The Nutty Nutcracker

Last year (2008), Ballet West started a new tradition of showing The Nutty Nutcracker . This performance has all of the traditional dancing, with a few tweaks here and there, but the largest fun is all the large changes that are made. H mm let me see what were some of those many changes—

Prologue and Act I:

• Jason Linsley as Disco Drosselmeyer. Yes that's right, a huge afro, in-line skates for the transformation scene and a rubber chicken were just a few of the changes that Jason made.
• The party girls received horns for Christmas and the party boys dolls. Yes, they were quite confused, but it all worked out in the end.
• No formal waltzing in this Nutcracker, instead it was boogie down the line with a disco ball twirling overhead.
• How can I forget Kate Crews Linsley and Christopher Anderson with their darling "daughter" as an 80's ski couple who invade Victorian England.
• John Frazer as the grandfather who walks through the beginnings of the snow scene for that last cup of eggnog (the alcoholic kind) that he had been denied during the party scene.
• Or the bear who curls up with his teddy bear at the edge of the stage for the entire snow scene.
• Snowflakes with jingle bells, that jingled in time to the music no less, and reindeer antlers. The snow cavalier with a top hat and cane.

Act II:

• All of the ladies-in-waiting had Groucho Marx masks on.
• The very best was Chris Ruud and Christina Bennett texting and doing nails while the Nutcracker Prince told the story of the first act. It must be so hard to not want to do that during regular performances.
• No cakes with a dancer on the top in this production—cheese for the Mouse King, popcorn for Clara, and pizza for Chris R.
  
• The Mouse King and Nutcracker Prince and their on-going fight. Rex Tilton as the Mouse King was fantastic. "I'll be back" "I told you I'd be back" and the white flag of truce.
  
• Chris Sellars, again as the lead Russian, this time an over-weighted lead Russian. He runs on stage jumps up in the air, and lands, but wait…he is exhausted and the music must wait for him to catch his breath. Later in the finale he has to be helped off stage. Too too funny
• Not one, but three Sugar Plum Fairies and their cavaliers (Chris R. and Christiana, Tom and Annie, and Elizabeth and Chris A.). Well choreographed changes were done to accommodate the three sets of dancers.
• Alison DeBona as a bumble bee flitting through the Waltz of the Flowers was fantastic.
• Tyler Gum as Waldo who appeared through-out the entire production was great. Seeing him do Russian in blue-jeans was marvelous too.

Of course there was beautiful dancing done by all. And lovely music conducted by Terence Kern. Can't wait for next year and those changes.

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The Nutcracker

Attending The Nutcracker has been a family tradition since 2000. This was the first year thought that D and I didn't attend a matinee. We decided last year that it was the last one of attending "The Sugar Plum Fairy" parties after the performance. She felt that she was too old for them. We also decided that we would spend the night after the performance and do some final Christmas shopping on the way home. So that is what we did.

We didn't see our favorite dancers (Christiana and Chris Ruud) perform, but we did see Jason and Kate Linsley for the Waltz. I think it is a terrific idea that Adam Skulte had in having his married couples (or "significant others") perform together. There is always a chemistry and confidence level that doesn't appear to exist in other partnerships. John Frazer did a great job as both the grandfather in Act I and as the Mother Buffoon in Act II. He is quite the comic dancer. Chris Sellars was the lead Russian, which is always a crowd-pleaser. We love watch Aaron Orlowski in Arabian and Beau Pearson in Spanish. Of course all the female dancers did the typical three or four roles in one performance marathon.

The above picture was taken during intermission. D has been wearing the same basic outfit for three years now. I am loving not having to buy new "fancy clothes" for special outings. By taking the picture when we did, we were out of the parking lot before most people were out of the theater. I was afraid we'd get stuck in the underground parking garage behind a ton of people, but nope we were out quite quickly. It would have been even faster if the two cars in front of us hadn't used credit cards.

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The new craft room

Along with all the changes that have been happening upstairs there have been a few downstairs as well. No one really expected that we could only do one project at a time did they? So, my new craft room is pretty much finished. Okay the border isn't hung and the walls probably have to be repainted, but the furniture is where it is going to stay and it is usable. The first picture is what you see when you walk into the room. I basically stood in the entrance to take the picture. Yes, that is my family from 12 plus years ago in that picture. We've been hiding it in the former guest room since we had it taken. No one knows why.


Like my punch bars? I borrowed the idea from Erin, who I guess borrowed it from someone profiled in Stampin' Success. I only know this because when I commented to someone about how much I loved her punch storage, that person was really nasty about letting me know exactly where Erin had "stolen" the idea from. Some of you may know who I am referring to, but I'm certainly not going to state names.


This picture looks back toward the entrance to the room. Jeff finally hung (okay, I hadn't really asked him until D knocked the whole thing onto the floor including 71 ink pads) my 72 ink pad and ribbon holder for me. It is full and I have my craft pads (those that aren't Whisper White and Very Vanilla) and a couple of duplicates and retired (from '05) ink pads stored. This is certainly not all of my ribbon either. The dresser has my Big Shot, Cuttlebug, cutter, and a holder for 8 1/2 x 11 paper (mainly construction and white) on top of it. In the dresser drawers are my smaller cuttlebug folders and Big Shot dies. Plus it holds crafting supplies: pipe cleaners, wooden spools, pony beads, etc. Yes, Rudolf Nureyev and Michelle Phillips are wearing almost no clothing in the picture in the background. It is a movie poster for Valentino from 1977. Nureyev was my favorite male dancer before he died of AIDS about 10 years ago. His death is not the reason he isn't my favorite anymore just that new dancers have come along since then.


The colorful drawer unit used to hold most of the items I needed for Scouts, but now that we don't hold meetings in my dining room (YEAH!), I rearranged the items. D and I cleaned it out and moved some of the things to the dresser, some to the trash, and rearranged what was left. I also have drawers used for stamping items like the designer paper sampler, the punch sampler (thanks Erin for picking that up for me at Convention), and the ribbon sampler. Next to it holds the small tote with the items I use while working all the things that don't fit in my Pampered Chef tool holder. It sits on my desk and is in constant use. I deliberately left the top shelf empty to hold things while I'm working and don't want to put away right that moment. I also have my cd player, two Stack & Store caddys right where I need them. My desk is small, but it pulls out to another five feet or so if needed.


This final picture is of the stamp sets that have been labeled. In May's (I think that month) Stampin' Success a woman was profiled who labeled all her stamp sets. So I've started. Most of the retired sets do have red dots on them and all the holiday stamps are labeled. I also read online about people who photograph what each stamp set looks like and put the photographs in binders. This way they don't have to pick up each stamp set to figure out which one they want. A clever idea that will eventually happen.


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Wow!!

Ballet Russes—
what can I say. Ballet West's performance last week was phenomenal. D was late getting home last Friday, so I wasn't sure what time we would arrive in SLC. Turns out we got there about 6:30. enough time for diner, but not enough time for dinner and going to Warm UPs. We went to the Olive Garden which happens to be right across the street from Capital Theater.

As we made our way down the aisle to our seats, D said "I wonder if we will see Chris Rudd in the audience tonight?" I looked up and there he was walking toward us. I stopped him and commented on how he was out of the boot from his surgery. He demonstrated that he could do jumps and plies. He headed toward the lobby and we headed toward our seats.

What can I say about last Friday's performances? I had never seen "Les Biches" by Nijinska, sister to the famed Nijinski. It was different and clearly showed her disdain for males. It also was a clear precursure to Balanchine's many works. I had seen "Prodigal Son" before with Mikhail Baryshnikovas the Prodigal Son. Chris Sellars did a phenomenal job in place of Chris Rudd. As I told D, the strength it takes to pretend you have no strength is just amazing. Chris Rudd's wife Chistiana Bennett was the Siren in "Prodigal Son". I wish my husband looked the way Chris did when I commented on how wonderful Christiana was as the Siren.

Let me explain. After the performance, we headed for the elevator that takes us to our cars. Chris Rudd just happened to be right behind D and myself. He recognized me from the comments before the performance. I had to comment on how well his wife had done as the Siren. The look on his face as he strove to put his feelings in words was priceless. A look of strong, deep love came over his face and then the look of someone who is deeply loved and did a magical thing also crossed his face. Maybe 20 years ago someone could have caught Jeff with that same look, but certainly not lately. WOW to be loved so deeply and passionately.

Moving on to other things—Deirdre saw "Ballet Russes" by Ballet West on Friday, March 27. She will see The Moody Blues in Reno on Saturday, April 4, and Wicked at the Capital Theater on Wednesday, April 8. Lots of different types of "culture" in less than two weeks. Starting at age 3 3/4, Jeff and I have been dragging her to various cultural events. The first one that I remember was a Moody Blues concert in Las Vegas. She did well there, so I took at age 3 and 3/4 to see La Sylphdia at Ballet West. We haven't looked back since. Rock concerts, baleets, movies, symphonies, and who knwows. I fell asleep while tyring to update.

Our busy weekend

Last Thursday (12/11) was the Candlelight program. All the orchestras, bands, choirs, guitar, and music appreciation classes all performed. Then the candles were presented to worth local citizens. This little old lady was one of the recipients. She was so funny. She is 97 and lives in Manti. Her 97th birthday was the next day. She stood on the stage at the Eccles Center and said "I'm wearing my gardening shoes, my cowboy shirt, and my hair hasn't been combed in a week." What could the audience do but laugh. This year there were seven eighth graders with 4.0 g.p.a's from sixth through current semester to present. Some years there are only a couple. With luck Deirdre will be one of the presenters next year.





Deirdre and I spent Friday and Saturday at Trefoil Ranch. It snowed like crazy on Saturday. When we got to the bottom of 189 it was closed. Boy were there a lot of angry people. Unlike last year, there were only about 25 people there (mothers and daughters). D and I deliberately tried to pick activities that we didn't do last year. So we learned about Kwanzaa instead of Hanukkah, the Netherlands instead of Russia and did new crafts. It was a lot of fun. The girls were older this year too. There were a few 8 year olds, but most were 11 and 12. The food was pretty good too. We ended early on Saturday, so we could get on the road a little earlier. D and I drove on up to Salt Lake City to spend the night there. Because…

We had our annual tickets to The Nutcracker by Ballet West. This was the last year Deirdre wanted to the Sugar Plum Fairy party after the matinee. We have been going to The Nutcracker since D was four and the party afterward since she was six. We spent the night at Embassy Suites and did some shopping before the ballet. We were scheduled to see Beau Pearson as the Snow Cavalier and the Waltz of the Flowers Cavalier, but he hurt his shoulder in Madam Butterfly rehearsals. So we were treated to Soloist Jason Linsley in Snow and Principal Christopher Rudd in the Waltz. Both of these males are my favorites with the company. Due to Beau's injury, Ballet West has brought in a male guest artist to help with the performances. We decided that next year, we might go to an evening performance, spend the night in SLC, and then do Christmas shopping the next day on the way home.

Twilight—the series! and more

Deirdre has now read the series at least three times. It might be four. She insisted that I too read the series. I capitulated and read. I didn't like Twilight, but continued to read to find out if Bella actually became a vampire and low and behold eventually she did. I liked New Moon the most, followed by Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, and finally Twilight. I thought if they said "I love you" one more time in that book, I was seriously going to smack someone.

Deirdre went to the movie for the third time today—again with Sarah. Now, I am not a movie person to begin with, but the pictures just do not make me want to see this movie.

Remodeling is going slowly, but steadily. We have garage lights and living room lights back, and two new walls! I will post pics soon. Jeff is recovering from the flu. Both he and D have a cough. Once they get them, I hear coughing for weeks.

D and I will be heading to Trefoil Ranch this weekend for a mother/daughter Christmas bonding with Girl Scouts. We will spend Saturday night in Salt Lake, because we have tickets for the Nutcracker on Sunday. We have been going to see Ballet West's production of The Nutcracker since D was four. We usually have pretty close seats. Last year, they were the front row. Jeff has been a couple of times, but the ballet is usually a mother/daughter activity. We do season tickets and have a good time.