The Nutcracker

I came across this review in the NY Times of the 2005 season of "The Nutcracker". When I was a kid, my Mom or Grandma, or both, would take me to see this every year after Thanksgiving. In fact, I think that's why I enjoyed Thanksgiving so much because it ALWAYS meant an afternoon in Lincoln Center to see the New York City Ballet perform at the New York State Theater. And that ALSO meant we got to go on the subway and have giant pretzels and see Santa on the street corners and look in the store windows. Then we would go to meet my Dad at work and all ride home on the Railroad together. (The fact that my brothers were never included in this was nice too. Sometimes it's nice to do things with just the girls, especially things like this as small boys tend to not be interested in ballerinas and make retching noises at the romantic parts.)

It's nice to think back sometime about the things that made me tick as a kid. I loved this ballet, and still do. I took ballet lessons and dreamed about being a ballerina and dancing with the Nutcracker Prince and fighting the Mouse King. And every year I looked forward to going to a performance and every year had a wonderful time.

Since then, I've seen other companies dance The Nutcracker, but it's never the same. Some of the European companies don't use the Ballanchine choreography. (Gasp!) Sometimes the girl's name is Clara, and the sets and costumes are different. Not that the dancers are bad and the choreography second-rate, it's just not the same. Of course, watching on TV isn't the same either and not to pooh-pooh Buffalo, but Shea's is NOT the State Theater, and downtown is NOT Lincoln Center.

Maybe it's because it's Thanksgiving weekend and I'm not going to the ballet that's got me all nostalgic. But this is the time of year to be in NYC. I'm here now, but I'll be making my way back upstate tomorrow and it's just not the same. And I have to be careful; I'm in the process of a job hunt that will most likely bring me away from Buffalo and I don't want fond memories of Manhattan at Christmastime and The Nutcracker to color my choices too much.

Sorry if this was rambling... Just that time of year I suppose.