Chicago has a new holiday entry-and one can only pray a new tradition-in the form of ”In a Nutshell,” Ballet Chicago`s funny, slyly wicked takeoff on ”The Nutcracker.”
Smartly, choreographer Gordon Peirce Schmidt eases back from a hammy, slapstick silliness that might make for an extended Second City skit but would overstay its welcome here. Instead, moving from Duke Ellington`s perfect fusion of jazz bounce and the original Tchaikovsky, Schmidt presents a swift- moving, breezy assault of swing and jazz dance styles, seamlessly stitched to the ballet underneath. Flailing arms, dangling legs, jitterbug flings and wriggling torsos add up to a lighthearted but singular and delightful mode of movement, a kind of free-form ballet that for all the hijinks keeps Petra Adelfang, as the Clara in this ver-sion, snappily on her toes (and amusingly laden with costume changes).
With subtitles of the likes of ”Chinoiserie,” ”Arabesque Cookie” and
”Volga Vouty,” ”Nutshell” is a ”Nutcracker” in miniature, set in a modern telemarketing office where overworked Clara is buried in a mountain of phone books on Christmas Eve, fending off a mean, drunken, lecherous boss to boot.
Along comes Manard Stewart as Dross, the janitor, who whisks Clara away to a post-modern `40s wonderland, peopled with suspender-clad elves (Jeff F. Herbig and Alexies Sanchez), falling snowflakes galore, and even a giant rising Christmas tree, albeit one made of green plaid cloth, part of Jeff Bauer`s clever thematic design scheme.
Schmidt has a knack for objects, and in ”Nutshell” they include long-handled janitor brooms, peppermint canes and Chinese umbrellas. The derby-and-cane trio for Adelfang, Sanchez and Herbig is especially brilliant and sharp, while Heidi Vierthaler, Mark Ward and Gretchen Klocke, as gold-lame, bare-skinned, serpent-clawed Arabian dancers, are priceless, as much in their double takes as in their dancing.
BALLET CHICAGO
Repertory works by a variety of choreographers. Performing at Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St., at 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $27 to $30. Phone 312-335-1650.
