You've heard of the beloved holiday classic The Nutcracker, but we bet you've never seen it like this!
The Graham Cracker: A Nutcracker Parody is the company’s original, spectacle-filled spin on the beloved Christmas ballet, The Nutcracker. The piece takes audiences on a psychedelic sugar rush perfect for the whole family, reimagining Nutcracker heroine Clara as a young girl who feels slighted when she doesn’t get to partake in s’mores at a holiday bonfire. Her journey through battles, snowstorms, and the Land of Sweets helps bring a comical story behind the origin of the s'more!
This s'morigin story features Louisville community dancers alongside Ambo Dance Theatre's Company Members, Apprentices, and Junior Company! We are dedicated to inclusion and accessibility in dance, and, as such, do not discriminate in our casting based on age, gender, race, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, or any other aspects of a person's identity!
Our Adaptation of the Classic Story
The Bonfire!
It's a merry and innocent holiday bonfire until Drosselmeyer shows up.
Drosselmeyer entices the bonfire-goers with marshmallows and chocolate, introducing them to the too-delicious-to-be-real s'more.
Having stolen some marshmallows against Drosselmeyer's wishes, Clara (foreground) begins to descent into a sugary hallucination. The Graham Cracker (background) takes on a life of its own!
It's a merry and innocent holiday bonfire until Drosselmeyer shows up.
We begin at a wintery bonfire gathering of family and friends. General merriment is upon the partygoers when Drosselmeyer arrives with sugary treats: chocolate, and marshmallows, and graham crackers, oh my! They intend to introduce everyone to the glory of the s’more! As marshmallows and chocolate are passed around , the evening turns into a wild psychedelic bash for all but young Clara, who, to her disappointment, has only been given graham crackers lest the sugar be too much for her sweet and innocent demeanor to handle. All of this changes, however, when a bag of marshmallows and chocolate stumble toward her and she devours them!
The Battle & The Land of Snow
Clara, in a sugar-induced fantasy, soon finds herself in the throes of an epic battle between the Marshmallow Clan and the Chocolate Clan. After centuries of feuding, they have gone to war yet again over the discovery that two of their own have fallen in love with each other. Clara sets out to help the star-crossed lovers as chaos ensues. When the Marshmallow clan and Chocolate clan clash in an epic battle before her eyes, the noble Graham Cracker shows up to protect Clara, and together they help the Marshmallow and Chocolate lovers escape. Clara, Graham Cracker, and the lovers flee into a snow storm, ending up at the Palace of the Sugar Plum Fairie in the Land of Sweets.
Star-crossed lovers, Marshmallow and Chocolate, come from forever-feuding clans. Their love for one another has led to warfare and bloodshed, but The Graham Cracker is determined to help them escape!
As she descends into a sugar overload-induced hallucination, Clara finds herself in the midst of a battle between the Chocolate Clan and Marshmallow Clan!
Fleeing home, the star-crossed lovers, Chocolate and Marshmallow, make their way through the Land of Snow with the help of Clara and The Graham Cracker to seek asylum in the Land of Sweets.
Star-crossed lovers, Marshmallow and Chocolate, come from forever-feuding clans. Their love for one another has led to warfare and bloodshed, but The Graham Cracker is determined to help them escape!
The Sugar Plum Fairy welcomes Chocolate and Marshmallow into her palace of sugary goodness. A wedding celebration for the refugee lovers ensues!
The Nerds candies put on a riveting show!
Coming out of her sugar overload-induced hallucination, Clara is pulled away from her new and beloved friend, The Graham Cracker.
The Sugar Plum Fairy welcomes Chocolate and Marshmallow into her palace of sugary goodness. A wedding celebration for the refugee lovers ensues!
The Land of Sweets
In the Land of Sweets, Marshmallow and Chocolate express their desire to be married to the Sugar Plum Fairie, inciting a giant celebration. The celebration culminates in a sticky, melty, passionate ensemble number: the lovers are finally safe in each other's arms! But Chocolate and Marshmallow haven't lost their star-crossed status just yet. With their attention fixated on each other, and Clara and the Graham Cracker celebrating their great victory, hostile members of the Chocolate and Marshmallow clans are spotted sneaking around, preparing to stage an ambush! Graham Cracker defends Clara and the newlyweds, but falls in battle. Marshmallow and Chocolate are torn apart, cueing a mournful dance as her sugar hallucinations wear off and Clara returns to reality. Back at her family’s party, she’s left with new appreciation for the graham crackers she had previously snubbed.