I enjoyed the performer’s inflections and her occasional use of a Russian accent to articulate the foriegn words. However, the story felt a little flat to me. The tone of the Nutcracker story envokes a feeling of atmospheric wonder and spontaneity from me. When the author steered the story into a serious romantic drama with court intrigue, it just didn’t jive with me. I did appreciate how light-hearted the story was in comparison to the darker YA stories out there though. It made me smile on occasion.