NYCB 'Nutcracker' 12/9/2015

WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 9, 7:00 PM (Conductor: Capps)

SUGARPLUM: Reichlen Mearns; 
CAVALIER: T. Angle; 
DEWDROP: M. Fairchild; 
HERR DROSSELMEIER: La Fosse+; 
MARZIPAN: Lovette; 
HOT CHOCOLATE: Muller, Applebaum; 
COFFEE: Krohn; TEA: Villarini-Velez; 
CANDY CANE: Ball; 
MOTHER GINGER: Sanz; 
FLOWERS: Mann, Adams; 
DOLLS: Von Enck, MacKinnon; 
SOLDIER: Kayali;
MOUSE KING: Thew; 
FRAU & DR STAHLBAUM: Anderson, Catazaro

We saw New York City Ballet perform 'George Balanchine's The Nutcracker' on the evening of our 49th anniversary.  We've probably seen this production over 70 times and it is always a high point of our holidays.  Of course the Company has been performing it since February, 1954, well before either of us had arrived in New York City. 

At this performance the orchestra, conducted by Stuart Capps, was merely adequate.  This was a small-scaled, conventional reading of Tschaikovsky's famous and familiar score that would not be out of place in any elevator in town. It lacked the grand sweep and subtle nuance that this production requires to be its very best.

Despite these musical reservations, it was a unique performance filled with wonderful dancing and special theatrical felicities.  Marika Anderson and Zachary Catazaro presided over the opening party scene with warmth and grace.  The guests and their children (students from the School of American Ballet) were just at the sweet spot in this 46-performance run where they become comfortable in their roles, but are not yet bored.  Aaron Plous as Fritz was gleefully mischievous, Natalie Glassie wavered between solemn and sweet as Marie (and later as The Little Princess) and F. Henry Berlin as Drosselmeier's nephew (later The Nutcracker and The Little Prince) was suitably handsome, polite and aloof.

Robert LaFosse as Herr Drosselmeier reveals the nutcracker in the Party Scene.
Photo by Andrea Mohin for NYTimes

As Drosselmeier, Robert LaFosse, a guest artist and former principal dancer with the Company, enchanted the party guests with his antics and his mechanical dolls -- Olivia MacKinnon and Claire Von Enck as Harlequin and Columbine, and Ghaleb Kayali as the Soldier.  When Drosselmeier returns to repair the nutcracker which Fritz had broken during the party, LaFosse made him mysterious and quite mad without letting him become too creepy or sinister.

The giant mice arrived to menace Marie, the tree grew, the army of toy soldiers assembled to defend her, and the Nutcracker was awakened to do battle with the multi-headed Mouse King.  Then the Nutcracker was transformed into the Little Prince who crowned Marie his Little Princess and lead her into the Land of Snow.

Snowflakes in the blizzard.  Photo by Andrea Mohin for NYTimes

Balanchine's choreography for the sixteen Snowflakes is pure crystalline perfection -- swirling, multifaceted shapes coalesce and fragment in a blizzard of invention.  The corps -- including four apprentices from the School of American Ballet -- was beautifully prepared, crisp and incisive.

Corps of sixteen Snowflakes.  Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

As the curtain rose on Act II we were in The Land of Sweets -- the domain of Teresa Reichlen's regal and gracious Sugarplum Fairy.  We were greeted by 12 tiny Angels (from SAB, of course) performing one of Balanchine's great dances for children.  The palpable concentration on these tiny faces as they criss-cross the stage is always the sweetest moment in the ballet for me.  They were joined by Ms. Reichlen's Sugarplum.  Bonding with her young subjects is always the first test of an authentic Sugarplum -- Reichlen passed with flying colors -- beckoning each little Angel to cross in front of her and then leading them in a circular tour of the stage before dancing her variation under their adoring gaze.

Teresa Reichlen as the Sugarplum Fairy.   Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

Then we were introduced to the Sugarplum's entire court -- Hot Chocolate, Coffee, Tea, Candy Canes, Marzipan Shepherdesses, Polichinelles, and Dewdrop with her corps of Flowers -- before The Little Prince and Princess arrived in their walnut shell boat.  Prompted by the Sugarplum, F. Henry Berlin as the Little Prince described his triumph over the Mouse King in very precise and expansive mime**.  Delighted by his account of the battle, the Sugarplum escorted the Little Prince and Princess to a place of honor where they watched the divertissements unfold.

Among the dancers in the divertissements, I was particularly impressed by the stretch and snap Gwyneth Muller's Hot Chocolate; by the crisp swagger of Harrison Ball's Candy Cane; and by the delicacy and clear articulation of Lauren Lovette (newly returned from surgery) as the Marzipan Shepherdess.  The voluptuous sensuality of Rebecca Krohn's Coffee was nearly undone by the intransigent tempo from the pit, but she prevailed.

Rebecca Krohn as Coffee.  Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

Emerging from her garden of fourteen lovely Flowers, Megan Fairchild's Dewdrop was a revelation.  After a year on Broadway in 'On the Town', Megan's dancing seems to have acquired both larger scale, greater attack and hints of Broadway bravura.  She has always been a superb technician, but here technique was coupled with both nuanced musical phrasing and knowing theatricality that soared over and around the four-square music from the pit.  We truly saw the music at its best while hearing it at its most banal. 

Megan Fairchild as Dewdrop in Waltz of the Flowers.  Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

Of course, the SAB students that populate the second act (as in the first act) -- The Little Prince and Princess, the Angels, the Candy Canes, and the Polichinelles -- are all adorable and well-prepared by Children's Ballet Master Dena Abergel and Assistance Children's Ballet Master Arch Higgins.  And for a change, the Polichinelles weren't completely upstaged by the outrageous behavior of Mother Ginger as played by Aaron Sanz.  

Children's Ballet Master Dena Abergel rehearsing the children from the School of American Ballet.
Photo by Agaton Strom for Wall Street Journal

Five SAB apprentices scattered throughout the ensembles added notes of eager spontaneity to Hot Chocolate and Waltz of the Flowers as well.

The grand pas de deux for the Sugarplum and her Cavalier is usually the crest of this enormous swell of dance invention.  Since Ms. Reichlen stepped in to replace Sara Mearns -- who was injured when her shoe split apart on her first entrance as Dewdrop earlier in the season -- I assume that Reichlen and Tyler Angle had limited rehearsal time together.  Both are gifted dancers -- who may even have danced these roles together in previous seasons -- but here they were missing the ultimate polish that makes this piece truly unforgettable. They were fine, but the arc of dance perfection had crested a few moments earlier with Megan Fairchild's exquisite (and show-biz savvy) Dewdrop.

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** One year we attended a seminar at the School of American Ballet where Peter Boal (then a member of SAB's faculty) taught The Little Prince's mime scene to one of the student candidates for the part of The Little Prince.  Peter's explanation of the gestures always comes back to mind whenever we watch this mime scene unfold.

Peter Boal as The Little Prince in 1975.  Photo by Martha Swope

As a young student Peter Boal first danced in Balanchine's Nutcracker as a party guest, before undertaking the role of Drosselmeier's Nephew/The Nutcracker/The Little Prince at age ten in 1975 -- when George Balanchine was still alive and actively involved in staging the ballet.  A few years later Peter was the teen-age boy who crouches under the bed and provides its locomotion.  He went on to dance most of the adult roles in the ballet culminating with The Sugarplum Fairy's Cavalier.  In 2014 he even made one guest appearance with NYC Ballet as Herr Drosselmeier.  

As the Artistic Director of Pacific Northwest Ballet, Peter has just unveiled his own staging of Balanchine's Nutcracker for that company.  He will play the role of Herr Drosselmeier at several PNB performances this season.

The Little Prince has been the launching pad for several distinguished ballet careers in addition to Peter Boal's -- including those of Eliot Feld (who originated the role) and Jacques d'Amboise. 

Jacques d'Amboise as The Little Prince.  Photo by Martha Swope

And don't forget that as a student in St. Petersburg, George Balanchine played The Little Prince himself.  In the early days of this production Balanchine also played Herr Drosselmeier -- including in the first television production of the ballet.