Nutcracker

November 27, 2023

Then the young women will dance for joy; the young and old men will join in. I will turn their mourning into laughter and their sadness into joy; I will comfort them.” Jeremiah 31:13 CEB

Our son, Seth treated the whole family to The Nutcracker Suite at the Kennedy Center, to kick off the Christmas season. Although I am very familiar with the music, and have seen portions of it on TV, I’ve never attended the ballet live and in-person. I was concerned that nine-year-old Anne-Sophie and six-year-old Marie-Hélène would grow bored by the two-act, two-hour show. I was projecting my own fear that I’d fall asleep.

I needn’t have worried. The ballet was magical and mesmerizing, from the orchestra to the dancers to the sets, which included a Christmas tree that appeared to be transformed from room size to super-size as befit the dream sequence. It was enthralling, enchanting, and a witness to the creativity of Tchaikovsky who adapted E. T. A. Hoffman’s short story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child’s imagination.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s life was not an easy one, including the early death of his mother, of a colleague and good friend, a failed marriage, collapse of a long-term patronage relationship, and kept his homosexuality private. His music reflects the depth and breadth of human emotion. Coupled with outstanding dancers, an excellent orchestra and surprisingly beautiful staging, the audience stood as one for a standing ovation. I stood as well and thanked my son for inviting me to one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever experienced.

If you believe as I do what we are created in the image of God, Creator of all beauty, the human inclination to creativity should come as no surprise. The Nutcracker, amazing as it was, is only a shadow of what God does all around us, each and every day. ~ Anne

On the balcony of the Kennedy Center before the show.