At this time of year, the Nutcracker parade can get a bit tedious. Thank god for the beauty of Tchaikovsky's music. I am planning to see a local production this year because my friend Suzanne has a role in it. An opportunity came up to see the Joffrey version at the Music Center. I'm really glad I went, because this is a terrific version! My teacher, Joan, said it was maybe the best she's ever seen (and she's seen a few)!
The sets and costumes are gorgeous, making for a visually pleasing ballet. The Act 1 party scene moves well and never gets dull which can often happen. The mice are terrifically cute and the battle scene is fast moving, slightly chaotic. Drosselmeyer is appropriately creepy. The whole ballet moves very fast, and there is a lot of complicated patterning in the Snow and Flower scenes, with a lot of asymmetry to keep your attention.
This company does not rank their dancers. The Nutcracker Prince (Fabrice Calmels), Snow (Victoria Jaiani) and Sugar Plum (April Daly) that I saw were clearly top rank but all of the dancers in the various divertissements of the second act were wonderful. The company has a lot of tall men, and they use them well in both the Snow and Flower scenes.
This was definitely worth seeing amongst the long parade of Nutcrackers during December!
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