This wonderful pack of poker-sized ‘Nutcracker’ playing cards are truly spectacular. Yes these are standard playing cards – but these are no ordinary cards because the beautiful full-colour illustrations on the aces and court cards vividly bring to life the characters from ETA Hoffman’s magical Christmas tale of trials, tribulation, and jubilation - and the artwork is stunning.
Be prepared as you are taken on a mysterious exquisite journey across ‘the four realms’ – where the suit names magically change to ‘presents’ (spades); ‘bears’ (hearts); ‘snowflakes’ (clubs); and ‘drums’ (diamonds) as you join Clara on her various ‘adventures’ as she travels through ‘the four realms’ to ‘the land of sweets’ before returning home again.
Disney have released a version of ETA Hoffman’s ‘The nutcracker and the mouse king’ – called ‘The Nutcracker and the four realms’ with a typical ‘Disney’ ‘twist’ at the end – but of course the best way to see the marvellous story filled with magic and wonderment; fabulous music and spectacular dancing is to see the wonderful ballet ‘The Nutcracker’.
The Royal Ballet transmit their ballets globally - and every December they transmit ‘The Nutcracker’ ‘live’ to cinemas all over the globe in glorious 4K resolution – so you can see this amazing ballet all for a little bit more than the price of a cinema ticket. (You can find details on their website www.ROH.com)
The red and blue backs depict Clara with her ‘Nutcracker’ and they are magnificent. With regards to the handling of the cards, the high-gloss finish not only vividly displays the art like a child’s picture book, the finish also enables easy polished handling of the cards when shuffling and dealing.
Five stars
