Now I want to see The Nutcracker again.
Every time I see it, the little boy playing the brat brother Fritz steals the first act. The kid in the movie has such great moments, like trying to get the girls to pick him as a partner in the march and he ends up dancing with his mother, like the brush up against Drosselmeyer's nephew and trying to start a fight, like hs constant attempts for attention and gifts, and Balanchine gives him a great exit at the end of the party trying to hide a friend to stay over and his father carrying him off to bed. That same attention to detail is everywhere. There's none of that in the Royal Ballet production, just a lot of fussiness: the Royal Ballet Drosselmeyer doesn't come near Bart Cook's loving godfather at City Ballet. He spends too much time twirling his cape and throwing glitter like he's playing Mame and singing "It's Today."
