We all know and we all love the story of the Nutcracker and Young Clara adventures into her wonderland. But, have you ever considered that, a modern remake with diverse casting, with traditional dance around the world, a combination of classic ballet and Vietnamese traditional dance, could it be better?
Old tale, modern vibrant remake, but not just any modern remake. We make the stories ourselves. Our girl is called Quỳnh Lan, and through her kaleidoscope of Vietnamese culture and dance, she will take you to a land where a border doesn’t exist. We tell our story with a single wish of becoming one, going through dream lands and dream together, with nothing stopping us down. Nothing exists beside pure beauty and connection. We hope this remake helps the divided world right now, to remind us once more that we are all the same, we dream of nothing but love and joy.
Is Clara the name of the main female character in the Nutcracker ballet? In some references, the young heroine is referred to as “Marie” or “Masha.” Is her name really Clara, Marie or Masha?
What is interesting is the answer varies with who you ask, and who is developing the production. The answer can vary widely, although, most agree “Clara,” is the popular answer.
The Main Female Character of The Nutcracker
Thu Huệ is one of the solist in Nut Cracker – A wonder land version 2018 by VNOB
In most versions of the popular holiday ballet The Nutcracker, the young girl who falls asleep and dreams about a prince is named Clara. As the curtain opens, the wealthy Staulbahm family, including young children Clara and Fritz, is busily preparing for their annual Christmas Eve party. Clara and Fritz are anxiously awaiting the arrival of several invited guests.
Portraying the role of Clara in the Nutcracker is an aspiration of many young ballerinas. Most ballet companies choose the role of Clara and other main characters during auditions several weeks before the performance.
The Original Nutcracker
The original tale of The Nutcracker is based on a libretto by E.T.A. Hoffman titled “Der Nussnacker und der Mausekonig,” or “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.” The score was written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It was originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. It premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg on Sunday, December 18, 1892, to extremely mixed reviews and criticism.
In the original story, Clara is not the Stahlbaum’s cherished daughter but an unloved and neglected orphan. Somewhat like Cinderella, Clara is required to do chores in the household that usually go unappreciated.
The 1847 Version of The Nutcracker
In 1847, famous French author Alexandre Dumas rewrote Hoffman’s story, removing some of its darker elements and changing the name of Clara. He chose to refer to Clara as “Marie.” Because The Nutcracker ballet developed from two versions of a single book, the lead role of the story is sometimes named “Clara” and sometimes “Marie.” However, in most ballet versions of the story, the little girl who dreams of a living nutcracker is referred to as “Clara.”
Later Popular Versions of The Nutcracker
The main female character is called “Marie” in choreographer George Balanchine’s 1954 production of the ballet, “Maria” in the Bolshoi Ballet version and “Masha” in other Russian productions of it.
In some productions (including the famous Balanchine version staged by the New York City Ballet), she is a little girl about ten years old, and in other productions, such as the Baryshnikov one for the American Ballet Theater, she is a girl in her middle to late teens.
In the 1968 Covent Garden production starring Rudolf Nureyev for the Royal Ballet, the main character was named “Clara.”
In the 1986 film, the “Nutcracker: The Motion Picture,” the entire story of the ballet is seen through the eyes of an aged Clara, who is the offscreen narrator throughout the movie.
The Nutcracker is the cheesiest ballet of all time.
That may enrage some readers for whom attending The Nutcracker is a beloved Christmastime tradition. But as a former dancer who has performed or watched some version of the production for 18 years now, I can state it with certainty: The Nutcracker is the cheesiest ballet of all time.
Just try to recite the plot with a straight face: A young girl’s most cherished Christmas present, a nutcracker, comes alive, saves her by defeating an army of mice and their king, and then the pair travel together to a magical kingdom of sweets. Ballet really doesn’t get more gauche than that.
So why is it so popular in America? To answer that, we’ll have to go back in history a bit.
Thu Huệ is one of the solist in Nut Cracker – A wonder land version 2018 by VNOB
In 1844, French writer Alexandre Dumas adapted an earlier, darker version of The Nutcracker by E.T.A. Hoffman that had been intended strictly for adults, making it “happier and more appropriate for children.” The master of the Russian Imperial Ballet liked Dumas’ new, lighter version of the story and decided to transform it into a ballet, commissioning Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky to compose the score, now some of the most recognizable pieces of music in the world.
Many years later, in 1933, Russian-born choreographer George Balanchine was invited to the United States by a young arts patron who shared Balanchine’s conviction that high quality dance training was severely lacking in this country. They co-founded a ballet school, and in 1948, the now world famous New York City Ballet.
As a young dancer in Russia, Balanchine had performed several different roles in The Nutcracker — a mouse, the Nutcracker/Little Prince, and the Mouse King. When he was older, he danced the part of the jester, which involves gracefully wielding and jumping through a large hoop.
A scence in Nut Cracker – A wonder land version 2018 of VNOB
In 1954, Balanchine, who today is revered as the “Father of American Ballet,” decided to choreograph his own version of The Nutcracker. While a smart business decision, it was also a deeply emotional one. As Vanity Fairreports:
He was not just reaching back to the Mariinsky Nutcracker — which in Russia is performed throughout the year — but calling up the Christmases of his childhood, the sense of warmth and plenty that was embodied in a tree brimming with fruits and chocolates, glittering with tinsel and paper angels. “For me Christmas was something extraordinary,” Balanchine told the writer Solomon Volkov. “On Christmas night we had only the family at home: mother, auntie, and the children. And, of course, the Christmas tree. [Vanity Fair]
When asked by a donor years before if he would be interested in doing a popular abridgement of The Nutcracker, Balanchine answered, “If I do anything, it will be full-length and expensive.” That donor ultimately gave him $40,000 — $25,000 of which he spent on the giant tree that trademarks the New York City Ballet’s adaptation to this day. When he received pushback on the astronomical expense of the Christmas foliage, he simply responded, “The Nutcracker is the tree.”
Balanchine was right. The magic of The Nutcracker isn’t in the brilliance of the music or the excellence of the dancing. It’s the tree. It’s the juvenile warmth of the excited children in the party scene. It’s the familiarity of the whole production, even if you’re just seeing it for the first time. It’s the ballet’s ability to reach out and touch a part of you that triggers a warm holiday memory — that’s The Nutcracker.
Before The Nutcracker, the future of the New York City Ballet was still uncertain — and while many people were excited about the kind of “deeply poetic, uniquely plotless, modestly decorated ballets” Balanchine was known for making, the company did not possess the kind of “mainstream” following needed to consistently fill the house. The Nutcracker changed that.
Kids were another secret weapon.
There are a slew of parts for young dancers in The Nutcracker, and in many of Balanchine’s big productions. He believed it was important to have kids on stage for a few reasons. First, it helps children in the audience connect with the ballet. Second, very astutely, Balanchine reportedly surmised that “each child brings four people: mom, dad, sister, and aunt. Multiply this by all the children in the ballet and you have an audience.”
The first production, giant tree and all, ended up costing $80,000, but it was a blockbuster hit within the year. Since then, the ballet has been filmed and broadcast hundreds of times to people all over the world.
The NYCB performs The Nutcracker 47 times each season, but countless professional, amateur, and juvenile companies all over the country perform some version of the holiday special. The hundreds of adaptations have also given rise to new, even cheesier characters — like butchers, dancing pigs, and shepherdesses complete with lambs in the particular version I grew up with.
In many ways, The Nutcracker rallies against what a ballet is supposed to be — graceful and high-brow — (and truly there is nothing elegant about a sprightly young woman in pointe shoes wildly waving a fake plastic sword while dressed in a pear-shaped mouse costume) but that’s exactly the spirit from which The Nutcracker draws its enchantment.
