As dancers madly dashed for the changing rooms and stage hands moved scenery and props, I leaned back into Harvey. He held my hands and gave me a cuddle. "It's going well, girl, it's going well. Only the second act to go." I snuggled into Harvey as we waited for the warning bell to call back the audience.
"They love it, Bitty. They love it." I reluctantly withdrew from Harvey's embrace to see who was pulling on my arm. It was Amber Higham, the theater manager. "I snuck out to the foyer to listen in on the guests as they discussed what they had seen. They all seemed to be impressed, and they haven't even seen the Grand Pas de Deux yet. I think we have a winner."
Then, I heard her mutter to herself, "I wonder if we can increase the price for the remaining performances?" Harvey and I left her mumbling as we moved off to see how the dancers were coping.
The second act opened to the young lovers, Joseph and Cathy as Nutcracker and Clara, being greeted by Staci as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Carl as her cavalier. Joseph related how he vanquished the Mouse King in a mimelogue, while behind him Cathy shook her head and mimed that it was she who killed the Mouse King with a single shot. That drew a trickle of laughter from the audience. Then the four journeyed by boat to the Land of the Sweets, yet another mechanical contrivance, which actually worked.
Then it was time for the upcoming performers to strut their stuff in the character dances. First off the blocks were Mathias Steinbach and Michelle Matowski, Deanna's daughter. They had the Spanish or Chocolate dance. Their costumes were brilliant, a real credit to the dyer's art and Tom Stone's chemistry.
Mathias and Michelle were followed by five girls in pseudo-Arabic harem clothes performing the Arabian or Coffee dance. The guys had all been in favor of copying the outfits from the Covent Garden version of Nutcracker, but I wasn't prepared to put thinly clad girls with bare midriffs on the stage.
Next came Mike Song and none other than Duchess Elisabeth Sofie and our friendly cloth merchant's daughter, Catharina Matzinger, to do a Chinese Fan dance. It should have been just one couple, but which girl do you leave out? I'd crumbled and put in both of them. It was only for a bit over a minute and they would both glory in being given such an important part.
They departed to be replaced by my find of Eastern Folk dancers. We had agreed on a modified version of their dance that fitted the music. It was extremely athletic, but glorious to watch. The audience appreciated the upbeat tempo of their dance as well. The pas de trios followed. Two of my best down-timer girls, Richelle Kubiak and Ursula Sprug, with, I'm sad to say, my nephew, Joe Calagna. Fortunately the male can get away with being little more than a prop for the girls to hang onto and dance around. A good male dancer helps. It's not that Joe is a poor dancer. Technically he's quite good. He just seems to lack that certain something that lifts a performance above the ordinary.
I was almost shaking with excitement. Everything was going so well! Nothing had gone wrong, the dancers were excelling, and the audience was responding. There was just the Waltz of the Flowers to go before the Grand Pas de Deux. The couples came on. All those willing down-time males who could dance had been a real windfall. I leaned back into Harvey and watched and appreciated what I was seeing. The brilliant colors of their costumes glistened as the girls danced. This was the second en pointe dance and the audience loved it. You could sense their excitement at what they were seeing as the dancers worked their magic.
Now it was time for the Grand Pas de Deux, the Cavalier and Sugar Plum Fairy in their great romantic dance. If Thursday's rehearsal had been steamy, this was too hot to handle. Every look spoke volumes, every touch shouted of the feelings between them. I licked my lips, spellbound, as they danced. They finished to absolute silence. You could have heard a pin drop. Then the audience exploded in a sea of applause. I snuggled into Harvey as I took a peek at the audience. They were starting to stand as they applauded.
Eventually Carl and Staci escaped from the stage and the music restarted. It was time for the penultimate scene. With all the Sweets and the Waltz of the Flowers couples performing short sequences, and the two lead couples each performing a short pas de deux.
As the scene ended, the lights dimmed. For a moment there was total darkness. Then a glimmer of light was illuminating Cathy, asleep in a chair. Gradually the lights increased. The party guests started circulating again. Cathy looked around for her nutcracker, but it was nowhere to be seen. Then Count Drosselmeyer appeared with Joseph as his nephew. Joseph was dressed as the nutcracker prince, but without the plaid. He had in his arms a nutcracker, just like the one Cathy had lost. As Cathy accepted the replacement nutcracker and wrapped her arms around it, the lights faded out, and the curtain fell for the last time.