“Nutcracker” is a Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) staple. Like many, I remember seeing it as a child. If you haven’t seen the PNB performance recently, you don’t know what you are missing.
“I really liked it,” said EdCC student Jordan DeChenne. Despite doing some ballet “back in the day,” she had never seen the full production before opening night at McCaw Hall this year.
Dance, like any form of artistic expression, is open to many different interpretations. Since 1983, the PNB “Nutcracker” performance broke from the Balanchine mold, with Maurice Sendak designing the
set and costumes.
“I thought the peacock costume was so pretty,” DeChenne said. “The sheer screens reminded me of a dream.”
Sendak, best known for his book “Where the Wild Things Are,” brought “Nutcracker” back to its roots. This interpretation is closer to the original intent of the story. While George Balanchine is a master choreographer, the combination of Founding Artistic Director Kent Stowell’s choreography and Sendak’s designs gives the PNB performance a whole new magical feel. Sendak’s influence is clear, with the tiger costume looking like it came from the pages of his illustrations. Watch the backdrop as Clara and the Prince sail to distant lands. Clearly, they pass the island where the wild things are.
I admit that previously, I had only seen Balanchine performances. This gave me the chance to enjoy the performance like it was the first time. The Stowell and Sendak “Nutcracker” is as technical a ballet as I have ever seen, but visually, it is more stunning. “I thought it was very innovative,” DeChenne said.
Compared with other ballets with only a couple props, Sendak has a very complex set that moves and expands. Rather than being the environment, the dancers move around, and the set is part of the storytelling. The set effects make it feel less like a ballet performance and more like reading a bedtime story, something Sendak knows a thing or two about.
“Nutcracker” is a ballet for all ages, not just for the costumes and scenery. Children are more able to relate to the characters, since a lot of the dancers are children. Particularly impressive are Fritz (danced by Daniel Bryson-Beane) and Clara (Eileen Kelly). Young Bryson-Beane handled choreography that is beyond many so young. Marc D’Aberle and Calvin Smale both danced multiple roles in different acts,
first in Act 1 as boys, and later in Act 2 as part of the toy theater.
“I couldn’t imagine what was going through their little heads,” DeChenne said.
The performance is not all children dancing. In Scene 2, Principal Dancer Carla Korbes takes the role of the adult Clara, elevating it to the next level. There is much to see on stage, and no single dance lasts long enough to lose the attention of the child audience. Each dance seamlessly flows into the next. “All the transitions were really smooth,” said DeChenne.
Allan Dameron perfectly leads the orchestra through Tchaikovsky’s music. The music is so mainstream that every song is familiar. Unlike many ballets, “Nutcracker” has singing. Listen for EdCC music instructor and soprano Susan Erickson. “This is my 20th year,” she said.
She sings in Scene 1 and the end of Scene 2. The song in the party is a PNB exclusive. Stowell took a little piece of a Tchaikovsky opera and put it into his production. “He wrote this in,” said Erickson. Her second song is during the snowflake scene.
Good for all ages, “Nutcracker” runs through Dec. 30. It is a part of a tradition that we often take for granted, always promising to go next year. Take a child to the matinee showing and avoid the holiday
craziness for an hour and a half. If you have not seen the PNB Stowell and Sendak “Nutcracker,” it will be like seeing it for the first time.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.PNB.org, or by calling the box office at 206-441-2424. Student rush tickets go on sale 90 minutes prior to the performance. Any seat in the house is half price with a student ID. Teen Tix prices are just $5 the day of show.
*Photo credit: Pacific Northwest Ballet corps de ballet dancer Andrew Bartee as the Nutcracker in the fight scene from PNB's Stowell/Sendak Nutcracker.
Photo © Angela Sterling.
*Reprinted with permission from The Triton Review
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