playbill vip

PROLOGUE

It is Christmas Eve and the streets of the town have a holiday air...

ACT I

The house of the Stahlbaum family is brightly illuminated...Guests assemble in the festively decorated room...Everything is ready for the party to begin...The children come running into the room...

The guests and Drosselmeyer enter...The eccentric man is an ingenious toy-maker and a great favorite with the children. He has brought many presents for them and begins by presenting a puppet show...

Drosselmeyer's stock of surprises is inexhaustible...He makes believe that he is looking for some new ingenious toy...The children follow him cautiously...

The most exciting present is the Nutcracker...Clara admires it more than all the rest of the toys...

Fritz, too, wants to play with the new doll...He pulls it from Clara, but the Nutcracker's head comes off in his hand...

Drosselmeyer repairs the Nutcracker in no time...

Clara caresses and comforts her favorite...Fritz and his friends frighten her...

There is more dancing before the party breaks up.  The oldest of the guests step out, with comic importance, to dance the old-fashioned dance...

The guests leave.  The candles on the Christmas tree go out...

Clara falls asleep...

All the objects assume a surreal appearance...A mouse scurries out of a hole, then lots of mice scamper out from everywhere...

In the silence of the night, the clock is heard striking midnight...The mice squeak and run about the room...

Drosselmeyer comes to Clara's room and saves her from the mice...

The Christmas tree grows taller until it becomes gigantic in size...The room swarms with mice...

But here the Nutcracker, at the head of his regiment of tin soldiers, comes forward in defense of Clara...The Mouse King himself enters...Drawing up his little army, he leads it into the attack...There is a battle...Clara anxiously watches her favorite...

Overcoming her fear, she runs up to him and at the crucial moment throws a little box at the Mouse King, thus saving the Nutcracker...

The Mouse King is defeated and disappears with his army...

Suddenly, Clara's Nutcracker is miraculously transformed into a handsome Prince...They travel through the Kingdom of Snow where they are greeted by swirling Snowflakes...

ACT II

Clara and the Prince find themselves on an enchanted island. They are surrounded by beautiful angels and are welcomed by a Sugar Plum Fairy, who rules the Kingdom of Sweets...

When the Prince explains how valiantly Clara has saved his life, a magnificent celebration is announced...The entertainment includes a suite of wonderful dances performed by dancers from all over the world, including Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Arabian, and French dancers as well as many other characters...The Sugar Plum's Cavalier respectfully invites her to dance merrily with the rest...

EPILOGUE

Clara is asleep...The day is breaking...The wonderful dream is almost over...Clara wakes up...