<B>Nuts, sluts, rats and bats</B><BR>Does Tchaikovsky's grief for his sister explain the enduring appeal of the Nutcracker? Judith Mackrell in The Guardian chronicles the many incarnations of a dark Christmas favourite <P><BR>Christmas is coming and around Britain at least four companies are fattening up their budgets on box office takings from The Nutcracker. Hundreds more around the world will be raking in the profits too. During the ballet's 109 years, its ability to shift tickets has grown dramatically - rather than diminished - with age. <BR>Of course, it offers the perfect festive treat, with snow, angels, a magically growing Christmas tree, fabulous dancing toys and more sweets than your local Woolworths. But why do so many companies perform it to the exclusion of anything else? Why is Christmas always so predictably festooned with Nutcrackers? <P><A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/story/0,3604,616128,00.html" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A><P>Stuart adds: For those who want to see the awesome power of 'The Nutcracker' in the US in particular, go to our <A HREF="http://www.criticaldance.com/cgi-local/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&forum=Holiday+Performances+2001&number=20&DaysPrune=365&LastLogin=" TARGET=_blank><B>Holiday Performances 2001</B></A>

Everyone loves the Nutcracker whether they are 9 or 90+ , it is a ballet that you can escape into..you can relive times past . The characters are funny ( relatives at the party in act 1 ) , the rats you want to jump up on stage and help to destroy them to bring the Nutcracker back to his true self!The Snowflakes are beautiful and as for the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Prince..well!<BR>need i go on?? I could watch the Nutcracker everyday if i had the chance , well i can with the new RB DVD and the Collier/Dowell VHS version i have at home..what bliss!!

I saw this article in the hard copy of The Telegraph just after Christmas and spent a long time trying to track it down on the internet. FOUND IT!<P><B>The Sugar Plum cash cow</B><P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>It's Nutcracker time again. Louise Levene talks to the people who, love it or loathe it, depend for their livelihoods on this lucrative ballet classic<P>BARBIE was working the room like a real professional, meeting and greeting excited six-year-olds who clustered round the fully-poseable, permatanned bottle blonde, firmly convinced that this jobbing model in pink polyester was every bit as real as Santa Claus.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2002/01/05/btlev30.xml&sSheet=/arts/2002/01/05/ixartright05.html" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A><P><BR>