THE GOOD SOLDIER

'Nutcracker' serves with both style and predictability

By Jennifer de Poyen
DANCE CRITIC

December 19, 2000

How did "The Nutcracker," a Russian ballet based on a German story adapted by a French writer, become such a cherished American tradition?

I suppose it makes sense that a ballet with such a rich multicultural pedigree might appeal more to residents of the New World than inhabitants of the Old. Perhaps we cultural polyglots unconsciously embrace its mongrel form, even as we strive to emulate its appealingly old-fashioned, bourgeois virtues.

Although "The Nutcracker" remained in the Russian repertory for 37 years after it premiered at St. Petersburg's Imperial Theatre in 1892, it has found a broader, more democratic audience here.

In 1944, William Christensen created the first full-length American production for his San Francisco Ballet; a decade later, George Balanchine debuted his initial version for the New York City Ballet. Mr. B.'s later "Nutcracker" survives as the standard-bearer at Manhattan's City Center, where it opened a five-week run Nov. 24. And there's scarcely a serious ballet company in the land that doesn't stage a "Nutcracker" sometime during the holiday season.

Locally, each of the top ballet companies -- San Diego Ballet, California Ballet and City Ballet -- produces a version. And a leading dance presenter, Escondido's California Center for the Arts, brings in the Moscow Classical Ballet for a weekend run.

It's not just that companies are hooked on classics; "Nutcracker" makes money, often generating badly needed funding for the rest of the season. And because companies produce "The Nutcracker" for primarily commercial reasons, they tend to adopt an "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach, staging virtually the same production year in and year out. That may suit the bottom line, but it doesn't do much to turn "Nutcracker"-only audiences into year-round lovers of the art.

Still, there's much to admire and enjoy in a good "Nutcracker." To begin with, the music -- which blares irritatingly in every mall, coffee shop and hair salon during the holidays -- is a revelation in a concert setting.

At Escondido, the San Diego Symphony performed Tchaikovsky's exceptionally melodious score, and the collaboration between the musicians and dancers (guided by conductor Pavel Salnikov) was spirited and smooth. And since the Moscow ballet's "Nutcracker" diverges significantly from the versions we usually see in America, it offered the chance to see the Russian composer's music in a new light.

At Spreckels, where City Ballet's "Nutcracker" was on view over the weekend, Robert Gilson's valiant San Diego Civic Youth Orchestra had trouble with tuning and tempos. But when it came time for Ann-Li Shen, Eugene Mortison and Michelle Forshner to play the light-as-sleigh-bells flute part for the Dance of the Mirlitons, they pulled it off with real panache.

It's a shame San Diego Ballet, which produces the hands-down best-choreographed local "Nutcracker," still relies on taped music for its two-weekend run in La Jolla and El Cajon. This production deserves the artistic boost and wider audience that orchestral accompaniment would surely bring.

Consider San Diego Ballet's wonderful Christmas Party scene -- generally a good test of choreographic mettle, since there's little dancing to divert attention from uninspired storytelling. Here we find naturalistic clusters of revelers -- tittering, talking and observing the action. With nary a literal gesture, Javier Velasco conjures the ringleading Herr Drosselmeyer; the choreography for his black cape alone shrewdly communicates all the character's magic and mystery.

It was also a joy Saturday night to behold the charming poise of April Riego's Clara and youthful exuberance of Jeremy Grout's nephew, who later performed a confident pantomime of the dancing-mice and toy-soldier battle scene for the Sugar Plum Fairy (Stephanie Aubuchon, increasingly assured) and her Cavalier (Ilya Kuznetsov, terrific).

Other productions yielded different highlights. At Spreckels, I wiped away tears of laughter watching one of City Ballet's little Polichinelles mug for the audience as her sour-faced cohort tried to drag her back under the skirts of Mother Gigogne (a.k.a. Mother Ginger). It was a traditional bit of funny business made irresistible by the fact that the tiny blonde, a natural-born ham, really didn't want to get off the stage.

At Escondido, a delicately nuanced palette of colors in Elizaveta Dvorkina's costumes and Lev Solodovnikov's sets -- dusty roses, sun-kissed apricots, dove grays, winter-river blues -- offered a sense-filling complement to the Russian troupe's gorgeous classical dancing.

In this version, young Maria (a.k.a. Clara) dances the duet in the Snow Scene and the final pas de deux. Some might blanch at this unorthodox telling (What! No Sugar Plum!), but it makes perfect sense of the darker, and more overtly sexual, original tale by E.T.A. Hoffmann. Maria's nocturnal journey -- which delivers her from winter's bite and middle-class comforts to a land of eternal spring -- forms the psychological basis for her transition to adulthood.

And speaking of transitions, isn't it time someone came up with new choreography for the ethnic dances in the Kingdom of Sweets? The mincing, fingers-pointed-up Chinese Tea never fails to suggest the contemptible stereotype of Sino-servility. In these times of compassionate conservatism, surely that's one tradition we needn't keep.

Jennifer de Poyen can be reached by phone, (619) 293-1277; fax, (619) 293-2436; e-mail (jennifer.depoyen@uniontrib.com); and mail (P.O. Box 120191, San Diego, CA 92112).