Last-minute to Shanghai
I recently got sent on a last-minute trip to Shanghai to attend a dress rehearsal for a show, Nutcracker Magic, and meet the producers and stage directors afterwards. By last-minute I mean I received roughly 16 hours notice on the trip and 3 hours notice on the actual time of my flight, which I almost missed!
(Picked up from the airport by a uniformed officer and feeling pretty civilian)
(The view from the hotel)
(The Shanghai Culture Square, where the show is opening)
Nutcracker Magic is what I suppose is called an acrobatic ballet, except the name doesn’t really express what this show is, a conglomeration of every bit of stage/dance entertainment in existence. It’s traditional ballet, gymnastics, acrobatics, magic, tap-dancing, break dancing, juggling, martial arts, etc…all rolled into one.
If you’re wondering how the Nutcracker can possibly be adapted into this smorgasbord of entertainment, it isn’t really. They’ve kept the same music (sort of - there were plenty of “updates” to the sound) and the characters from the original, but wove it all into a completely different (and simultaneously ridiculous and unmemorable) story. It’s more spectacle entertainment than art, but at least it’s fun and more than a little eye-popping.
