Moving Words

By MINDY ALOFF
The Village Voice

This highly personal book-length essay begins as a history of the original 1892 production of The Nutcracker in St. Petersburg, swings into a cultural analysis of 20th-century productions in North America, and concludes as a meditation on the meaning of the ballet as an annual ritual for our time and place.

New book offers insight into 'The Nutcracker'
By MOLLY GLENTZER
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

"The Nutcracker is the ballet immigrant who made it big on a lavish scale," she says.
Fisher traces the history of the ballet from birthing pains to George Balanchine's popularization in the 1950s. If you've wondered why Houston Ballet's Sugar Plum Fairy has those fluffy pink balls on her tutu, check out the photo of the 1892 Snowflakes: Their headresses and tutus are covered with what appear to be giant cotton balls.

A hard nut to crack
By Joshua Glenn, 11/16/2003 for the Boston Globe

SUGAR PLUM FAIRY came and hit the streets (to quote Lou Reed) when the Boston Ballet learned recently that its annual production of ''The Nutcracker'' was to be ousted from the Wang Theatre for the 2004 holiday season. The ballet will likely be replaced by the more profitable ''Radio City Christmas Spectacular,'' featuring the Rockettes, Santa Claus, and a Nativity scene with real livestock. Across Boston, the discarding of ''The Nutcracker'' inspired debates about tradition vs. commercialism, and high art vs. lowbrow spectacle -- precisely the subjects, it turns out, of the new book ''Nutcracker Nation'' (Yale) by dance historian and ethnologist Jennifer Fisher.