The Nationwide Ballet of Canada / The Nutcracker, choreography and libretto by James Kudelka, music by P.I. Tchaikovsky, 4 Seasons Centre, closes Dec. 31. Tickets right here.
After 29 years, I’ve seen James Kudelka’s Nutcracker so many instances, I may in all probability dance it (a sight nobody would ever wish to see). Nonetheless, it’s an everlasting testomony to his choreographic genius that the work stays as recent and entertaining as it’s.
The Principal Characters
Kudelka set the ballet within the Russia of Tchaikovsky’s personal time, and Santo Loquasto’s magnificent units and costumes by no means look dated because of their sheer opulence.
The choreographer additionally made different modifications.
He created two battling siblings, Marie (Héloïse Halbe-Kains) and Misha (Eamon Currie), who, because the ballet progresses, study to get alongside and assist others. I’ve to say that these two children from Canada’s Nationwide Ballet Faculty poured all the pieces into their roles. Their fights have been actual, and so they have been a delight to observe.
Kudelka’s hero is Peter (Christopher Gerty), the secure boy/Nutcracker Prince who’s a pal of the lonely youngsters rather than their distant dad and mom. The youngsters even have a loving nurse Baba (warmly performed by Stephanie Hutchison). It’s these 4 who journey to the Land of Snow and the realm of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Then there may be Uncle Nikolai (Ben Rudisin) who gives the magic.
Once I interviewed Kudelka approach again in 1995, earlier than The Nutcracker’s premiere, he instructed me that Peter’s choreography was going to comprise mannerisms of the unique Peter, the beloved Rex Harrington, and all these years later, you possibly can see Harrington within the steps. It’s fairly magical.
I’ve lengthy championed Gerty, and he didn’t disappoint as Peter. There’s an ease of method about his dancing, and he fills the house as a result of there may be nothing tentative about his physicality. Each motion appears completed and completely executed. There’s a sleek but manly bearing about his stage presence, and he’s additionally an excellent actor. His heat in the direction of the kids radiated off the stage.
As anticipated, Heather Ogden was a stately, even majestic, Sugar Plum Fairy. Kudelka gave her a convoluted solo stuffed with unusual turns and complex footwork shifting in all instructions which Ogden by no means rushed or pushed. Her character is one who’s aloof from her court docket, rising often from her fabulous Faberge egg, and Ogden captured that mystique. She was royalty certainly.
Uncle Nikolai is a spinner and turner and jumper, and Rudisin nailed the function. He was a whirligig of motion, reaching nice top as he whipped his physique round. He gave pleasure to the function in a really spectacular efficiency.
One other change Kudelka made was to show the Snow Queen solo right into a pas de trois. Thus, we have now the Snow Queen (Genevieve Penn Nabity) and her two Icicles (Larkin Miller and Shaakir Muhammad). This scene by no means fails to astonish with its difficult method and terrifying partnering, notably when the lads carry the Queen off stage, and she or he is actually the wrong way up. These three dancers are all notable classicists and tossed off the dense choreography as if it have been straightforward.
Solely Kudelka would have achieved this, however he added in a Bee (Hannah Galway) to the well-known Waltz of the Flowers, who darts in, out and throughout the ensemble, and is usually within the air, propelled by lightning-fast choreography. Galway, one other positive classical technician, pulled of this taxing function with aplomb, and like a perpetual movement machine, she by no means stopped.
What follows are my musings about this efficiency of Kudelka’s Nutcracker…
My actually massive takeaway from this viewing is simply how extra technically adept dancers in the present day are from the unique 1995 solid. This can be a well-known truth within the ballet world — that colleges are producing whiz children with unimaginable prowess.
Kudelka’s choreography is rarely straightforward. He has the fame of packing in additional steps to the bar than most different dancesmiths, however this time, the vim and vigour of the Nationwide dancers made the calls for of the choreography stand out.
Take for instance, the Sheep (Brenna Flaherty)/Fox (Noah Parets) divertissement within the second act. She’s dainty and he jumps round, and the little sheep are cute, I’ve at all times thought.
This time, the dancing made me sit up and take discover. Parets carried out with such forceful vitality and achieved such top in his jumps that it was like choreography reworked. Equally, Flaherty’s on the spot footwork and the light motion of the closed fists held tightly to the physique, accompanied by precise head actions highlighted the management wanted to carry out the Sheep’s function.
It was like this all over the night. I saved seeing issues refreshed.
Kids of all ages have so much to do on this Nutcracker. They attend the primary act Christmas celebration, they’re canine, cats and mice within the bed room scene, they’re unicorns within the Land of Snow, and courtiers, cooks and sheep within the Sugar Plum act. I’m guessing there is no such thing as a different model that makes use of so many youngsters. Within the previous manufacturing, when you have been too tall or too small, you couldn’t carry out. The nice (and tall) Karen Kain by no means was a Nutcracker little one.
The Land of Snow corps de ballet Snow Maidens is without doubt one of the most complex by way of patterning. I can by no means recover from how harmful it’s, and due to this fact, how beautiful the consequence. If a type of dancers makes one improper transfer, it could be complete chaos.
I completely adore what Kudelka did to the Arabian divertissement. As a substitute of 1 girl and two males, he has two {couples} who mirror one another precisely and Isabella Kinch, Oliver Yonick, Alexandra MacDonald and Peng-Fei Jiang have been completely attractive.
What Kudelka did with the Waltz of the Flowers may be very inventive. As a substitute of a regular corps de ballet, he has three teams of flowers coming and going, together with the Bee, famous above, making the choreography thrilling. There’s a actual construct of drama within the music, due to conductor David Briskin and the orchestra, which matches the combining collectively of all of the forces in a grand finale.
Right here’s a plea to the Nationwide. May you kindly checklist the names of the three servants in this system who seem within the first act. They’re fairly concerned within the goings on. If you’re itemizing the Goat and the Rooster, checklist the servants as nicely.
And if I’ve one small grievance about this manufacturing, it’s that the Christmas tree by no means rises tall sufficient. It builds out sideways, however by no means goes as much as the stratosphere. I actually miss that.
Last Ideas
I wasn’t going to do that, however I can’t assist myself. James Kudelka’s Nutcracker is one of the best on the planet.
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Paula Citron is a Toronto-based freelance arts journalist and broadcaster who hosts her personal web site, paulacitron.ca. For over 25 years, she was senior dance author for The Globe and Mail, affiliate editor of Opera Canada journal, arts reviewer for Classical 96.3 FM, and dance previews contributor to Toronto Life journal. She has been a visitor lecturer for varied cultural teams and universities, notably on the function of the critic/reviewer, and has been a panellist on COC podcasts. Earlier than assuming a full-time journalism profession, Ms. Citron was a member of the drama division of the Claude Watson Faculty for the Arts.
