A certain national ticket reseller sends me regular emails about upcoming shows. In the latest one, they describe the Moscow Ballet performance of The Nutcracker as “This Broadway-level spectacle…”

Now maybe it’s just me, but doesn’t spectacle, when used as an adjective, tend to cast something in a somewhat negative light? A freak-show would be a spectacle. Dancing around at a party with a lampshade on your head is a spectacle. A GWAR show can only be described as a spectacle. (OK, so that last one isn’t necessarily a bad thing.)

Yes, I know the dictionary definition for spectacle provides quite a bit of leeway, but I’m just saying…