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Back to the Future
The Bossov Nutcracker in Skowhegan
by Michael Duncan Wyly
On a dark, overcast, and frigid December 17th in St. Petersburg in 1892, the ornate blue and silver curtains of the
Maryinski Theatre opened to Tchaikovsky's newest ballet score, The Nutcracker. The Tsar himself, Alexander III, strong,
burly, and six foot four, was in the audience with his lady, the Empress Maria Fyodorovna, and their five children,
including young Nicholas, who would be the last of the Tsars. When the final act ends in the now famous Land of the
Sweets, Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker refrain, turned soft and slow now, as it draws the ballet to its close, accompanies
ballerinas clad in black and yellow as honeybees, assuring us that there will be sweetness and honey forever – which,
if you are a Russian, far, far North of where sugar cane grows, is a Christmas assurance that is comforting indeed. So
we can imagine that the Romanov family left the show with visions of honeybees dancing in their heads. We know that
Alexander, known as the last true autocratic tsar, loved the show, contrary to some of the critics who had not yet
gotten used to Tchaikovsky's revolutionizing effect on ballet.
We don't see the little bees anymore in today's Nutcrackers. They seem to have given way to scenes of little girls
awaking from the classic Christmas dream about prince charmings and candy.
But the Nutcracker to open in Skowhegan Thanksgiving weekend is Andrei Bossov's Nutcracker. And it's Andrei's new,
revised Nutcracker, tailor made for Skowhegan's classic old Opera House. Andrei is from St. Petersburg where the
Nutcracker was born; and he is a traditionalist. The Bees are back! In Andrei's new Nutcracker we are back to the
future. Many, many bees will populate Skowhegan's Land of the Sweets, little eight-year-old bees, one little boy
bee, teenaged bees, and even a virtuoso Queen Bee. The many sweets that make Nutcracker Christmas will be back,
too; the Spanish Chocolate, French Marzipan, Chinese Tea, Arabian Coffee, and Russian Roasted Sugar. All is topped
off, of course, with daring leaps and manly turns by a handsome Prince.
Back to the future and another change: Andrei's Skowhegan Nutcracker is a Christmas miracle that rescues an aging
down-and-out toymaker, Drosselmeier. Just when things are their bleakest, money running out, old age setting in,
toys losing their luster; dream-like, his toys come to life, some good, some scary. There is the traditional chase
through the snow - Mouse King in hot pursuit of girl-turned Princess and Nutcracker Doll turned Prince.
The Snow Scene is always my favorite - indispensable! Ballerinas in white tutus, becoming the snow flakes that foil
the evil Mouse King by covering the tracks of the loving couple.
How it all comes out needs to stay a surprise. Suffice it to say, neither Dickens's Scrooge turned into a happy and
generous Christmas well-wisher, nor Cervantes's Man of La Mancha in his final chorus of "Dream the Impossible Dream"
can top what comes to pass to uplift Herr Drosselmeier on Christmas. You will go home humming the tunes and singing
the songs, as I imagine the last autocratic Tsar did a hundred and nineteen years ago with his family, and the
assurance of the bees, that sweetness and honey will dwell in the Land of the Sweets, forever.
So, Andrei Bossov has done it again. As a Soloist who danced the Nutcracker in the same Maryinski Theatre where the
Imperial Family first beheld it, as a Choreographer who made ballets for the dancers of the same 271-year-old ballet
company that performed for the Tsar, Andrei has the authority as well as the creativity to make change that while
original, is at once traditional as well. No other Ballet Master whom I know of in this country, can do that.
Tickets are on sale now. Call 873-7000 to buy them. Our former venue, the Waterville Opera House, now being
renovated, is selling them for us, $15 for adults and $10 for children and seniors. And, if you just want to find
out more about us and this year's show, call me at 207-487-6360.
May I be the first to wish you, Merry Christmas!
Michael D. Wyly
Executive Director
Bossov Ballet Theatre
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