Longtime followers of the Olympic Ballet Theatre’s “Nutcracker” this year have new and distinctive choreography to watch for as Clara and her Nutcracker Prince return to the stage.
Much of the show’s original choreography, by OBT co-founders John and Helen Wilkins, remains intact. But some scenes have been reworked by the Wilkins’ son Daniel. After his father’s death earlier this year, Daniel Wilkins, who’s had his own professional career in New York, returned to Edmonds and assumed the role of associate artistic director of OBT.
The most prominent choreographic changes occur in the transformation and fight scene between the Nutcracker Prince and the Rat King. But the show also presents a slightly more active Clara, one who doesn’t solely watch from the sidelines.
At Saturday evening’s performance, Nutcracker devotees old and young also saw other, more subtle changes scattered throughout the show. There was, for example, the examination by the children of Columbine (Crystal Serrano) and Harlequin (David Bachler). After the duo’s dances of mechanistic angularity, the children come to tinker with them, to see how they “tick.”
The Herr Drosselmeyer of this show (played by John Yingling, formerly a Russian Trepak with breathtaking gymnastic prowess) has more dramatic exaggeration. When he fixes the broken nutcracker doll, for instance, there are more “abracadabra” flourishes.
The joust scene between Bryon Brill’s Nutcracker Prince and Henry Sanchez’s Rat King has been infused with Daniel Wilkins’ own sword-fighting training. Brill’s twirls and leaps as he salutes the toy soldiers are particularly impressive.
As Clara, Lauren Falk has more active participation in the pageantry; she is not solely a spectator as the exotic retinue passes before her. For example, she dances a bit with the Sugar Plum Fairy (Viktoria Titova) and Cavalier (Daniel Wilkins) before being relegated to her chariot, and she sets the stage for the Waltz of the Flowers.
The live musical highlight of the show is the performance by the eight female voices during the dance of the snowflakes. Kudos to sopranos Becky Edwards, Jane Harrell, Vivian Shannon and Jan Tanner, as well as altos Zane Bardley, Tanna Belcher, Helen Passey and Elaine Salisbury.
Nice musical performances are turned in as well by Maria Sier on celeste and Karen Southworth Weaver on harp.
In Act II, a fog machine whips up an exotic mist as the curtain rises on the Kingdom of Sweets. Here, the Arabian Coffee scene represents the first one reworked by the younger Wilkins, to his father’s satisfaction, featuring a bit faster movement.
Titova and Wilkins’ pas de deux remains the show’s crowning glory. Wilkins executes astounding leaps and Titova displays razor sharp positioning of her body as it pirouettes around an axis point.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
