The Nutcracker

Last year Reese watched the PBS televised version of The Nutcracker at least ten times (quite a feat for a three year old considering it's a two hour program).

This year was our local ballet's 50th anniversary of their Nutcracker performance, and I jumped on a pair of tickets for their last day's matinee performance.

Reese and I talked about it for weeks ahead of time--reviewing the plot (which she remembered most of) and choosing her outfit (her dress for Aunt Kim's wedding, of course!). She had spent most of the two days prior to the performance vomiting  so I was a little worried we wouldn't make it to the show. But, the day of the performance she was feeling better. (This did not dissuade me from packing a change of clothes and a disposable bag should the urge hit her in the theater.)

We arrived at the venue a little early (but snagged a perfect parking spot!) so we ate some snacks from the concession stand, toured the nutcracker gift shop (and picked out a ballerina stuffed dancer for Paige), and went to the pre show. In hindsight, going to the pre show was probably the best thing we could have done. The woman who did the presentation passed around photographs of all the lead dancers in costume and explained some of the ballet codification that is used in certain scenes. The pre show allowed us to get a sneak peek at the auditorium, see what the scary Rat King was going to look like (very important), and pass some time.

When the time came to take our seats, Reese anxiously rushed into the auditorium. We were only 6 rows from the stage and had some extra time to sneak some peeks at the orchestra as they warmed up.

Reese played a little bit of seat charades during the show, sometimes sitting in her seat, sometimes in my lap, but otherwise was perfectly behaved and attentive.

Her favorite character was Clara, but her favorite scene was the battle with the Rat King. Even with his three heads and glowing eyes she was a sucker for the smoke and lighting effects. A close second to this scene was the Mother Ginger dance scene. Our ballet has a tradition of using a different "celebrity guest" as Mother Ginger for every performance. For the performance we attended it happened to be the winner of the community online poll. By a large margin, the school  librarian for a school close to where I work was selected. The librarian was a total ham during her scene and received a standing ovation for her Hook 'em Horns, Gangnam Style dance, and general tom foolery. While Reese doesn't know about the Gangnam Style dance, she knew Mother Ginger was "being really silly."

All in all, it was a major success. She has already asked if we can go again next year.