`The Nutcracker” is a staple of the holiday season, an almost guaranteed hit every time Christmas rolls around; yet in the production in the Auditorium Theatre by Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, it is treated with such verve and skill that it goes way beyond the usual fun. It becomes a surprising special event, freshly minted and newly joyous.
Now in its 14th annual presentation, the last legacy of Robert Joffrey to his company before his death, the staging mixes traditional set pieces of bravura dancing with Joffrey’s charming evocation of an American Christmas in the Victorian era. And, delightfully, before the surefire dance pyrotechnics take place in the showcase variations and solos of the second act’s “Kingdom of the Sweets,” this staging keeps the charm high and the action crisp in the folksy gathering of children, family and friends in the first act’s Christmas Eve party scenes.
From the starting moment, when the mysterious but benevolent Dr. Drosselmeyer (Adam Sklute) swirls his cape and flings a handful of stardust into the air, this is an enchanting production, and one that the audience warms to immediately.
Everything is working well in this year’s presentation, which includes conductor Allan Lewis’ pit orchestra and a large cast enriched with a cadre of well-drilled youngsters, who frolic through the party and, later, pop out from the skirts of a giant Mother Ginger to skip, hop and back flip through their second-act romp.
It’s a beautifully, intricately designed show (by Oliver Smith), adorned with special effects (including that giant Ginger, designed by puppeteer Kermit Love) and sprinkled with snowflakes and flower petals (a lovely decorative touch by choreographer Gerald Arpino for the luscious “Waltz of the Flowers” sequence).
But this is not just a show of smoke and mirrors. It’s a production grounded in the essentials of schooled, skilled ballet, and throughout the evening, there is dazzling dancing.
To name a few: Calvin Kitten, all in white as the Snow Prince, skimming over the stage in his swift, weightless jumps; Tracy Julias and Davis Robertson, regal and flawless in their duets and solos as the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Nutcracker Prince; Taryn Kaschock, Stacy Joy Keller and Suzanne Lopez, a precisely coordinated trio of marzipan shepherdesses, and all the other “sweets” specialty performers, topped by Deanne Brown, Randy Herrera, Patrick Simonello and Guoping Wang, their costumes (by John David Ridge) billowing out as they swirl and leap through the gyrations of the Russian dance.
The production will play the Auditorium through Dec. 30, its longest run yet in Chicago. It is, of course, a grand family show, but its dancing is so good that adults caught in its charm might want to extend the pleasure and see this buoyant artistry in the Joffrey’s other, repertory programs during the year.
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“The Nutcracker”
When: Through Dec. 30
Where: Joffrey Ballet of Chicago at the Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress Pkwy.
Phone: 312-902-1500
