The Nutcracker and I
Billed
as ‘A New Holiday Musical Comedy’ (on the handout that included cast
bios and the list of musical numbers) and ‘A NEW Madcap Holiday Musical
Comedy Spoof’ (on the cover of the generic handout at Lincoln Center
Library for the Performing Arts), The Nutcracker and I is an amusing
take on the Nutcracker story, updated to the present time and given the
comedy touches of Gerard Alessandrini, he of Forbidden Broadway
notoriety.
The
piece was conceived and created by Mr. Alessandrini and Peter Brash,
with nifty musical direction here by Richard Danley, who played the bulk
of Tchaikovsky’s ballet score (arranged) on the piano. The winning cast
included Benjamin Barham-Wiese, Haley Carlucci, Amy Griffin, Herndon
Lackey, Charles Osborne, and Joseph Spitali, with most of them doubling
(or more) roles.
The
slightly convoluted story was used as a vehicle for Mr. Alessandrini’s
lyrics set to Tchaikovsky’s score. That was a plus and a minus; while
they were witty (and sometimes downright funny, as was the book) there
were lots of lyrics. Lots and lots of lyrics that often flew by at a
rapid pace. There were many references to “that certain ballet” that was
infrequently named. Song titles included Song of the Sugar Rush Fairy,
The Nuttiest Nutcracker, Is There a Ball Tonight?, March of the Toy
Police, The Nutcracker Rocks, and (to me, the most enjoyable sequence)
NYC Multi-Culture Tour Medley: Navidad in Spanish Harlem, Hindu Cabbie’s
Christmas, A Little Little Italy, and A Jewish Chinese Christmas.
Though
the semi-staged performance was presented without an intermission, the
first act takes place in Pawchusett, a New England mill town, while the
second act takes place in Snow Globe City, a version of NYC inside a
snow globe. Partially because of the rapid-fire patter of patter songs
and dialogue, I took very few notes. In general, the first act was a bit
of a slow go, mostly because the first act’s ballet music is less
familiar to me. Perhaps die-hard Nutcracker aficionados had a different
result. The divertissements of the second act came off better.
March
of the Toy Police was a crackerjack patter song. Another patter song
was The Department Store Trepak, reminiscent of a Danny Kaye routine. In
the poking-fun-at-everyone-under-the-sun department, we had a
Hispanic-accented bodega owner (Navidad), an Indian-accented cab driver
(Hindu Cabbie’s Christmas), an Italian-accented pizza boy (... Little
Italy), and the always-popular Jewish/Yiddish-accented Chinese
restaurant diner on Christmas day (A Jewish Chinese Christmas). The Nutcracker Rocks showed us
another side of the uptight toy, busting out some James Brown and Chubby
Checker moves while referring to himself as “the cracker Nutcracker.” A
couple of quips included, “In a magic snow globe, Christmas tree bulbs
never burn out,” and, in a poke to the muscle-bound jock who says, “I’m a
snowboarder!” the retort was, “I’m bored already.”
One
lyric that did stick in my head was from Is There a Ball Tonight? set
to the tune of The Waltz of the Flowers: “Waltzes by Tchaikovsky
(la-la-la-la-la), Not Steve Sondhiem-offsky (la-la-la-la-la).”
This was more of a reading than a full-out production but that was OK, and
even provided some self-effacing humor from the performers. It was, at
times, slightly awkward since all of the performers were using standing
microphones, so they and their script/score had to move from music stand
to music stand. I got a good overall sense of the piece, while wishing I
could have grasped more of the ‘in’ jokes. The piece premiered in 2011,
so I guess it’s been knocking around for a while. Will it become a
holiday classic? Time will tell.
ConcertMeister
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