The sets designed by Alain Vaes did all that could reasonably be expected to focus the audience’s attention on Drosselmeier. As the overture played, the audience looked through a window of D’s townhouse as he made his final preparations for the Christmas party, “magically” reducing the life-sized Nutcracker and Marie to doll size. Poof! Poof!! Each flash was louder than the one before, startling the audience anew. As D’s preparations and the overture came to their conclusion, a light came up on another town house window, showing young Marie in her room, getting ready for the evening’s festivities. By the time the overture ended and the front piece of townhouse exteriors was drawn up to reveal the set for the Christmas party, the audience had been thoroughly introduced to D in his somewhat amusing and somewhat disturbing role as manipulator of ceremonies.
The choreographer was not always so good however at focusing the audience’s attention on significant turns in the story. When the Nutcracker was transformed into the handsome Prince, for instance, he was at first lost upstage in unnecessary confusion. The end of Act One is after all a dream ballet and could have been staged and lit any way the choreographer wanted. Nor did the choreographer avail himself of any of the musical opportunities Tchaikovsky’s score afforded for the Nutcracker’s transformation. Part of the loss of focus on the Nutcracker Prince came about because Drosselmeier as magical mover of events became a distraction. Focus on Drosselmeier may have been a valid starting point, but at this point it begins to get in the way.
The rest of our objections to Cincinnati’s Nutcracker were quibbles, relative to D’s failure to share the spotlight. We found the Christmas party less amusing than confusing, with adults portraying children crowded next to children portrayed by actual children. With 37 people on stage for the party scene we clung to every organizing principle we could find. Some amusing bits of business allowed the various party guests to begin to emerge as characters but we were mostly reduced to waiting for the unison social dances and the dances of the mechanical dolls to provide organization and to advance the plot.
In another part of Act One, the battle between the mice and the toy soldiers, the choreographer and the dancers proved fully capable of drawing our attention to both amusing bits of business and important plot points. A charming Rabbit, danced by Danielle Vitale on the night we went, declared her allegiance to the toy soldiers. A wounded mouse was put on a stretcher by two mouse medics, only to have the stretcher break. Brave Marie’s timely intervention distracted the evil Mouse King and allowed the Nutcracker to triumph. Caniparoli and company made it clear and fun to watch.
With the Snowflake Waltz, Nutcracker’s actual dancing began and we could start to appreciate what a dynamic partnership Cincinnati has in Adiarys Almeida’s Marie and Cervilio Amador’s Nutcracker. The diminutive Almeida’s radiant countenance had already distinguished her in the party scene. In Snowflake both she and Amador began to display their amazing pirouettes. Lotsa turns? Man, we couldn’t count ‘em all; and every one dead-on. Fast tempos (perhaps too fast) from the live orchestra led by Carmon DeLeone; zipzipzipzipzip! (Well, after all, we gotta’ get all these kids home before bedtime). Almeida and Amador had no problem with the fastest Nutcracker we’d ever seen.
The nationality variations fared differently at the fast tempos. The Spanish variation worked pretty well with the music, and Joseph Gatti’s Chinese variation seemed to absolutely thrive at the breakneck tempo with high jumps and many, many fast turns. Unfortunately, a large Chinese dragon found its way in and thoroughly upstaged Gatti’s admirable pyrotechnics.
The Russian variation seemed to be hurt the most by the fast tempi, despite the dancers’ clear execution of the unusually authentic steps. The squats and leaps of a Cossack dance needed more time to give weight to the floor. Likewise hand gestures needed more visual follow-through to contribute the robustness one looks for in folk dance. The Russians’ trousers, made from too light a fabric, looked more like harem pants and completed the job of sabotaging the three able dancers.
The local children were given a lot of dancing throughout the first act and on Thursday they comported themselves admirably, reflecting credit on themselves and on their Rehearsal Coaches, Valentine Liberatore of Cincinnati Ballet and Gladisa Guadalupe of Cleveland School of Dance. The youngsters’ most crowd-pleasing dance was in Act Two, Polinchinelles, eight masked figures in Commedia d’el Arte costumes with exaggeratedly protuberant tummies built in. The costumes were a success in their own right but the young dancers’ love of performance gave the moment life. Cleveland can be proud of the excellent training young dancers find here.
Bringing a Nutcracker to its conclusion might seem easy enough. Play the Tchaikovsky, bring in the scenery from the first act and all will be well, right? As much as we found to like in Cincinnati’s Nutcracker, we found Caniparoli’s finale struck a sour note. The audience found itself back looking through D’s window while he – bizarrely, in our opinion –lay on his back on his worktable, kicking his legs and cackling with glee, while Marie, through her window, was seen in perplexed contemplation of her Nutcracker doll. Drosselmeier as manipulator, child Marie as dupe; an altogether unwholesome twist on the poignant moment at which a young girl turns away from childhood.
From Cool Cleveland contributors Victor Lucas and Elsa Johnson vicnelsaATearthlink.net
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