PREVIEW: THE JOFFREY BALLET'S THE NUTCRACKER
2009-12-10 11:06:57 AM
By Sid Smith:
Just like people, ballet productions age and tatter with time, sets and costumes acquiring a dated feel, aesthetic taste evolving, however slightly. So how do you keep a 22-year-old production of "The Nutcracker" fresh?
Ashley Wheater, artistic director of the Joffrey Ballet, in charge of the celebrated 1987 mounting by the late Robert Joffrey, has a fairly straightforward answer: You go back as much as possible to the work's original intent and execution.
The Joffrey's exquisite, exhilarating and beautiful version plays Dec. 11-27 at the Auditorium Theatre.
"What happens to any production over 22 years is that things just change," he says of the tiny alterations that creep into any production over that long a period. "It's not even a matter of right or wrong." More a case of time passing, personnel shifting, revisions here and there slipping in almost unnoticed. "Robert Joffrey spent so much time making sure the right child got the right toy in the family scene," Wheater says by way of an example of Joffrey's meticulous care with "Nutcracker," his last production. "He agonized over every nuance and about the logical flow of the story overall. As much as possible, we've tried to get back to his original intentions."
Wheater is in a great position to know: He was still dancing with the troupe when it unveiled "Nutcracker" in Iowa. Additionally, the company retains an unusual collection of videotape recordings in this particular instance--Joffrey was already suffering from the illness that would soon take his life, and he supervised some of the work from home.
"We filmed everything, and when he couldn't make rehearsal, tapes of the work in progress were sent home to him to look over," Wheater recalls. "He'd look over how things were and then make changes, so that gives us an unusual record of the process, more so than you typically find with ballet productions."
One important aspect that slipped over the years is Joffrey's motif of multiple casting. The handful of roles that most of the lead dancers play isn't just by chance. Joffrey saw a continuum in such roles as Fritz, the Snow Prince and Tea from China, for example. A long ago as last year, Wheater worked to restore that conceit, one reminiscent of the way some actors in the movie "The Wizard of Oz" play both real people and telling characters in the fantasy land. Joffrey saw the fairyland elements of the story as components in some ways of Clara's dream life.
"Just about everyone at her family's party return in some transformed way," Wheater notes. Some other restorations are more technical. Wheater recalled that the rising of the Christmas tree--a critical dramatic moment in any "Nutcracker" production--should occur while most of the scenery for the house remains intact. In other words, the growing of the tree itself is what knocks away the walls and introduces the world of make believe. That had gotten muddied. Also, Wheater credits ballet master Willy Shives with polishing Gerald Arpino's lyrical snow scene. "He restored some of the subtler patterns that had changed over time," Wheater says.
One set of changes that is irreversible, of course, is that of the cast. Dancers like Wheater from the original 22 years ago have since retired. This year's "Nutcracker" will show off both new and rising talents in the company, beginning with Miguel Blanco, the handsome, striking newcomer from Cuba, who will partner with Victoria Jaiani as the star couple at some productions.
Though proud, of course, of all his dancers, Wheater also cites Valerie Robin, Fabrice Calmels, Kara Zimmerman, Megan Quiroz, Temur Suluashvili and John Mark Giragosian among dancers to watch. Mauro Villanueva, an increasingly silky acrobat, will dance at some performances with another newcomer, Yumelia Garcia, originally from Venezuela. And, in a bittersweet dollop, the great Calvin Kitten, retiring at the end of this season, will dance his last outings in the Fritz-Snow Prince-Tea from China assortment, scheduled to do so at both Friday's opening and the finale of this engagement Dec. 27.
Some time ago, the Joffrey announced plans to some day mount another, newer "Nutcracker," originally hoping to do so by 2011, though last year's financial crisis now makes that unrealistic. Wheater and the troupe are contemplating a version by a contemporary choreographer, with an updated look, though Joffrey's version wouldn't be permanently mothballed--the two versions instead would endure side by side.
"When you do a production like ours year after year, inevitably some families and fans say they'd like to see something different," Wheater says. "I'd never get rid of our current production. But I do think having a choreographer who is someone of today look at the story fresh could be very exciting."
For tickets to this year's production, call 800-982-2787 or ticketmaster.com.
