There is this moment In Helgi Tomasson’s Nutcracker where the party host, Dr. Stahlbaum, connects two electrical cords and the Christmas tree in the family’s San Francisco living room lights up. Everyone oohs and aahs because in-house electricity was a new-fangled thing in 1915, the year in which the production is set. The irony is that for the Sunday 12/21 matinee performance, San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House had no power in the aftermath of a city-wide power outage. But thanks to big mobile generators and plenty of ingenuity from the SFB production team, the company was able to adhere to the entertainment world’s golden rule: the show must go on. And thank goodness it did. Otherwise there would have been hundreds of distraught parents and sobbing children (including this sobbing adult). When life is rife with challenges and upheaval, there’s nothing like San Francisco Ballet’s Nutcracker to soothe, entertain and transport you for a delirious, delicious two hours. I really needed it, and I got it. Whew.
This is my twelfth year of reviewing this production, so I won’t repeat myself. If you’re not familiar the San Francisco production, check out some of my previous reviews where I go more into the story and San Francisco’s unique heritage (first North American full-length performance took place here on Christmas Eve, 1944). You can find that HERE and HERE.
I love being transported into the party scene in the Stahlbaum’s Edwardian living room. The elegant period set and costumes, the uncluttered space and dancing, all work so well. Like always, the seemingly boneless jack-in-the-box doll (Lucas López) and the mechanical ballerina doll (Juliette Windey) were a fun diversion for guests and audience alike. Fun factoid here: the ballerina doll’s bejeweled tutu costume weighs a whopping eighteen pounds.
Later that night, daughter Clara (Taya Lurie) comes downstairs in the midnight darkness to retrieve her wooden nutcracker doll, and falls asleep on the couch. The mysterious Uncle Drosselmeyer (Val Caniparoli) has returned to reveal more magic, growing the Christmas tree bigger and ever bigger (read: HUGE). As the music mounts in intensity, Clara wakes, looks around bewildered, and in a matter of seconds, the whole set shape-shifts and suddenly it’s like Clara and Drosselmeyer have been shrunk down to mouse size, with enormous presents towering over them and the china cabinet and fireplace now big as a house. It’s always my favorite moment in the production. I think I write the same thing about it every time. Can’t help it. It’s such a spine-tingling Very Big Moment, followed by a kick-ass battle between the mice and their king, versus toy soldiers and the now life-sized Nutcracker Prince (Esteban Hernández). Clara helps the prince win, he’s crazy grateful, and sweeps her off to a magical place.
The transition to Land of Snow is goosebump-worthy, as well, and Isabella DeVivo and Joshua Jack Price gave a great performance as Queen and King of Snow. It’s a lot of fun to see these two dancers rise in the ranks and bring more power and presence to the stage with each passing year. In Act Two, Katherine Barkman, as the Sugar Plum Fairy, was my favorite performance/performer of the night. She demonstrated impeccable technique, beautiful lyricism, with lovely arms, beautiful leaps and quiet landings, and throughout, a clean understated elegance.
The Russian dancers (Luca Ferrò with Lucas López and Davide Occhipinti) always steal the show. This performance was no exception. This is the lone holdover from the pre-Tomasson Nutcracker productions, and Tomasson was wise to keep it in. I loved Ferrò’s seemingly effortless split jumps, one after the other, and his dazzling smile that made it seem like he could have kept doing them all day.
“Waltz of the Flowers” is always a favorite of mine–oh, that lush, sweeping Tchaikovsky sound. Kudos to all the wonderful ensemble dancers and Sugar Plum Fairy Barkman for their wondrously soft-sounding footwork. A clacky pointe-shoe-clad ensemble dance makes me cringe, even as I’m well aware of freakin’ hard it is to be noiseless in pointe shoes. (They’re hard as rocks when new and dancers have to carefully break them down to soften them in order to perform in them.)
There was great synergy between the Arabian dancers (Benjamin Davidoff, Simone Pompignoli) who arrived onstage transporting a smoking genie bottle, from which emerged Pemberley Ann Olson, new (to me) to the role. Her performance as the sultry female dancing sinuously between the two men was impressive. That’s one thing I love about seeing performances later in the 36-performance run. You get to see newer dancers trying out bigger roles. Which is why it was a delight, as well, to watch Julia Rowe perform as the adult Clara in the Grand Pas de Deux. I’ve watched her in soloist capacity for years but never in this lead role. She and partner Esteban Hernández seemed to work well off each other and deliver solid, assured performances.
The award-winning San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, under the baton of music director Martin West, celebrates its 50th anniversary this season, and their rendition of Tchaikovsky’s iconic score was silken and assured, the crescendos utterly thrilling and perfectly matched to the action onstage. Kudos, as well, to the 2004 collaboration team, Wendall K. Harrington for projection; Michael Yeargan for scenic design; James F. Ingalls for lighting, and the late Martin Pakledinaz for costume. Well done, I say, and thank you.
For my classical-music readers, here’s a sensational Nutcracker performance for you to watch/listen to. Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, leading the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, is SO much fun to watch. What I’d give to having him take the help at the currently director-less San Francisco Symphony. (Hey. Dreaming’s free.)