Full of anticipation, Aaron and I arrived at the Osan Cultural Center 40 minutes before the performance began. As soon as we arrived I started to have misgivings. There were lots of kids-too many kids for a ballet. When the doors opened our ears were assaulted by kid's songs. These were ill omens indeed. And then the performance began. It was dreadful. It was not a ballet; it was a musical, in Korean with minimal dancing. They occasionally used the original music ... with a techno twist. And they were lip-singing. The actress who played Clara's mother looked miserable; she had a "I am young, beautiful, and spent years taking acting lessons to perform in this horrible production to an audience of twenty children under 10?" look. I felt sorry for her. You know its bad when the performers are unhappy to be there. Clara looked like she was 30 and had weak ankles or something. She kept falling pathetically to the ground.
They took some poetic license with the narrative. For example, the evil mouse king wore a red, glittery wig and instead of dying in the beginning pursued Clara and the Nutcracker Prince throughout the fairy land. At the Prince forgave the mouse king and everyone celebrated their new found happiness. During the scene changes, Drosselmeyer, Clara's godfather, appeared at the front of the stage and cackled maliciously like the worst villains in superhero movies who want to control the world. He was talking in Korean so I have no idea what he was saying. But it was bizarre. He is supposed to be mysterious not a psychotic villain who delights in universal chaos and seeks world domination. *Shudder*
It was a scaring experience.
1 comment:
Wow...you all will have dinner conversation material for the rest of your life after this year!
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