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Coral Andrews Chronicle Special As the snowflakes tumble gently from the evening skies. onto delicately frosted windows, and the Christ- mas tree mekers in the firelight. its twinkling ornaments glistening, another tradition ignites in imaginations of all Mes, Tchaikosky's Nutcracker Suite a wondrous adventure of magic and fantasy. an ethereal Wizard of Oz, is the aesthetic essence of Christmas. Vy The rest is beautiful art history through the medium and graceful movement of Les Grands Ballets Cam adiens. tt is the tale of little Clara and her fascinating visit to the beautiful and bowitching Land of Snow, through the simple device of a child's dream. . This classic commences with a Christmas Eve gathering attended by Clara's family and friends. Clara‘s magic godfather. Dr. Drosselmeyer presents his goddttughter with a glorious nutcracker. which Clara immediately falls in love with, but Clara's Jealous brother Fritz breaks it. Her mother insists the nutcracker be left under the tree with the other gifts and Clara reluctantly obeys, Later, she steals down to the living room in the night to be beside her precious treasure and falls into a deep The magic godfather Noon repairs it and Clara at the my)” end is yery keey to sleep 1vith)ter new prize. Starry-eyed youngsters make Nutcracker enchanting: Nault Delightful goodie at Centre “l have added a Candyman. for the Kingdom of Sweets. He's the boss of Candyland. I also invented mice and in this version of the Nutcracker we have the original seven-headed monster. There are also three white lambs and a black one. This is to do with my stint at the Louisville Ballet, where there were racial overtones. i wanted to have a slight racial representation here." Resident choreographer Fernand Nault of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens has added different characters to this visionary entourage. and is anticipating a, great show. - “I had never sein, a fully chowdgraphed ’production of the Nutcracker so I started with a clean slate." said Nault. "Just let your imagination go wild". . One of the mom beiiutitul ehardeters of the ballet is the Snow Goddess who floats' overhead across the stage above Clara‘s bed. "She has a M-yd train of silk. and during rehearsals the kids who play the Orientals were helping to told this train. moldy. they vanished. Have you ever tried folding y " yards of silk by yourself? You ctttt't catch it on anything or you‘re in trouble and it just ripples like mad." chuckled Nault. . “But the children are delightful. You see. the Royal Winnipeg Bullet um adults for those roles. But I took little kids us the Bolshoi Ballet did in the origin“. It is the whole charm of the ballet.“ than maintains the younger the child. the heater the "They are musical, iust wonderful. starry-eyed. There In the 1950's, the so-called "Singers De- cade." Miller's second career as a recording executive flourished. As the head of popular records at Columbia, he became one of the industry's success stories, having intro- duced or promoted such greats as Tony Bennett, Patti Page, Johnny Mathis, Rose- mary Clooney. and Frankie Lane. While still at Columbia he conceived the "Sing- Miller will conduct the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra in a pops concert and will include a sing-a- long portion for every- one to join in. A New Year's greet- ing of I different vein will take place Dec. 31 at Centre in the Square at 9: " p.m. when Mitch Miller’s New Year's Eve Sing-Along party will take place. He was born in Ho chester, N.Y.. where he began his first en- deavor as an oboe player and within two years he was perform- ing with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra. Miller is a musician who has made his mark as an oboist, record company executive, television star and of course, an outstanding symphony conductor. Mitch brings, in New Year’s with big sing-a-long "Everything is important about ballet. You cannot leave out one element alone. cannot leave anything out," he emphasized his petite face stem for a moment. "ff you have good dance interpreters. and good character- ization. plus superior stage effects. then you have the true ballet.“ The Nutcracker with all lta beloved characters. the Tin Soldiers, the Snow Goddess, The Sugar Plum Fairy, Clara and all her magical friends promises to be a glorious time for all. , Then couldn‘t be a deer Christmas present than Tchaikoaky's Nutcracher Suite performed by Les Grands Ballets Canada” at the Centre in the Square Wed. Dee. is - Sunday Dec. 19. is nothing complex and they take direction so well. The little mice are enchanting." said Nault brightly. The Nutcracker in itself hosts an enormous company. "We have 21 kids from the Black Walnut Ballet Company in Kitchener, and the entire cast excluding set design and technicians. totals 12t. Tony Lingwood, designer of the Sydney Opera House in Australia is doing the sets. and the lighting is being done by Nicolas Cemovitch. who to my mind is the greatest lighting man in the world. He also did our production of Tommy, the Who’s rock opera. which we adapted for ballet from the Who‘s original tape. Hauling“! " Nault, who was first introduced to ballet at age II. has a simple philosophy of this delicate art form. The "Sing-Along" albums attracted the notice of television ex- ecutives and Miller's "Sing-Along With Mitch" series topped the TV popularity charts for more than three years, thus he had yet another sue cessful career'on the go. Miller‘s fourth ca- reer, that of symphony conductor brings him back to the milieu of classical music where he began. For the past 10 years he has toured the nation leading such Along" albums, Mt of which he recorded. re- sulting in sales of near- ly 20 million copies. Mitch Miller Tickets for this per- formance are $18.50, $16.50 and $14.50 with doors opening at 8 p.m. and special holiday re- freshmen” being served for New Year's Eve. He has been per- forming to sold-out houses for years and has been called "the most all-embracing musical personality of our time." orchestras as the Bos- ton Pops, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Pitts- burg Symphony, the Los Angeles Philhar- monic and of course, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra.