An Enchanting Nutcracker

The Nutcracker Ballet

The Wang Center

Nov. 26, 1993 through Jan. 2,1994

There is not a dull or unperfected moment in this year's outstanding Boston Ballet performance of The Nutcracker. Featuring the familiar and well-loved Tchaikovsky score, beautiful and exotic fairy-tale scenery by Helen Senn and Herbert Pond, and exquisite costumes by the British designer David Walker, The Nutcracker provides a wonderful way to celebrate the holiday season while enjoying the best ballet dancing of the year.

In 1816, E.T.A. Hoffman, a German storyteller, wrote Nussknacker und Mausekonig (The Nutcracker and Mouse King)--the tale of an eccentric, somewhat grotesque, journey into the blurred area between reality and fantasy. In 1844, a French writer, Alexandre Dumas pere softened and sweetened Hoffman's tale into the story of a young girl's Christmas fantasy that would inspire Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov to stage it for the Maryinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1892. Act One opens in the Silberhaus home where the family eagerly awaits party guests, and Clara and Fritz eagerly await the accompanying presents. Their mysterious and magical godfather, Dr. Drosselmeyer (Laszlo Berdo) enters once all the guests have arrived with a number of surprises that delight the children on stage and off--a scarf turns into a bird, the clock magically obeys his hands, Harlequin and Columbine wind-up dolls (Pollyana Ribeiro and Gabriel Otevrel) dance beautifully and humorously, and most importantly, the godfather presents Clara with a much desired nutcracker. The inclusion of a new and wonderfully executed pas de deux between Clara (Brittany Braga) and Dr. Drosselmeyer, in which Clara tries to get the nutcracker out of the gift-giver's hands, heightens the drama of desire central to the story and offers a new and unusual combination for a pas de deux between an older man and a young girl. This pas de deux is not the only new choreography in this year's performance. New Snow and Battle scenes in Act I and a new Angels scene at the beginning of Act II are a testament to the creative power of Artistic Director Bruce Marks who has rechoreographed the entire production.

Act I continues after the Christmas Eve party with Dr. Drosselmeyer's enchanted spell on the nutcracker. Everyone in the house has gone to sleep except Clara. She steals back into the living room and soon a battle begins between the life-size Nutcracker and the Mouse-King. Many surprises and creative additions strengthen this central Battle Scene. Mice jump from the stage out into the audience. A dramatic pause after the death of the Mouse-King adds drama and a touch of sorrow, followed by the comic relief of Red Cross arm-banded mice attempting CPR and carrying him away on a stretcher. The battle itself is fought with gigantic forks instead of swords, and cheese bits serve as grenades. A child dressed as a gingerbread cookie gets her arm bitten off by one of the mice!

The act powerfully ends with the new Snow scene after the nutcracker has turned into a prince and taken Clara to an enchanted forest. Trinidad Sevillano and Patrick Armand, as the Snow Queen and King, dance the newly choreographed movements with awe-inspiring strength and grace--not an easy task with snow falling throughout the scene, creating a slippery floor. The sweeping arm gestures with delicate bourre leg movement perfectly echo the motion of falling snow while the intertwining dancers surrounding the queen and king create spacial patterns on stage that mimic the delicate shape of a snowflake. Act I closes as a magical balloon carries Clara and her prince up into the night sky.

Act II symmetrically begins as the balloon descends amongst dancing angels on a cloud covered stage (created with dry ice) and Clara and the Nutcracker enter the Palace of Sweets in the sky. Balanced on the brink between girlhood and young womanhood, Clara's fantasy of a Prince in Candyland bridges fairy-tale elements that reflect her changing age. The stage sets and costumes in the second act strengthen the power of her fantasy--the walls of the palace look edible and the costumes look like they were made out of sugar and cotton candy. The Nutcracker (Carlos Santos) distinguishes himself as he masterfully retells through dance movement the story of the battle with the mice.

Once Clara and the Nutcracker take their seats on the side of the stage, Chocolate, Coffee, Tea, Marzipan, Mother Ginger, the Sugarplum Fairy, and Russians all perform for their pleasure. The height of the Russian dancer's leaps and their perfect synchronicity elicited tremendous applause from the audience. The slow and sensuous, technically challenging Arabian "coffee" movement performed by Kyra Strasberg, Todd Eric Allen and David Porter, mesmerized the audience and incorporated elements of modern dance into classical ballet. Finally, the rapid speed of the Sugar Plum Fairy's pirouettes and her leaps in plie on point all allowed Jennifer Gelfand to look delicate and effortless while demonstrating her internationally recognized mastery of technique. While strong on her own Gelfand proved to have even more range in her movement in a pas de deux with her talented partner Paul Thrussell (dancing as the Cavalier). A small and subtle suspension of time prior to Thrussell's lifts of Gelfand increased the energy of the duet, resulting in a final climax to the performance.

The Nutcracker has become a holiday tradition in America and is a treat that only comes around once a year. For lovers of ballet, this year's performance is especially entertaining because it offers the best dancing the Boston Ballet has seen this season. But the 140,000 people who will see this years show clearly proves that the combination of humor, gorgeous dancing, holiday spirit and beautiful music reaches out beyond lovers of ballet to all audiences.