The Rat King was here

Yes, those are rat droppings left on the conductor's second act score for the Nutcracker. This creative Nutcracker gifting is the product of the viola section's creative juices. Apparently the violas were just a wee bit annoyed by the rat king's appearance in the second act. Other viola Nutcracker gifts included a water pistol, whoopie cushion, mousetraps, a licker clicker (I kid you not, this was the name of the piece of candy that included a whistle, clacker, and sucker), a lottery ticket, as well as a variety of chocolate and nutcracker inspired candy. The viola section has a long running history of gifting the conductor upon each entry to the pit for performance.