The Nutcracker (New York Ballet)

It was Christmas Eve in Germany in 1870. Clara and her family were hosting a Christmas party. Gifts were handed out to the children. Clara's godfather, Drosselmeier, arrived in a sorcerer's hat and cloak. He took off his hat and said, "Merry Christmas!" "Godfather Drosselmeier!" exclaimed Clara. She ran to hug him. "Merry Christmas." The boys did a dance in their new soldier costumes. Then, Drosselmeir led the girls in a dance. The adults had two dances, but were interrupted when the children came skipping into the room. Drosselmeier stopped them and motioned for the children to sit down. Two men pushed a puppet theatre to the center of the room. He went up to the top of the puppet theatre and with a wave of his hand, made a beautiful Princess puppet come into view and bow to the children. All the girls except Clara bowed to the Princess puppet. Clara was admiring the Princess puppet's beauty. The handsome Prince puppet came into view, went over to the Princess puppet and kissed her hand. Suddenly, the Mouse King puppet appeared, brandishing a sword. The Prince puppet brandished his own sword and the two fought. The Prince puppet stabbed the Mouse King puppet. The Prince and Princess puppets kissed. The puppet show ended and two men took the puppet theatre away. Drosselmeier left the room and then returned moments later with his magical cloak on. He bent down, pulling his cloak in front of himself and stood up. Three small dolls appeared. He waved his cloak in front of the dolls and the dolls were life-sized. He directed the doll that was dressed like a court jester to dance. The court jester doll did his dance. Once he finished his dance, Drosselmeier directed the clown ballerina doll to dance. The clown ballerina doll did her dance. The court jester doll danced with her. Then, a doll dressed like an Arab danced. After the Arab doll finished his, some men carried the dolls away. "Clara, come here." said Godfather Drosselmeier. Clara went over to her godfather. "What is it?" Clara asked. Drosselmeier kissed Clara on the head and he was handed an object covered by a cloth. He set it down on the floor in front of him. He took the cloth off, revealing a beautiful Nutcracker doll. The Nutcracker doll looked like a soldier. "Thank you, Godfather Drosselmeier! I love him!" Clara hugged her godfather. Clara began to dance. Drosselmeier picked up the doll and the two of them danced as Clara held the doll. During the dance, a drunk party guest pulled the Nutcracker's head off. Clara was sad. Drosselmeier took the doll's body from Clara and took the head from the man and scolded him before reattaching the Nutcracker's head to its body. He placed the Nutcracker doll in Clara's arms and tied a scarf around the doll's neck like a bandage. Clara rocked the Nutcracker doll. Soon after, the party ended. Clara and her family stood and said goodbye to their guests. Clara curtsied instead of shaking people's hands because she still held her Nutcracker doll in her arms. When all the guests had left, a maid took the Nutcracker doll from Clara and gave it to another maid who put it on the floor in the great room. Clara was taken to bed by the first maid. Later that night, Clara came out to the great room with a candle. She set the candle down and laid down by her Nutcracker doll. She fell asleep.