THE NUTCRACKER

"I wanted to go to the rooftree of Maine to start my trip before turning west.   It seemed to give the journey a design, and everything in the world must have design or the human mind rejects it.  But in addition it must have purpose or the human conscience shies away from it.  Maine was my design, potatoes my purpose.  If I had not seen a single potato my status as vacilador [a Spanish word referring to someone going somewhere but not so serious about reaching his destination] would not have been affected.  As it turned out I saw almost more potatoes than I needed to see.  I saw mountains of potatoes--oceans--more potatoes than you would think the world's population could consume in a hundred years"--Travels With Charley

"My nerves are stretched to the breaking point! [PING sound effect] There goes one now"--The Goon Show

Sunday afternoon I saw a screening of the Bolshoi Ballet production of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker.  It was a terrific show, even better than the Royal Ballet production I saw screened a couple of years ago!  The Arab Dance was especially impressive.  I hoped to meet Mary of the Classical Music Meetup, but we came in at different times and only met briefly.

I thought I knew everything about The Nutcracker, but I learned something new the other week, with the usual help of Wikipedia.  In the original score, several of the dances are assigned a flavor:  the Trepak is peppermint sticks, the Dance of the Flutes is marzipan, etc.  Also, the musical suite was more popular than the ballet at first:  the ballet only became a North American Christmas staple in the 1960s following George Balanchine's New York Ballet production.

Back in 1974, when I was twelve, I saw the Bolshoi Ballet on their Canadian tour shortly after Mikhail Barishnikov defected. (We drove to Wolfville, Nova Scotia.) They had to change the program because of his departure, so I didn't know what I was watching!  Mother thought they looked demoralized.

I've started listening to The Goon Show on Youtube.  That was a zany BBC radio comedy in the 1950s, starring Spike Milligan (who also wrote it), Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers at the start of his career.  My parents were in Britain at that time, and Father liked it more than Mother.  Sometimes Father says "I don't wish to know it," and I just learned that was one of the show's many catchphrases!  Another BBC radio comedy they listened to was Take It From Here, and he often repeats Jimmy Edwards' line "'Allo, 'allo, 'allo!"

My Peyton Place DVD arrived today!