This is my annual Nutcracker post, which is one of those family pieces that not everyone will care about. You’ve been warned.
Here’s a copy of the poster. That’s my youngest in the picture with her costume from last year.
The girls are heavily into Nutcracker rehearsals. I love Nutcracker weekend, which is December 7-9 this year. The kids work so hard and finally get to perform five shows over three days and spend lots of time with their friends. A few professionals are brought in, including two from New York’s American Ballet Theatre.
This will be my third year to be part of the production. It is sort of a glorified crowd scene role. There are six families in the opening party scene, so they need some dads to be involved. The role is referred to as “Party Dad,” but not in the sense of, “Woo-hoo! Hey hey! Party Dad!” We basically mingle, pretend to talk, and do some limited old-timey dancing (not ballet).
The girls each have a bunch o’ roles. Daughter #1 is the Mouse Queen, Dewdrop Fairy and others, while Daughter #2 is a Harlequin Doll and in the cast of several group numbers.
If you are in the NW Houston area and would like to get tickets, click here.
Filed under: Family / fun
Neil:
Kudos to your girls and best wishes to them for this years production.
I must confess that I have never survived a Nutcracker performance. I’m close to saying that I “hate” the Nutcracker! Strong words I know, but I have found it boring and slow.
My Nutcracker history is as follows:
My mom took my sister and I to a production as kids, and I feel asleep. Went again as a high school student and fell asleep. Tried to impress a date as a college student and fell asleep. Thought that I was more mature as a medical student and gave it a try only to fall asleep. LOL, now I’m not a narcoleptic, and I have enjoyed many other plays, musicals, dance performances etc., but the Nutcracker puts me to sleep. It’s inevitable that I will nap…… errrr….. see it again when my wife and I take our little ones. I am also trembling with fear as our two daughters are in dance. My survival plan may include a visit to Starbucks before future performances.
Again best wishes to your daughters, enjoy!
Best,
Joseph
Joseph,
OK, true confession time: I have fallen asleep at more than one ballet. My sister was also a ballet dancer and legend has it that at her recitals I would take my suitcoat off, cover my head with it and go to sleep.
Your daughters are in dance?! Good luck!
Wait, so its not pronounced Ball-ETT? Crazy. HA!
No, he means it’s pernounced Nuh-cracker!
Wocka, wocka.
[...] Nutcracker weekend is over. The girls danced beautifully. I never get tired of watching them dance. I’m in the first scene as a “Party Dad” but after that I take pictures from the wings or watch a few shows from the audience. The audiences were great – all five shows were sold out or nearly sold out. [...]