It was A BIG DEAL! And I haven't seen it since I was a little girl. But schools used to go on field trips to see it I remember.
I don't remember how old I was, maybe when I stopped believing in Santa? Maybe later. It was such a tradition I can't remember not going, but at some point I stopped going. I went to the Nutcracker Ballet every year as a little girl. I was especially delighted that the children expected their gifts to be delivered to them by the mystery of the "Christ Child" What a wonderful way to have celebrated Christmas! Overall, I am glad to have finally experienced this classic children's tale and did enjoy it but would not put it on an equal footing with say "The Christmas Carol" or "The Bird's Christmas Carol". Yes, the book starts on Christmas Eve, but time passes and Christmas is not a theme here. I can't understand why this is referred to a Christmas story though. He does not make much use of his "monster" style here except in a few instances, especially in the Nutcracker himself, whom I found quite hideous and his illustration may frighten small children. The story itself is not scary and Sendak's illustrations are wonderful. An enjoyable story, full of wonder, which would make a very good read aloud to a variety of ages. By far the best part of the whole story! Indeed a fairy tale this is a good translation which reads with the authenticity of its time period and yet is not stilted, taking the modern reader into account with the flow of the language. From what I gathered in the Introduction, this is the part left out of the ballet. What is usually referred to as a tale within a tale, the best part, I thought, of the whole story was the little girl's fantasy into the story of the hard nut. This is a tiny bit earlier than the period I most prefer in my reading (post-1830) so I found the style not quite my thing but the story is a fantastical tale.
Excellent piece of writing.The tale itself is a product of the Regency Era, albeit from the German counterpart. He then goes on to recount how he became involved in both a new ballet production of the original in the early '80s and the illustration of this first true-to-the-original English translation. Sendak starts the book off with a very informative Introduction that explains how Hoffman's story got mixed up with a tale by Alexandre Dumas to become the popular tale told in the ballet we know today. But I cannot compare it to the abridged version everyone is more familiar with. I *have* seen some Christmas movies which featured a girl who was in the ballet and have a very basic knowledge of the story from that, so I was very interested to finally read the original story. Neither have I seen a movie version of the story. I am also a huge fan of Maurice Sendak.I have not ever read the Nutcracker before, nor have I ever seen the ballet. Reason for Reading: I have never read this classic Christmas story and thought it would be a wonderful addition to my Christmas reading this year.
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