Really Bad Ballet

This evening I watched the Disney version of the Nutcracker. This was a mistake. Or, more precisely, that movie was a mistake. I realize that a screen adaptation of a ballet is not going to be perfect in every way. But as someone who has actually been in the Nutcracker, and being something of a musical purist...wow, what a hack job. I do not think I will permit my children ever to see that butchery again. Rather, I have tickets to take the kiddos to a live performance of the hallowed Christmas stage classic next week, where my desire is that they be captivated by the graceful potential of the human form, be awed by the elaborate costuming and staging, be swept away by the romance of dancing soldiers and warrior mice and the awkwardness of young love and ritual courtship. The real Nutcracker is Narnia set to music - perhaps without theology - but every bit as timeless.