Country Mice Go To The Ballet

We've just accomplished one of my greatest non-missionary goals for being in this city -- that of attending The Nutcracker ballet in the Mariinsky Theatre at Christmastime. Now these two little country mice have never attended a ballet before (nor has at least one of us ever wanted to), but in my estimation this was to be the ultimate ballet experience. And it truly was! Lou even liked it, but he's quick to let me know that I shouldn't get any mistaken ideas about ballet in the future. There are many ballet/opera theatres here but the Mariinsky is the most famous because of the ballet troupe that began there. And The Nutcracker premiered there in 1891 with Tchaikovsky in attendance. The music and scenery was fantastic and the story so fun. We went to a Saturday morning performance (that's our P-Day so it was 'legal') and there were many children there all dressed in their beautiful Christmas clothes. But there was not a sound out of them. Obviously, they are already veteran ballet attenders. I could almost see the ghosts of all the beautifully gowned and jeweled ladies from past centuries sitting in the boxes and, of course, the Tzar and Tzarina in their own box. The theatre, like their palaces, is all elaborately guilt ornamented.

This is a picture of the Mariinsky taken in the summertime and of the curtain call of the ballet.