On Christmas Eve day, 1944, William Christensen, artistic director of the then fledgling San Francisco Ballet, presented the first complete Nutcracker production in America. It had been a collaborative effort, with advice sought from ballet legends Alexandra Danilova and George Balanchine regarding the original Mariinsky production. Christensen’s dancers all helped out with costumes, fabric and accessories acquisition, to stretch the $1000 budget. (Used red velvet stage curtains purchased from Goodwill were fashioned into Act I costumes.) Dancers made their own tights and transported armfuls of costumes across the street for the première. Nothing like the St. Petersburg première in 1892, certainly, but a hit nonetheless, and from this, a holiday tradition evolved.
2014 also marks the ten year anniversary of artistic director Helgi Tomasson’s current production, a distinctly San Francisco version of the holiday classic. It’s set in 1915 San Francisco, during the time of the Panama Pacific Exposition, which helped celebrate the city’s rise from the ashes after the devastating 1906 earthquake and fire. In this version of the story, Clara is an adolescent, on the cusp of awakening to the adult world around her. It lends an elegance and sophistication to the story that serves it well.
The story adheres to its traditional lines: Uncle Drosselmeyer, played on opening night by Ricardo Bustamante, is a clockmaker and magician, who joins the Stahlbaum family in their home. There he entertains all gathered, with gifts and mysterious toys. The set, designed by Michael Yeargan, is sumptuous, rich with detail, and complemented by Martin Pakledinaz’s refined period costumes. Bustamante, as Drosselmeyer, delivers a satisfying performance, maintaining his almost-sinister power without ever upstaging the others. Always enjoyable to watch are the dancing dolls presented as gifts. Max Cauthorn, as the harlequin, was particularly entertaining, with his liquid, acrobatic movements and mesmerizing off-axis balance.
The entr'acte shifts the story into its fantasy counterpart, via Tchaikovsky’s luscious score. The orchestra, conducted by music director Martin West, was sublime here, as they were all night long. The Christmas tree grows ever taller, sets are swiftly moved about, replaced with oversized boxes and cabinets, lending to the illusion that Clara has shrunk down to mouse size.Mouse King Sean Orza handles the ensuing battle with the perfect touch of comic and villain. Nutcracker Prince Luke Ingham valiantly battles alongside minions of soldiers against the mice. Clara saves the prince, cleverly, in this production, by using an oversized mouse trap. Orza’s Mouse King dies with great gusto and theatrics, producing laughter from the audience as he crawls to his mouse hole and slithers down, legs and tail aquiver before dying. The Land of Snow is one of this production’s crowning achievements. The ensemble choreography is brisk, ever moving, the lighting (designed by James F. Ingalls) perfectly mimics a wintry, snow-infused world. Snow begins to fall, then more and more of it. Vanessa Zahorian and Taras Domitro, as Snow Queen and King, gave a refined, technically solid performance, that nonetheless felt somewhat muted, more safe than power-charged.