A Restaging of Nutcracker
by Matias Travieso-Diaz
“Oh, my poor Nutcracker!” cried Marie and, without being exactly conscious of what she did, grasped her left shoe and threw it with all her strength into the thickest masses of the mice, straight at their king. In an instant, all were scattered, and fled.
— E.T.A. Hoffman, Nutcracker and Mouse King, Chapter 5
The nation’s performing arts center was closed for four months after the Leader took it over. He had replaced the institution’s management with flunkies of his choosing, whose mission was to investigate all personnel — resident artists as well as staff members — and get rid of undesirables. The center’s opera house was finally ready for reopening that December and, to add luster to the occasion, a world-famous ballet company from Russia was engaged to perform on opening night the ever popular Nutcracker ballet by Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky.
The plan was that, together with other staples of the company’s repertory, Nutcracker would be performed several times over the Christmas holidays, a time-honored tradition in the country.
The Leader’s musical taste ran to classic rock, 1980s anthems, and country music. Indeed, he had never set foot in the performing arts center before; he also had never seen a ballet, and dismissed the genre as suitable only for little girls and perverts. But, in honor of the occasion, he agreed to attend the opening and sat in the Presidential box, in full view of a packed house that included foreign dignitaries, members of the administration, glitterati, and wealthy political donors, in addition to common folk.
The Leader found the beginning of the ballet boring and did not enjoy the music. There was a Christmas party with a lot of marching, dancing, and prancing around. At last, the party was over and after everyone retired, the main dancer, a woman in her forties who was supposed to be Clara, a teenage girl, came to the living room to check on one of her gifts, a wooden nutcracker. She kissed the doll and rocked it.
Then the walls of the room slid back, the Christmas tree started to grow, and all the toys came alive and grew in unison with the tree. Suddenly, mice crept out from under the floor boards, led by an impressive-looking Mouse King dressed in full regalia and endowed with seven crowned heads. The toys became panic-stricken and were thrown into confusion, but a grown Nutcracker lined up an army of leaden soldiers and led them to do battle with the mice.
The Leader became interested at once in the action onstage and began rooting inwardly for the mice to crush the Nutcracker and his army. Indeed, the mice overran the soldiers and were about to finish off the Nutcracker when Clara took off a slipper and threw it at the Mouse King, inflicting a fatal blow. The mice quickly retreated, and the Nutcracker became a young man wearing princely robes.
The Leader’s snort could be heard in every corner of the theater. He was incensed at the turn of events and had become restive. Two of his aides managed to keep him in his seat until the first act ended, whereupon the Leader violently rose and demanded to be taken to his limo. On his way out, he excoriated his assistants: “You dumbasses, who chose that piece of garbage to reopen my beautiful arts center?”
“Sir, what was wrong with the performance? This is perhaps the most popular ballet in the world, and mothers line up to bring their little children to watch it in the hope of getting them interested in a dancing career—”
“I don’t give a damn about what the mothers do! That thing is subversive and is intended to mock me! A great king is slain onstage, to be replaced by a wooden commoner! Could the message have been clearer?!”
“But, sir, it is just entertainment for children!”
The Leader would have none of it. “Who picked this ballet to be staged on opening night, when I was sure to be in attendance? I’ll have his head!”
“Sir, the Russian ballet company suggested it, as it is a new production with updated sets and modern choreography. They wanted to honor us, as their friends, by presenting its premiere here instead of Moscow or St. Petersburg.”
“Everyone betrays me!” insisted the Leader. “I want that damned company kicked out tomorrow and sent back home to eat borscht!”
“Sir, cancelling their tour would create an international scandal. Not only would they sue to get their fee but would probably seek damages for injury to their reputation.”
“Well, I tell you what, I won’t kick them out of our country, but I will demand that the ballet be revised!”
“Revised, how?”
“I don’t know. But if the Nutcracker is to be performed again, the Mouse King must be the winner and the ballet must be centered on his reign, in which everyone happily obeys his commands!”
“I will set up a meeting with the company’s artistic director to discuss our concerns and demand that Nutcracker be restaged. In the meantime, we will suggest that they run Swan Lake instead.”
“Do it!”
* * *
At first, the Russians resisted making changes to their production of Nutcracker to accommodate the whims of a local autocrat. But after a while, they relented and came up with what they felt was a viable compromise: they would develop a restaged version of Nutcracker to be performed only at this venue and would keep the original version as the one to be danced everywhere else.
The Leader did not object to the compromise; he only insisted that the revised local version be entitled Clara and the Mouse King, to put due emphasis on the central role his avatar would play. The Russians obliged.
* * *
Being practical people pressed for time, the Russians followed the path of least resistance: they switched around the characters of the Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Thus, when the Christmas tree and the toys grow, the full-size Nutcracker attacks Clara and she is saved by the appearance of the Mouse King, who dispatches the Nutcracker with a swift blow of his sword and is then embraced by a grateful, enthralled girl.
The rest of the ballet is modified accordingly and, in the second act, all dances are performed by mice. Clara and the Mouse King dance an ecstatic pas de deux. The ballet ends triumphantly with the entire mouse court dancing a final waltz and, as the curtain falls, they all pay a tribute to Clara and the King.
The Leader passed on attending the restaged Nutcracker but was fully briefed on the changes and was happy with them.
Clara and the Mouse King had its premiere nine days after the Nutcracker’s initial fiasco. It did not go well with the audience. Many children were scared by the sight of so many dancers dressed in black, wearing hairy costumes, and having pointed teeth. The King, padded and made up to appear even more intimidating, drew shrieks of fear from little boys and girls, some of whom had to be carried out precipitously by their parents. Indeed, when the performance resumed for Act II, the theater was almost half empty.
The press, which by this time had been molded to cater to the Leader’s wishes, bestowed praise on the new production, but nobody was fooled. The disastrous restaging of Nutcracker was performed twice more, to poorly attended audiences. The company returned to Russia a little sooner than anticipated with the unstated resolve never to perform Clara and the Mouse King again.
Back home, news of the performances of Clara and the Mouse King spread quickly. An image of an obese, threatening figure covered in dark hair and baring razor-sharp teeth became the Leader’s new avatar, and it was displayed in lampoons and graffiti posted on the walls of cities throughout the land. Even the Leader’s staunchest supporters shuddered at the image.
Copyright © 2025 by Matias Travieso-Diaz
