Name: The Nutcracker, op. 71
Start: 2023-11-30T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2023-12-03T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Musical Arts Center

Organization

Admin

Jacobs School of Music (Indiana University)

Choreographer

Sasha Janes

Conductor

Jonathan McPhee

Set designer

Thaddeus Strassberger

Lighting designer

Driscoll Otto

Video designer

Greg Emetaz

Costume designer

Linda Pisano

Hairstylist

Andrew Elliot

Makeup artist

Ballet master

Christian Claessens

Kyra Nichols

Michael Vernon

Sarah Wroth

Children's Ballet Master

Robin Allen

Rebecca Janes

Glenda Lucena

Pianist

Irina Ter-Grigoryan

Singer

Maddie Brown

Dancer

Miguel Calero

Ruth Connelly

Sophia Davis

Joey DeCola

Zoe Gallagher

Natalia Garcia

Jayda Hazelett

Christina Henares

Aram Hengen

Sophia Long

Sarah MacGregor

Michaela Martin Mason

Amanda Norcross

Tierney Solmo

Maddie Tyler

Gabriel Weiner

Zoë van Beever

Christopher Balbuena

Fletcher Barr

Margaret Broadhurst

Elizabeth Burnett

Indiana Coté

Ashlyn DuPree

Kelly Gleason

Annaliesa Gowe

Grace Jaramillo

Brigitte Kossuth

Christina Lewis

Audrey Osburn

Jessica Ousterhout

Lucy Sheppard

Allison Smith

Carson Van Popering

Lauren Batterbee

Eva Bendesky

Claire Bowers

Stanley Cannon

Trey Ferdyn

Bryan Gregory

Ethan Houck

Maya Jackson

Mary Elizabeth Manville

Gates Northrup

Catherine Payson

Josh Randall

Elias Simpson

Lillian Smith

Ella Sperry

Emily Vlasnik

Kaito Aihara

Luke Alcaraz

Ava Beller

Brianna Fuller

Arnon Gafni-Kane

Emily Hain

Sejal Janaswamy

Kale Jette

Emily Jorgensen

Ava Juleen

Ava Maskin

Lola Mayo

Madeline Muth

Elly O’Connell

Julia Outmesguine

Hannah Reiff

Mia Vinick

Sarah Wilkinson

Rebekah Wolfson Kilayko

Sarah Yoak

Jared Zeltner

Ballet

Indiana University Ballet Theater

The Nutcracker, op. 71

Bloomington

United States

Musical Arts Center

The Nutcracker, op. 71 Tchaikovsky, P. I.

Public

Viacheslav Shumov

Approved

This production of The Nutcracker draws (some) inspiration from the original text of “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” by Prussian author E. T. A. Hoffmann.

Written in the Romantic/Gothic fantasy style, it is somewhat closer to a modern sensibility than the saccharine, culturally questionable French adaptation by Alexander Dumas many years later.

This version seeks to combine the charm of the second with a glimpse also into the disciplined, rather rigid life of Marie’s bourgeois family and the surreal world inhabited by her exceedingly odd godmother, Drosselmeier.

As the story unfolds, Drosselmeier becomes the conduit through which Marie is awakened into the fantastical landscapes of her own imagination, realms populated by familiar yet strangely transformed characters.

She and the Nutcracker then become an integral component of the action rather than mere observers. This allows for the second act to occur as a manifestation of Marie’s vivid imagination.

I used the following text by Jack Zipes in the introduction to Hoffmann’s book as a jumping-off point for this reimagined version of The Nutcracker:

“The question that Hoffmann asks in this tale is how to infiltrate a good and proper bourgeois home to free children’s imaginations so that they can recognize and fulfill their desires. In this regard, the title of Hoffmann’s fairy tale is misleading. The story is not about the nutcracker and the mouse king; rather, it is about the curious child Marie and the ambivalent, somewhat threatening figure of Drosselmeier, the mysterious artist and teacher. Hoffmann positions Marie as the learner, who grasps that she must use her imagination to see the world as it really is. Drosselmeier provides the spark for her imagination and tests her to see whether she will remain true to her inner desires and imagination before he will help her reconcile what she sees inside herself and around her. From the point of view of Marie’s parents and her brother, Fritz and sister, Louise, she is delirious and talks nonsense. But Drosselmeier sees Marie differently: he is struck by the way that she associates her visions and imaginings with the world around her and how she combines them to enrich her daily existence. Consequently, Drosselmeier does his best to assist her almost magically to uncover the potential objects and symbols to become alive and to animate her modus vivendi.”

English

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble