‘The Nutcracker’ shines with charm and talent

Published 8:00 pm Wednesday, December 13, 2006

A gaggle of little girls in holiday frocks and ribboned tresses made their way through the throng that came out for the Sunday matinee performance of “The Nutcracker. The excitement was palpable upon entering the South Whidbey High School Theater and the little girls’ faces showed a mixture of anticipation and sheer awe at the hustle and bustle surrounding them as they were whisked to their seats.

“The Nutcracker” is a Christmas tradition in many parts of the world and this treasure island is lucky to have the Whidbey Island Dance Theatre to keep it current in traditional holiday splendor.

In its 14th season “The Nutcracker” is by now an old chestnut for WIDT, yet the company has managed to keep it fresh and full of surprises with new guest artists, new choreography and sheer talent.

One of the main pleasures of this ballet is the extraordinary music that Peter Illych Tchaikovsky created in 1892 for Marius Petipa, the great Russian choreographer. The music became so popular that even those who have never seen the ballet recognize its winter cheerfulness and hearing it again behind this wonderful ballet is a special delight.

The gathering

The music begins and the audience is immediately transported to a snowy evening where the friends and family of young Clara are gathering on Christmas Eve.

In this production, directors Charlene Brown and Susan Sandri Campbell, used the character of Clara’s grandmother as a narrator before the main story begins. The grandmother calls “her friends” — the faeries of the snowy woods — to gather around her before she enters the party inside. She tells them the story of the Nutcracker prince and his battle with the Rat King.

This is a smart device that allows the story to be explained before the ballet begins so that the younger audience members are tuned in to what will be happening through the two acts of the ballet.

Sandri, who played the grandmother during Sunday’s performance, handled the scene well, particularly when some ear-piercing feedback from the sound system produced her quick-thinking remark, “There seems to be a strange echo here!” The audience laughed and so the stage was set and the enjoyment continued.

Welcomed into the beautifully decorated living-room of the Rothchild home, colorfully dressed friends and family gather to mingle and dance, waiting anxiously for the famous Godfather Drosselmeyer and his magical trunk full of presents.

Clara’s brother Frederick, played with a natural dexterity and impressive acting skills by Zane Vanderwood, receives a Rat mask with which he proceeds to terrify Clara and his cousins.

Drosselmeyer has some deftly executed stage tricks involving a magical fireplace and some sensational smoke effects which add a nice touch to the fantastical quality of the story and the character’s mysteriousness.

Jon Transue plays the dominating Drosselmeyer with broad gestures and a larger-than-life presence – and wonderful hair and make-up – creating a character who is both fiercely unknowable yet tender toward Clara.

Jachen Mackner is perfectly cast as Clara. It can’t be easy to run through a large gambit of emotions without falling into the trap of mugging (over-acting with the face), but Mackner never falters.

Her combination of wide-eyed innocence and soft, long-limbed technique blends beautifully to capture the smitten girl who dances through a dream of battles, charming soldiers and fantastical creatures.

The festivities of the Rothchild home are complete with a large party of ladies and gents who waltz, skip, march and fall through skillfully choreographed ensemble sequences. Various Whidbey Island folks, who fill out the adult portion of the party, do a wonderful job with some tricky choreography and they, together with the WIDT dancers, show their talent for creating the atmosphere of fun that is crucial to this scene.

Charlene Brown is hilarious as Great Uncle Nevel, using a wig, pipe and cane to create a memorable character that sent the audience into peals of laughter with some agile pratfalls. And Arryn Davis and Emily Rookstool are excellent with a well-synchronized, high-stepping dance in a wooden soldier duet and principal dancer Sayaka Yakota, in her first entrance, is stunning with her wonderful stage presence dancing the Faerie Doll.

But the true show-stopper of this scene had to be Lillian KaiserSchmidt as the tumbling Bear. KaiserSchmidt showed expert gymnastic ability while maintaining her poise in a beautiful aerial cartwheel, hitting her mark in a daring jump and keeping the scene moving forward into the next sequence.

Clara’s dream

After receiving a magical Nutcracker from her godfather, Clara dreams of a battle with the Rat King and Nutcracker as the main characters.

In this battle scene, choreographed by Brown and Susan Vanderwood, the audience is immersed into an action-packed stage of mice, soldiers, rats and funny Uncle Neville. The choreographers managed to create an atmosphere of organized chaos which is visually exciting and uses all the dancers expertly.

Graham Vanderwood shows nimble feet, dancing in an enormous mask and manages the stage combat with the Rat King with great aplomb.

Tasha Plumberg is an outstanding Rat King, showing great agility and technique, using the power of the character to show-off her dynamic ability as a dancer and an actor. Stage combat is difficult, but to fight this well while wearing a huge mask is very hard, but Plumberg and Vanderwood make it look easy, never missing a beat.

Clara’s dream continues into the Enchanted Forest of Act II where Clara and the Prince fall under the spell of the woodland creatures.

Michela Mattens is lovely as the Snow Queen, Firebird and a Blue Flower. Statuesque even in her petiteness, Matten’s ability is magnified by the genuine joy on her face that shows a natural affinity for the stage.

As the Snow Queen, Mattens is well supported by a flurry of Snowflakes danced with capable charm by all of them.

Yakota, dancing as a demi-solist, Faerie Doll, Firebird and a Blue Flower, is amazingly talented at only 13. Yakota shows the maturity of a dancer beyond her years and is blessed with a poise and extension that will fare well for her dancing career.

Brittany Falso dancing the Faerie Queen, Exotic bird and demi-soloist was very good, especially in the Grand Pas de Deux with Daniel Wilkins. This couple perfectly captured the royal quality of a king and queen, while they showed a well-practiced ability for particularly difficult lifts.

Sarah Styke dances prettily as the Flower Faerie. She is a soft and rhythmic dancer who seems on the verge of finding the confidence in her extension that will bring her to new and beautiful heights as an artist.

Guest artist Sean Tomerlin as the Nutcracker Prince was given the best entrance of the evening.

Coming by way of the fire in Act I, such fanfare befitting a prince was equally suitable for this prince of a dancer and the exquisite form that Tomerlin brings to the role. The only complaint here is that Tomerlin was on stage far too little and would be a pleasure to watch in every scene. It was the leaps of Tomerlin and Yakota that were the most impressive.

Tiny dancers steal it

Adorability abounds throughout Act II with elves, pixies, bees and butterflies. The choreography during the Madame Bumble scene was great fun and the tiny dancers held their own with grace and irresistible charm.

Laurentia Barbu’s choreography was right on for the Pixie Ring, giving the pixies an earthy, unfussy quality that allowed the pixie dancers to shine as the funny forest creatures they were.

And, of course, the gymnastic elves nearly stole the show with their pointy hats and elfin ears back-handspringing across the stage with great feats of acrobatic panache.

Finally, a favorite scene of the evening was the Sea Cave. With the wonderful affect of a gentle, roving sea turtle, a giant swinging jellyfish and mermaids who emerged from oyster shells to dance with huge silver pearls, this was truly enchantment at its best. The choreography was sharply inventive using both the body-balancing “pearls” and mermaids hanging from lines of “seaweed” to create a fantastically wonderful stage picture.

These dancers all show the many hours, days and years of training that all ballet dancers must have before even attempting a challenging ballet like “The Nutcracker.” All these dancers and choreographers should be commended for the beautiful work they’ve done here.

The costume designers and make-up artists should be mentioned for the sheer magnitude of the project and for the fact that in every scene there was more than one fun costume to look at. The frogs were particularly cute, the white mice as sweet as can be and the red firebirds stunning.

Additionally, the set and lighting designers should be praised. Everything moved seamlessly and the effects had no glitches from the audience’s view. It was all visually entertaining and succeeded in maintaining the traditional quality of the original while adding a bevy of whimsical touches that transported the viewer to a visually pleasing and illusory place – as every good dream is meant to do.

Not everything in this production of “The Nutcracker” is perfect. Here on the island performing artists don’t have million dollar budgets. All the dancers are not professionals – though many of them very well may be in a few years.

But, that is the charm of this WIDT Nutcracker. It is teeming with talent, camaraderie and a passion for art. And it succeeds in bringing the enchantment of Christmas into the heart. Go see it.

“The Nutcracker” plays 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, through Dec. 17 at the South Whidbey High School Theater. For tickets and information call 341-2221 or visit www.whidbeydancetheatre.org.

Patricia Duff can be reached at 221-5300 or pduff@southwhidbeyrecord.com.