Nutcracker Suite, The (Alfred)
The following is copyrighted information.
Musical Sequence
- Overture
- March
- Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy
- Russian Dance, "Trépak"
- Arab Dance
- Chinese Dance
- Dance Of The Reed Flutes
- Waltz Of The Flowers
All songs have a performance and accompaniment track on the CD.
About the Story
At the family's annual Christmas Eve party, Clara and her brother Fritz are given a special gift by their godfather, Herr Drosselmeyer. It is a Nutcracker, which Fritz promptly uses until it is nearly broken, then tosses on the floor. But Clara loves it so much that after everyone else has gone to bed, she sneaks back down to the Christmas tree to hold and soothe the broken doll. It is then that she falls asleep and begins to dream.
In her dream, the Nutcracker has come to save her from an attacking army of mice. During the height of the battle, the mice and their leader, the Mouse King, are about to conquer the Nutcracker and his team of toy soldiers. Clara hurls her slipper at the Mouse King, hitting him squarely in the head.
The Nutcracker, now transformed into a handsome Prince, leads Clara off to visit his palace. On their way, they pass through the magical Land of Snow and into the Kingdom of Sweets, where the Sugar Plum Fairy stages a series of dances for them.
Clara awakens under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning, trying to figure out if it all was a dream or a real adventure.
Production/Staging Notes
Though this publication was conceived as a concert program to be performed on choral risers, the director may wish to stage several of the main events and choreograph the dances with small groups or solo performers. The "March" sequence could be quite exciting if staged as a sword fight with a battling group of "mice" and "toy soldiers," with the Mouse King and the Nutcracker on the front line.
This production features narrations for 28 students. The director may certainly reduce that number by doubling up on lines. Two narrators may be used (one doing even lines, one doing odd), or each narration couplet may be divided and spoken by two performers, literally doubling the number of narrators.
The piano accompaniments are based on Tchaikovsky's own piano arrangements, reduced, slightly simplified, and edited by Sally K. Albrecht.
Alan Billingsley has orchestrated this production as closely as possible to the original. Certainly, it would be exciting for your performers to experience the original orchestrations of these selections in their entirety. Or perhaps it's time for a field trip to a local production of The Nutcracker in your area. If that's not feasible, there certainly is a wealth of recordings and videos of productions available.