The Jaded Sing Hallelujah for Oakland Ballet's Nutcracker
"I am experiencing a kind of crisis," Tchaikovsky wrote gloomily, after being ordered by the tzar's flunkeys to compose a ballet score for a flimsy tale centred around children, rats and a candy kingdom. After the glory of The Sleeping Beauty, the Nutcracker commission seemed like an insult.
Carla Escoda, ContributorDance, theatre and arts critic, based in San Francisco. Former...