Nutcracker at New York City Ballet

photo @Andrea Mohin

I had reservations about going last night to see the New York City Ballet's Balanchine Nutcracker, because I prefer Mark Morris' version where the adults get stonkered and fall down drunk behind the sofa while the neglected children sulk and vandalize the Christmas tree. But I succumbed to the NYCB's technical perfection, and all the sugar. Sterling Hyltin and Andrew Veyette did the (in)famous pas de deux with such perfection that it seemed unreal, and by the time the sleigh somehow took off into the sky, pulled by flying reindeer, I was moon - faced and staring in amazement along with the six year olds. Their parents played with their Iphones throughout, doing emails and even taking calls, and the child-weary ushers did nothing to stop them...