American Repertory Ballet’s fine production of “The Nutcracker” is collaborative, comic, colorful, and contemporary. A delectable presentation of the classic 1892 Tchaikovsky-scored ballet, it opened last weekend at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre, and judging from what I observed at the Friday matinee, it is an unusually collaborative endeavor.
Not only does it supplement impressive dancing by the troupe’s professional members with enthusiastic performances by students from its affiliated Princeton Ballet School, but the whole affair is enlivened by coordinated support from the balletomanes, teachers, parents, friends, and extended family members who compose our area’s spirited community of ballet lovers. Even the staging is a collaboration, combining choreography by Audrée and Bud Estey, and after Mary Barton, Douglas Martin, and Marius Petipa, with additional contributions by Ian Hussey and ARB’s artistic director Ethan Stiefel.
I suspect it’s Stiefel’s input which accounts for this production’s novel comedic elements. Often staid is the ballet’s Act I party scene — the Christmas Eve celebration at which the hosts’ young daughter Clara’s mysterious uncle Drosselmeyer gifts her the nutcracker that inspires her magical dreams. But here, if one watches carefully, it’s almost a-laugh-a-minute. For instance, among the guests at this party is a rotund father whose wife hounds him throughout to great comic effect; first, for losing track of the tiniest of their brood of nine and, later, for attempting to a enjoy a high-calorie treat.
At the point when the children leave the room and the adults, typically, enjoy formal social dancing, here, the grown-ups indulge in a rowdy folk dance, only to quickly — and hilariously — switch to courtly choreography upon noticing the return of their kids. A “Swan Lake” reference built into the choreography of a battle between giant rats and petite toy soldiers is also tickling, as are the histrionics of the Rat King’s wife as she laments over her slain husband, after her failed CPR attempt.
As Clara’s dream moves the ballet through a beautiful snowstorm and into the second act’s mouth-watering journey across the Land of Sweets, we get a visual sugar-rush from the dazzling array of colors in the costumes and scenery. Co-credited to Lowell A. Mathwich and Gina Ricca, with additional designs by Janessa Cornell Urwin, the ravishing costumes also “dance.” During the “Waltz of the Flowers” sequence, as the knee-length tutus on the stunningly synchronized female ensemble float up and down in accordance with Tchaikovsky’s gorgeous melody, the aesthetic coherence among music, movement, and fabric is sublime.
And my only quibble with the sets (designed by Martin, Lauren Parrish, and Carl Sprague) is the dissonance between the impressionistically painted Christmas tree and the realistically rendered scenic elements surrounding it in the ballet’s opening act. Once the narrative shifts into the dream realm, the painterly style of the backdrops is totally transporting.
Among the production’s sage updates are the elimination of the second act’s Chinese-flavored “Tea” variation — today considered culturally insensitive — and the addition of a subtle, respectful nod to gender diversity that brings even more contemporary resonance to the classical ballet chestnut. Note the use of pronouns employed in the program’s plot synopsis, and you’ll see that the character of Drosselmeyer is now non-binary.
“The Nutcracker” continues December 1 through 3 at Red Bank’s Two River Theater, December 9 at Trenton’s Patriots Theater at the War Memorial, and December 15 through 17 (with live orchestra and choir) at New Brunswick’s State Theatre New Jersey.
For more information, visit www.arballet.org.
