Holiday Greeting From The Land of Fruits and Nuts

Go ahead and Click on the Illustration Above
For all the Nutty Details!

Ho Ho Ho from California!


Hope you don't crack up from meetin' too many nuts this holiday season.

Cracking Nuts at the Opera House

Oh Please Click on the Illustration Above to
Enjoy the full beauty of this theatre
Awaiting the Show
Nutcracker Ballet, Warm Memorial Opera House San Francisco

This San Francisco ballet has undergone a major transformation since I last attended a performance of the Nutcracker at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. The costumes have been upgraded with a more Edwardian look and Clara's relationship with her godfather and the Nutcracker Prince is an improvement. She shifts between doll-playing-girlhood, into a dream within a dream of maidenhood, that seems more natural to me. I also liked the conversion of the Sugar Plum fairies final pas de deux and solos with her cavalier into roles for Clara and the prince. The dancing in these parts was just plain more interesting.

I don't want to spoil things for anybody, but whoever came up with the idea of having the Russian dancers burst through the windows of what appears to be faberge eggs needs to get the stupendous award!