Nutcracker Again

Some weeks are so full I can hardly breathe.  Last week was one of those.  We were either rehearsing for the Nutcracker or performing in it.  Just to refresh; our good friend Rachel Tan is a dance instructor. A very good one.  She is a woman with great expectations.  Her dream was to produce a version of the Nutcracker on Temple Hill in Oakland, using her students.  For free.  Her dream became reality three years ago, when the Temple Hill Committee responded to her offer in the affirmative.  It was impressive from the first.  Rachel does nothing half-way.  Her scenery, props and staging were of professional quality.  Her students, from the littlest to the oldest were amazingly well rehearsed.  She sacrificed a lot of time and money to make her production special.  The results have been amazing.  Each year the house has been packed for all performances.  This year was no exception.  Crowds gathered several hours before the doors opened.  It is an amazing experience to be involved with this production.

Rachel asked Layne and me to be the grandparents in the opening party scene for her first performance, and every one since.  It is hard to turn her down.  Actually, it is nigh to impossible to do so.  So we became the grandparents.  It involved a short solo for Layne.  If you know him at all, you know that dancing is not one of his gifts.  Yet he does a great job of it.  The audience loves him.  Our first two years were nerve-racking as we stained to remember what we were to do.  But this year was actually fun.  I felt happy to be there and felt no fear at all in participating in our two adult dances.

Our friend Howard Bernam, who plays Drosselmeyer, stayed with us for three nights.  He is English and very proper.  It was fun to rub shoulders with him and take in his view of life.  He is a professional actor so it was extra fun to watch him at work on his craft in the show.

Saturday night Layne sang with his quartet at our ward party.  We rushed there from Nutcracker.  Layne sang in his tux.  I have to say that there is something grand about a man in a tux.  He looked smashing and the music the quartet performed was wonderful.

Some of the Nutcracker dancers, Jill (she and husband Josh danced
for the BYU Ballroom Dancers), Laura (she and husband are in our
stake), Layne and me.

Layne ("Grandfather")  and Howard (Drosselmeyer)

It has been a week of performances!