THE NUTCRACKER & THE MOUSE KING From Ballet Zürich Will Stream In HD At The River St Theatre

The innovative and world-acclaimed Ballet Zürich's production of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker & The Mouse King will be shown in HD at the River Street Theatre (RST) in Jaffrey on Saturday, November 24 at 2pm and 7pm. This presentation is special event of the RST's Stage2Screen Series. The River Street Theatre is a project of the soon-to-be-built Park Theatre performing arts center.

The classic family holiday event is re-imagined with breathtaking art direction, costuming and dancing by one of the world's most most critically acclaimed ballet companies.

Because of Tchaikovsky's imaginative music, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King is one of the most popular works of the ballet repertoire, instantly bringing to mind scenes of a splendidly decorated Christmas room, dancing snowflakes and the waltz of the flowers. The plot of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King is based on a novella by E.T.A. Hoffmann, one of the most famous writers of German Romanticism. While Hoffmann's masterful fairytale virtuously jumps back and forth from a dream to reality, in its adaptation as a ballet libretto by Alexandre Dumas and Marius Petipa, it lost much of its dark romantic fantasy.

Christian Spuck attempts to distance himself from the Dumas/Petipas version in his choreography and puts the literary origin at the heart of his ballet, emphasizing the fantastical nature of the original rather than the delightful Christmas fairytale and bringing back the fairytale of the princess Pirlipat, who turns into a nut monster, as told by E.T.A. Hoffmann.

In Rufus Didwiszus' stage setting, the workshop of the godfather Drosselmeier turns into an old revue-theater, where the characters of the ballet come to life. Spucks' choreography plays with the richness of characters in E.T.A. Hoffmann's narrative cosmos, the absurdity and overwrought humor that inhabit them while at the same time looking down into the dark abyss of Romanticism.

Tickets for this special River Street Theatre Stage2Screen presentation are $15.00 (Children 12 and under are $10). Advance ticket purchases are encouraged due to the intimate nature of the RST theatre. The box office telephone number is (603) 532-8888 or go to riverst.org/calendar. Tickets can also be purchased at 7 days a week at OvationTix by calling 1-866-811-4111.

The River Street Theatre is conveniently located in downtown Jaffrey, New Hampshire at 6 River Street. The River Street Theatre is sponsored by Grove Street Fiduciary, Coca-Cola, the Board of Trustees of the Park Theatre, Janet S. Grant, Betty Locke, Owen Houghton and the James F. & Fernande Kelly Charitable Trust.

Photo Credit: Gregory Batardon

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