I have a child in Nutcracker. It's our 3rd year. At least at our studio, it's not normal to be changing things at this late date. I have an older child was in many performances growing up and I don't recall any mention of last minute changes. Nutcracker is insane at the best of times, but if they're making last minute changes, I can see how it would be too much to handle.they were changing things so much,
This is an excellent skill to have. It took me way too long to be able to say this, but life got so much better once I did. If she's a young teen, I'd have no problem telling the studio myself that she won't be able to do the latest task that she was asked to do. If she's older, I'd encourage her to talk to the studio about dropping the backstage work.Teach her to say no.
My older D would get almost hysterical if she got over tired. Make sure she's getting enough sleep and eating properly.