'The Fairytale Hairdresser and the Sugar Plum Fairy' is a retelling of 'The Nutcracker' (I'm glad it isn't called 'The Fairytale Hairdresser and the Nutcracker').
The Winter Ballet is coming up, where everyone is allowed to dance to their heart's content. Ballet fever is everywhere. There are sparkles, ribbons, toys and trinkets all around. Kittie Lacey's salon is the busiest in town, and at the ballet she will be dancing with her ballerina friend, Clara.
Together, accompanied Rapunzel, Cinderella, Snow White, Rose (Sleeping Beauty) and Rose's seven fairy friends, Kittie and Clara go to decorate the enormous Christmas tree by the ballet theatre. Clara places a wooden nutcracker, given to her by her uncle (Drosselmeyer?), right in the middle of the tree.
Then Kittie notices that the purple Sugar Plum Fairy is also there, and she is upset. Prince Armand of the Land of Sweets is missing, and the evil Mouse King and Queen are suspects. Kittie and her girl-friends readily offer to help find the prince, and the Sugar Plum Fairy immediately waves her magic wand and shrinks them down, and they all go into the tree and find the hidden kingdom of the Land of Sweets. It's full of sweets and candy, and it's immensely colourful and appetising!
But the girls - consisting of four princesses, a fairy, a ballerina and a hairdresser - can't get distracted - they have a prince to save!
Suddenly, the mice attack, and the Sugar Plum Fairy waves her wand again and enchants the toys on the Christmas tree to life, to defend the Land of Sweets. Clara's nutcracker takes charge. A creative mice-and-toys battle commences. It ends with Kittie using the bow she had placed on the tree before (now giant!) to tie up the Mouse King and Queen, with Clara's help.
After the mice are defeated and marched off to prison, Clara kisses the once-endangered nutcracker - and, big shocker, he turns into Prince Armand! Clara agrees to stay in the Land of Sweets with her beloved nutcracker-now-prince, just like that.
Kittie dresses the Sugar Plum Fairy up for the Winter Ballet, and the fairy in turn takes everyone back to Fairyland Village, returning them to their normal size. Clara now lives in the Land of Sweets with Armand, and Kittie will make the magic trip there whenever anyone needs a makeover.
How fun and sweet! So colourful, bright, light, pretty, creative and Christmassy, with candies, toys, fairies, magic, and ballet! So scrumptious! 'The Fairytale Hairdesser and the Sugar Plum Fairy' is a nice, delightful, twinkly and cute little adaptation of the original 'Nutcracker' ballet and story. Clara is a POC, Drosselmeyer doesn't show up on-page (he apparently found the nutcracker just lying in the woods), and a Mouse King and Queen are in it (although it isn't clear whether they are mother and son, or spouses). Kittie and most of her girl-friends are on this exciting, delicious adventure together! Girl power saves the Land of Sweets!
Cameos include: Snow Queen and Jack Frost (why weren't they involved in the story? Their powers could have come in handy!), Red Riding Hood (ditto, why didn't she join in Kittie's girl group?), Gingerbread Man, the Little Mermaid, Goldilocks, Rapunzel's witch, Alice, Little Miss Muffet, Humpty Dumpty, Bo Peep, and more. The Christmas tree toys include teddy bears, ragdolls, rocking horses, slinky animals, jack-in-a-boxes, Russian dolls, and a windup ladybird.
Happy sparkly, sweet, candy-filled, toy-filled winter holidays, everyone!
Final Score: 3.5/5
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