Monday, December 05, 2022

The Nutcracker Sweets

Started off my morning with breakfast and the first Christmas Scooby Doo episode. "A Nutcracker Scoob" from The New Scooby Doo Adventures has Daphne, Fred, Shaggy, and the dogs putting on a holiday show at a destitute orphanage. Mean old William Nicholby wants to throw the kids out in the cold...but he's really interested in the priceless gem hidden in their home. He's not the only one. The kids also have to head off the Ghost of Christmas Never Was and make sure they don't get their spectral hands on that fortune, either!

Headed straight to work even before the episode finished. Work was busy for most of the day. We're still in the beginning of the month. Quite a few people were grumpy or fussy, but at least the day went fast. It slowed down enough by 5:30 for me to leave with no relief and no need for one.

Sat down for some writing after I got home and changed. Debralee's shocked that the Nutcracker thinks she's the princess transformed into a doll from Gene's story. She only wishes she was a princess! He's still ready to defend her for her kindness to him, anyway.

Broke for dinner at 7. Watched Match Game '79 as I ate and put up the garland and stuffed cloth gingerbread people around the TV. Beloved vintage puppets Kukla and Ollie finished off their week as Gene chatted with a Hispanic woman who had just become an American citizen. The others try to figure out what Fannie Flagg is singing for "__ Sleeves" in the Audience Match. Brett spends the second episode complaining about the high taxes in California and encouraging people not to pay them. The others tease Bill Daily about his rather scraggly beard. 

Finished the night online with more variations on The Nutcracker at Tubi. Nutcracker On Ice was a more traditional truncated version of the ballet from 1995. No dancing candy, but we do have dancing flowers. US skating champs at the time Todd Eldridge and Nicole Bobeck are the Prince and Clara here...but the real spotlight is on legendary Peggy Fleming as an elegant Sugar Plum Fairy.

The Nutcracker Ballet also goes the more traditional route, other than they also eliminate the Sugar Plum Fairy. Here, Clara becomes the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Nutcracker turns into the Prince when they duck under Godfather Drosselmeyer's cape. We also get a rather nice prologue showing everyone heading to the party, including Drosselmeyer. Not bad dancing, but there's other versions out there that use more of the full score. 

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