and her Nutcracker left under the Christmas tree. She sneaks back to the living room to find him which seems to be giving off a mysterious light and falls asleep on the sofa.
The clock strikes midnight and Marie wakes up. Herr Drosselmeyer appears perched atop the clock in place of the owl. But instead of her Godfather Drosselmeyer he has turned into a wizard. At a wave of his hand everything around them is transformed: the walls of the room slide back, the Christmas tree starts to grow. And all the toys come alive and grow together with the tree. With the house quiet, the mice begin to appear. The seven headed Mouse King ( the child of Mouse Queen ) wants revenge for the death of his mother. Herr Drosselmeyer exerts all his limited powers to transform the living room into a great battlefield, summoning the Mouse King. ( in order to break the spell of his nephew imprisoned in a Nutcracker )

The Battle Scene
The Nutcracker tells Marie that he just needs a sword. Marie gives him the sword of one of Fritz's toy soldiers.He, along with an army of toy tin and gingerbread soldiers, fights against the mice led by the Mouse King. The dolls are panic-stricken and thrown into confusion. The Nutcracker’s quick wits and bravery save the day: lining up the lead soldiers, he boldly leads them out to do battle with the mice forces. However, the forces are unequal, the advantage is on the side of the evil mice. The Nutcracker is left alone to face the Mouse King and his suite. Marie is very worried about the danger that threatens her doll.and throws a slipper at the Mouse King. That hits his head making the Mouse king faint long enough for the Nutcracker to kill him.

The mice run away, carrying off their leader's lifeless body. The battle field empties. The only person left here is the Nutcracker who lies without moving on the floor. Marie, together with the dolls, hurries to his rescue.

And now a miracle occurs. Having killed the Mouse King, the Nutcracker transforms into his real self looking like a handsome prince to Marie. ( The Nutcracker becomes a handsome young Prince - dressed like a Nutcracker soldier doll , looking like the young nephew of Herr Drosselmeyer. She had not met him up to this point so Marie did not know how Drosselmeyer's nephew looked like.) Marie sees herself not as a child anymore but as a very young Princess. Then they join in a magnificent Christmas magic entertainment put on by the Christmas Angel honouring them for their bravery.

The Snow Scene / The Pine forest in Winter and the Waltz of the Snowflakes

The walls of the house disappear. Marie and her friends are standing under a star-studded sky by a fairy-tale Christmas tree. Marie and her Nutcracker-Prince beckon, as if to a beautiful dream, to the twinkling star at the top of the Christmas tree. ( The star is the symbol of the Star of Bethlehem.The Christmas Star appears in the nativity story where "wise men from the East" , the Magi are guided by the star to travel to Jerusalem and find the place where the Christ was born and give him gifts ) Snow is falling and suddenly thick, light,white snowflakes begin to move. A pizzicato dance is followed by an affecting wordless children’s chorus , like a Christmas Carol. Marie and the Prince watch the Snow King and Queen and the Snowflakes dancing a beautiful waltz. Later they notice how the snowflakes magically turn into cotton candies . Guided by the Christmas Angel (received from Herr Drosselmeyer to complete the task ) they climb into a magic boat and continue on their journey on a cloud to the Kingdom of Sweets (Confituremburg) . The shining star is getting closer and closer as they approach the Kingdom. The dolls follow behind them.

 

ACT II - The Sweets Kingdom / Confituremburg ( the symbol of a Land of Peace and Harmony ) during the Christmas night

At the entrance in the magic palace of the Kingdom Sweets (Confiturenburg), the Sugar Plum fairy together with her Cavalier , Prince Coqueluche ( coughdrop ) appear to welcome the travellers to the delights of her kingdom. Marie and the Prince are just about to enter the magic Palace when they are suddenly attacked by a few angry mice that their leader ( the Mouse King ) died.

Once again, the Nutcracker-Prince goes boldly into a very short battle and the mice disappear as Marie hits them with candy canes. Even the last few evil mice have been defeated.Marie and the Prince enter the Enchanted Palace and are welcomed in the Great Hall. The Prince tells the story how Marie saved his life. There are beautiful dances for Marie and the Prince that is called : Cocoa / Chocolate from Spain, Coffee from Arabia. Tea from China. The Cossak sweets from Russia perform a Russian folk dance called trepak.and, the Danish Shepherdesses made of Marzipan perform a Pastoral dance playing with the toy flutes / reed pipes ( mirlitons) . Mother Ginger ( Gigogne ) dances with all her children and a group of clowns ( Polichinelles )

The Dewdrop and her Flowers dance a lilting waltz ( Lilting is a form of traditional singing common in the Goidelic speaking areas of Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, though singing styles like it occur in many other countries.) The Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier Prince , Coqueluche (coughdrop) honor Marie with a grand pas de deux.And then. The Sugar Plum fairy performs the famous dance ( based on Celesta instrument ) and the entire court joins in the finale. Now It’s time for Marie and the Prince to say goodbye. The pages of the Kingdom guided by the Christmas Angel ,bring Marie back home. A little bit later ,the pages bring home the Prince ( Drosselmeyer's nephew)

Marie awakens, in the Christmas morning disoriented, on the living room couch. Cradling her Nutcracker doll, she remembers, and wonders…was this all a dream ?