‘Nutcracker’ Has Depth, Good Dancing
`The Nutcracker,’ Alberta Ballet and Spokane Symphony Friday, Spokane Opera House
Tinkering with tradition is always problematic. Adding Christmas to the equation only ramps up the risk.
Alberta Ballet Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen rechoreographed the Christmas classic ballet “The Nutcracker” this year, and in doing so tweaked the story line, albeit back toward the original E.T.A. Hoffmann version.
The audience that nearly filled the Opera House at the first of four Spokane performances of “The Nutcracker” gave Nissinen’s version a casual thumbs-up. In a town where a standing ovation seems automatic, the “Nutcracker” crowd Friday night remained seated. Steady applause. Even hearty clapping and whistling for the Sugar Plum Fairy and Prince, who danced energetically and beautifully. But nonetheless, it’s unusual for the audience to sit politely until the curtain drops and it’s time to don winter coats.
I liked Nissinen’s “Nutcracker” better than that. When considered as a classical ballet, this is superior to those Alberta Ballet has staged in Spokane for nearly the past decade. What Nissinen did was delete the gimmicks and a number of the roles for small children that merely added a cute factor. Therein may lie the tepid audience response, for there’s very little that’s purely cute about this ballet.
Nissinen went for challenging, technically adept ballet dancing in the classical Russian style. In many versions of “The Nutcracker,” the first half is almost a waste for fans of dance. Typically it’s the elaborate party scene in the Victorian parlor during which lavish costumes and fussy sets can be admired while charming children skip around and watch Herr Drosselmeier stage magic shows.
The real dancing is reserved for the second act, when Clara and Prince go to The Land of Sweets. (Fritz accompanies Clara in more politically correct versions worried about the implications of a teen prince whisking a young girl off into the woods.) In The Land of Sweets, dancers from around the globe entertain Clara and put on the real dancing show for the audience.
Nissinen went for dancing the whole way. Ballet has replaced faux ballroom dancing in the party scene. The stage has been cleared of extraneous props to make room for the bold gestures, leaps and pairings of classical ballet. The ballerina doll, toy soldier and a new Harlequin all dance solos. Nissinen replaced a local student dancer with a company dancer in the role of Clara for the evening performances (Spokane student Lindsay Witter was cast as Clara for the Saturday and Sunday matinees). Clara does more dancing, as does Fritz, who was played very capably by local student Eljah James E. Labay.
The Snow Queen, danced by Gail Skrela, and Snow King, performed by Sylvain Senez, turned in the best performances of the night just before the curtain dropped for intermission.
In the second act, Nissinen wasted no time with wriggly little lambs and the shepherdess and wolf, which made no sense in this story anyway. After a flock of angels, all local students, floated around the stage, the story line and the dancers got right down to the serious dancing. Clearly the Alberta Ballet dancers can handle the more complex and technically challenging choreography Nissinen gave them.
Nissinen didn’t just replace all things cute with ballet. The additions all make sense and paint the production with the brush of Old World ballet.
Alberta Ballet’s former “Nutcracker” was pretty and sweet and seasonal - in short, adequate. The troupe’s new “Nutcracker” offers depth and good dancing that at moments rises further, all without losing the sense of the story and the lavish opulence that characterizes Alberta Ballet’s production.
In short, Nissinen did very well by this Christmas chestnut.
The final performance of Alberta Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” begins at 2 p.m. today at the Spokane Opera House. Ticket information is available from G&B, 325-SEAT and the Opera House box office.