It seems like the Nutcrackers keep multiplying each year—it’s hard to believe there can be sufficient demand to sustain so many productions.
In 2014, you’ve got the Arc School of Ballet Nutcracker in Shorewood, Land of the Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker at the Triple Door, Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Stowell/Sendak Nutcracker (2014 is you last chance to see it if you’ve been procrastinating for the past few decades), a Nutcracker plus a spinoff called The Tale of the Hard Nut at Tacoma City Ballet, an International Ballet Theater production of The Nutcracker in Bellevue, and a “mini-Nutcracker” (with a “Santa breakfast”) by DASSdance at Washington Hall.
That’s a lot of goddamned Nutcrackers. A bowl of mixed Nutcrackers, even.
So I wrote to the producers of all these Nutcrackers with three semi-obnoxious questions:
1. Why do you think we have so many Nutcrackers in these parts?
2. Do we have too many? How many Nutcrackers does one municipal area need?
3. What’s special about your Nutcrackers?
Their answers—the Nutcrackers and bolts, from soup to Nutcrackers—are below.
Daniel Wilkins of DASSdance:
- Courtesy of DASSdance
The arts in general have an uphill battle for funding and recognition. Dance may be the hardest climb. The Nutcracker for certain dance aficionados may not be the highest of high art, but there is certainly nothing wrong with the Tchaikovsky score. When I was complaining to one of my esteemed high art friends about the need for ample consistent funding. He said what you need is a Nutcracker. To me, that gave the stamp of approval to move forward into this area of the dance world.
I would call our Nutcracker The Great American Way Nutcracker! You get your Nutcracker in a half an hour, you can sit with your family, enjoy coffee, bagels, muffins, a balloon twister and dancing with the Nutcracker characters. And… photos with Santa! No mall lines!
The DASSdance Nutcracker does reflect our tradition of pushing the envelope of contemporary dance. Yes, you will see charming little angels and soldiers marching in a row but you also will see a doll dance with high flying acrobatic, balletic, modern, and pure adrenaline athleticism. No matter how cool or young or forward thinking, there is usually a place for family, tradition, and nostalgia at this time of year. Coming from a dance family, I have been doing this for my entire life and I still enjoy seeing the kids light up on stage and the clash, clamor, and melodic fervor of Tchaikovsky. It warms my heart.
* * *Gary Tucker of Pacific Northwest Ballet:
Oh, geez. Okay…
Pretty much every town or city across America that has a dance school or a ballet company has a Nutcracker or, more accurately, multiple Nutcrackers. The number of Nutcrackers in the Puget Sound region is not particularly remarkable compared to any like-sized market.
Productions of Nutcracker are essential for almost any ballet school or company. For the smaller organizations, it might be their only fundraiser of the year. (At PNB, it accounts for half of our annual ticket sales, and makes it financially possible for us to present edgier, contemporary works such as in our mixed-rep programs.) Nutcracker gives many young dancers their first opportunity to perform on stage. For many audience members, it is their first exposure to ballet and live theatre. (For some, it is their only exposure to ballet and live theatre.) Nutcracker can inspire young audience members to become arts lovers… or performers. Nutcracker is an essential part of the holidays for millions of people across the country and around the globe, so do we have too many Nutcrackers? Not if audiences are continuing to support them.
Probably a better question for you to ask should be “WHY Nutcracker?” What is it about this particular piece of music that appeals to so many people? And let me emphasize that it is the music alone that matters, because there are almost as many versions of Nutcracker as there are productions. Whether it is a neighborhood dance studio or a burlesque troupe or a tap school or a professional ballet company, the main similarity is the Tchaikovsky music. (Which can also vary from version to version: There is the “classic” orchestral version, but also jazz interpretations, electronic versions, etc., etc.) Does all the blame/credit go to Disney for using the “Nutcracker Suite” music in Fantasia? Hard to say. Probably not, since the music’s been around since 1892.
Y’know, one of my main concerns as a ballet PR guy is that people who only see one Nutcracker might not realize how much they vary from production to production: The storyline, the choreography, the sets and costumes. You definitely cannot say that if you’ve seen one Nutcracker, you’ve seen them all.
What makes PNB’s current production unique is the choreography by Kent Stowell, the sets and costumes by Maurice Sendak, and the interpretation that Stowell and Sendak came up with for the story: Our Nutcracker is slightly darker than most, and in the second act Clara and her prince go to a pasha’s palace, whereas most versions present their second act in the Land of Sweets. (Our Clara also “grows up” while she stays a young girl in most other versions.) Our production has a live orchestra. We have no Sugarplum Fairy. We also don’t have Mother Ginger. When it premiered in 1983, PNB’s was the only Nutcracker that had a peacock. (I suspect someone else has “borrowed” that idea since then.)
When PNB premieres its version of George Balanchine’s Nutcracker in 2015, what will make ours “special” will be the new sets and costumes designed by Ian Falconer (who, like Maurice Sendak, is most famous as an author/illustrator of children’s books – most notably the “Olivia the Pig” series – but who also has extensive credits designing for the theatre.) So while our new choreography and storyline will be the same as other companies performing the Balanchine version, the look of ours will be unique.
* * *Lily Verlaine and Jasper McCann, producers of Land of the Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker:
Thanks to the fact that Seattle is the arts-minded city that it is, we’re not surprised that dance is omnipresent, and of course where there’s dance, there’s the Nutcracker. If you’re doing movement-based performance in December, you’re most likely going to be doing some version of Nutcracker.
Each city seems to have as many Nutcrackers as it can support, so kudos to Seattle for supporting so many. And sure, you can say it’s stereotypical all you like, but there is no denying that in the U.S. where the arts are underfunded or non-existent in our schools, young peoples’ first exposure to classical music, opera, and ballet (that isn’t Warner Bros. cartoons… remember “Kill Da Wabbit”?) is most likely their performance in or attendance of the Nutcracker. It is fortunate for our show, which is a grown-ups only affair, that the Nutcracker ballet has such a lasting place in people’s hearts. It is that familiarity and nostalgia that brings them to Land Of The Sweets, which for many is their first burlesque show.
When you come to our show, leaving the children at home is mandatory. We have classically-trained dancers performing in a non-classical medium. We break the fourth wall, which is not something done in classical ballet, so our Nutcracker is a more inclusive experience for the audience. We also perform in a dinner theatre, so food and drinks are a part of the experience, lending to a quite jovial atmosphere. What we have created is a nonstop explosion of beauty and glamour that attracts adults of all ages and backgrounds. Also, there are scantily clad beautiful people. And martinis.
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