# So, I'm taking the wife to the ballet **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 19, 2013, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-taking-the-wife-to-the-ballet/676681 "2013-12-19T00:04:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-taking-the-wife-to-the-ballet/676681/41 "2013-12-25T05:11:56Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > … _a_ wife? How about ‘my wife.’ ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-taking-the-wife-to-the-ballet/676681/42 "2013-12-25T07:04:01Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > I saw the Nutcracker for the first time in my life a couple of years ago, and my expectations had been pretty low, but it was very entertaining. Whaddayaknow, there’s a reason it’s been popular for over 100 years! In the _Fantasia_ intro to the suite, Deems Taylor said that it was very rarely performed (at that time). > **[The Nutcracker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nutcracker)** > > The Nutcracker (Russian: Щелкунчик\[a\], romanized: Shchelkunchik, .mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}pronounced \[ɕːɪɫˈkunʲt͡ɕɪk\] ⓘ), Op. 71, is an 1892 two-act classical ballet (conceived as a ballet-féerie; Russian: балет-феерия, romanized: balet-feyeriya) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas t... > [@](#): > > Although the original production was not a success, the twenty-minute suite that Tchaikovsky extracted from the ballet was. However, the complete Nutcracker has enjoyed enormous popularity since the late 1960s and is now performed by countless ballet companies, primarily during the Christmas season, especially in the U.S.[2] Major American ballet companies generate around 40 percent of their annual ticket revenues from performances of The Nutcracker.[3][4]… > > The ballet’s first complete United States performance was on 24 December 1944, by the San Francisco Ballet, staged by its artistic director, Willam Christensen, and starring Gisella Caccialanza as the Sugar Plum Fairy.[9] After the enormous success of this production, San Francisco Ballet has presented Nutcracker every Christmas Eve and throughout the winter season, debuting new productions in 1944, 1954, and 1967. The New York City Ballet gave its first annual performance of George Balanchine’s staging of The Nutcracker in 1954.[9] Beginning in the 1960s, the tradition of performing the complete ballet at Christmas eventually spread to the rest of the United States. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-taking-the-wife-to-the-ballet/676681/43 "2013-12-25T15:12:54Z")
I think sound canceling earbuds would work well at a ballet. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-taking-the-wife-to-the-ballet/676681/44 "2013-12-26T07:40:18Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > How about ‘my wife.’ Please! ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-taking-the-wife-to-the-ballet/676681/45 "2013-12-26T14:59:00Z")
> [@tim-n-va](#): > > I took my wife to see a version by the Moscow Ballet last night. I can’t speak Russian and was completely lost. :smack: I know, I know. The Russian accent to the choreography is just impossible! I saw it in Saint Petersburg, and they actually **danced in Russian**! > [@astorian](#): > > In English, it is. But in France, “CH” is pronounced the way “SH” is pronounced in English. > > So, to get the standard American “CH” sound in French, you have to add a “T” at the front. Hence “Tchaikovsky.” For that matter, a Chinese immigrant living in Paris might spell his name “Tchang” or “Tchen.” You… \*\*do \*\*know he was Russian, right? Ballet’s not my thing, anyway; I’m an opera fiend. I can’t imagine much of an advantage to being close to the stage for ballet–after all, it’s not like they’re acting. When I saw The Nutcracker in Saint Petersburg (where, as I mentioned, they danced in Russian, making it very hard to understand :p), I shelled out for a “good” seat. As a result, I could see muscles twitching under the tights, but that just reinforced my impression of the spectacle as an impressive, though not particularly exciting, athletic performance with some pretty music. Were I ever to go to a ballet again (which I would prefer not to), I’d pick the cheap seats. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-taking-the-wife-to-the-ballet/676681/46 "2013-12-26T15:09:30Z")
The male dancers’ crotch bulges are a little disturbing at close range. I had flashbacks to watching _Labyrinth_ as an adult for the first time. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-taking-the-wife-to-the-ballet/676681/47 "2013-12-26T23:24:35Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The only downers were the twin babies that the couple right in front of us decided to bring along. Unsurprisingly, they whined and/or wailed through most of the performance. That, and the unidentified beverage that somebody behind me spilled which gradually pooled under my seat during the performance. We should have warned you the Nutcracker is heavily marketed as a children’s ballet. Sorry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-taking-the-wife-to-the-ballet/676681.md?page=2)