Christmas Culture.
Over the weekend, I caught the Ballet Magnificat! Christmas performance, titled A Christmas Dream. If you are not aware, Ballet Magnificat! is a local dance company with a Christian focus. They perform both locally and throughout the world. This year, they presented a Christian adaptation of The Nutcracker. Set in the Old South. Now, I’ll admit that I was skeptical. I thought, “People at Christmas like tradition. They don’t like it when you fool around with what they have always done/seen/participated in at Christmas.” However, the performance was packed, and everyone seemed to walk away satisfied.
The dancing was amazing, and I did leave the theatre feeling very Christmasy. Rather than being belabored, the “Old South” setting seemed employed primarily so that company members could dance under the theatre lights in fabulous, flowing hoop skirts (which looked beautiful on stage). The dancers all did a wonderful job, and I thoroughly enjoyed the performance.
Only two caveats – at the top of each act, two individuals came on stage and basically read the synopsis (printed clearly in the program) of what we were about to see. Now, I don’t know why this was deemed necessary, but I thought it was too much. In addition, the individuals were supposed to be a married couple – an English gentleman and his Southern wife. Why on Earth this combination was chosen, I have no idea. I say if you are going to have a theme (like the Old South), COMMIT. Don’t try to salvage some Dickensian vestige by throwing someone from the other side of the pond into the mix. And the intros were awful. The two people presenting the material didn’t have much to work with, granted, but it was so overdone that it should have been deleted altogether. Similar agony ensued when, just before intermission, two young people came out on stage and proceeded to describe every item on the merchandise table in the lobby. Cruel, I tell you.
Secondly, there were a few parts of the adaptation that didn’t quite work for me. The company chose to substitute a Bible for the Nutcracker that Clara traditionally receives, and the scenes towards the end, where the primary character “weds” Jesus, didn’t gel.
Overall, though, I found it to be very enjoyable. Happy holidays!
The dancing was amazing, and I did leave the theatre feeling very Christmasy. Rather than being belabored, the “Old South” setting seemed employed primarily so that company members could dance under the theatre lights in fabulous, flowing hoop skirts (which looked beautiful on stage). The dancers all did a wonderful job, and I thoroughly enjoyed the performance.
Only two caveats – at the top of each act, two individuals came on stage and basically read the synopsis (printed clearly in the program) of what we were about to see. Now, I don’t know why this was deemed necessary, but I thought it was too much. In addition, the individuals were supposed to be a married couple – an English gentleman and his Southern wife. Why on Earth this combination was chosen, I have no idea. I say if you are going to have a theme (like the Old South), COMMIT. Don’t try to salvage some Dickensian vestige by throwing someone from the other side of the pond into the mix. And the intros were awful. The two people presenting the material didn’t have much to work with, granted, but it was so overdone that it should have been deleted altogether. Similar agony ensued when, just before intermission, two young people came out on stage and proceeded to describe every item on the merchandise table in the lobby. Cruel, I tell you.
Secondly, there were a few parts of the adaptation that didn’t quite work for me. The company chose to substitute a Bible for the Nutcracker that Clara traditionally receives, and the scenes towards the end, where the primary character “weds” Jesus, didn’t gel.
Overall, though, I found it to be very enjoyable. Happy holidays!
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