89/100 Finally Understanding The Nutcracker

A Wish Manifest

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I want to tell you about the time I finally understood that absolute work of art.

For the longest time, I was unsure if that weird, magic uncle guy was safe to invite to your family parties. He definitely seemed like the kind of guest that the wife would have doubts about but the husband would ignore with the “Who? Harry? Nahhhh, he’s fiiine.”

Seriously. Who is that man? Because he put rats on his niece (?). What was that? It seems like the whole solution and problem started with him. He made the rats attack her, so then he made the nutcracker save her. WHY.

I do genuinely find that part confusing. I haven’t yet figured that out, but I have figured this out: it is among the best love stories we have.

I lost the plot after the rats attacked, so I basically understood the plot of the whole story as the following:

1. A party starts and wild Uncle Harry shows up (with an eye patch??)
2. There is much celebration there, and Harry gives the little girl a nutcracker
3. She gets immediately stoked, the other children jealous, and they spin out big time until bedtime
4. Harry is waiting (or something) on the grandfather clock (??) as the little girl sneaks downstairs to find her nutcracker again
5. Harry forgets that she is his direct relation and summons rats upon her
6. He then brings the nutcracker to life who saves her with a devastating plié upon the rats
7. Now that he is alive, literally everyone on the planet just dances until we kind of end up back at this party house
8. FIN

This was my understanding until December 2021 when I saw it live with Ole. The big unlock was this: the niece and the nutcracker were watching the entire time. They observed the show with the audience. I didn’t know this until I saw them seeing the show from a near-stage balcony, gasping in joy.

The rest of the play is a gift from Uncle Harry. All of the apparently random scenes of unexplained pliés were actually moments in world travel. Harry wanted his niece to see these things, to show his niece all the variations of love and joy as if to say:

“welcome to the history of the world. May you find love in your life; may you see it everywhere.”

I discovered this at the very end of the show, decades of my life suddenly resolved and understood. While Ole and everyone were applauding, I was frantically writing down the key to the story: The history of the world is love.

More soon,

Trevor