I have been going to the Nutcracker since I was a little girl, so when Danny and I started dating he adopted my childhood tradition and now we both go see the Nutcracker every Christmas!
This year we went and saw the Great Russian Nutcracker performed by the Moscow Ballet. I had high hopes. Danny and I saw the Kirov ballet perform the Nutcracker two years ago and it was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. It was impeccable! Even Danny liked it! Well, It was SO good that every Nutcracker we've seen since then has been awful!
Last year nobody was touring so we went and saw the South something ballet, which was more or less a recital, but we knew what to expect because tickets were only $29. So, when it was horrible we weren't that bummed and kind of just laughed about it.
When I saw that the Moscow Ballet was touring with the Nutcracker this year I was SO excited! We bought our tickets in August and paid a pretty penny. On Saturday we left for San Diego (oh ya, we had to go to San Diego because they weren't performing it anywhere up here, it wasn't until the middle of November that they announced they were performing it in La Mirada...that should have been a red flag). We drove down to San Diego in the POURING rain, we thought we were going to die. We ate at a little corner bistro by the Copley Symphony Hall where we were seeing the Nutcracker, then we almost got blown away crossing the street to the hall and sat down in our seats. As soon as the curtain went up I knew this wasn't going to be as good as the Kirov.
They had all these little kids on stage that were bumping into each other and stumbling on the marley. It was awful, if I wanted to go to a recital I would've gone to Fullerton or Irvine, but I paid top dollar to see a professional company and I don't want to see other people's kids going into the wrong wing and freezing when they see the lights. I know some of you might think I am mean, but I don't know these children so I don't want to see them dance! They can perform for their parents in July when their local dance studio puts on a recital, not when the Moscow Ballet comes to town and charges four times as much as a recital ticket to see them.
The Kirov Ballet did not have any children, it was very professional and the most fantastic thing I've ever seen. To add to the lame Moscow Ballet's performance when the first half was almost over a back drop came down too early and then got stuck! It took them forever to get it back down again, they actually just had to bring it back down by the time they got it up there. It was awful! In the second half when the sugar plum fairies were dancing four girls from who knows where (they weren't from Russia because they were hefty chicas) came out on pointe and just fell all over the place, I was so embarrassed, I can't believe I paid to see this!
Danny was lucky he fell asleep for most of it, although he did miss the backdrop malfunction, which was pretty unbelievable. I hope that ABT or NYC Ballet tour with the Nutcracker this year, I am sick of seeing D-list performances of the Nutcracker. I should've just gone to Long Beach, at least they have great props and pyrotechnics!
PS: If I end up dead, even if it looks like it was from natural causes, check in with the Russians because they probably killed me.
Just kidding I didn't have bed bugs, but I was SUPER paranoid about it. Go away bed bugs!!
