San Francisco Ballet
Nutcracker
War Memorial Opera
House, San Francisco
December 22nd,
2017
Last Friday, I made my
second December excursion to San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House. While
less than two weeks since my first visit, the vibe was entirely different. The
resplendent lobby had been decked to the nines and patrons were dressed in
their most festive finery. San Francisco Ballet had arrived in the space for
its annual Nutcracker engagement, the
classic two-act story ballet that follows the enchanting Christmas Eve journey
of Clara, Uncle Drosselmeyer and the Nutcracker Prince.
I’ve seen this
particular version (created by SF Ballet Artistic Director and Principal
Choreographer Helgi Tomasson) most years since its premiere in 2004, and have
already commented on the narrative arc, design and choreography for particular
sections. But that doesn’t mean after ten plus years that there’s nothing more to
say about SFB’s Nutcracker, especially
if you look at the performances by the artists of the company in the various
roles.
After the overture and
prelude scenes, the company and students from the San Francisco Ballet School invite
the audience to the ever-elegant Christmas Eve party at the Stahlbaum’s. The
children delight in the decorations and in their gifts, especially Clara (Chloe
Treanor) who receives a Nutcracker doll from her Uncle Drosselmeyer. All the
celebrants are transfixed by Drosselmeyer’s (Val Caniparoli) otherworldly
entertainment, including the three full-size figures that he brings to life. These
three short solos are always a highlight of the act, and they were again this
year. Lonnie Weeks had uber-flexibility as the jester/mirliton character, Julia
Rowe tackled the doll’s relevé-heavy enchainment with ease and confidence and
James Sofranko cycled through parallel sissones and fouettés with precision and
specificity.
The dream/fight sequence
is never my favorite part of any Nutcracker,
but Tomasson’s does have some nice moments: the reappearance of the dolls from
the party scene, the King of the Mice (brilliantly characterized once again by
corps member Alexander Reneff-Olson) and of course, the Nutcracker Prince becoming
real. Once the battle is finally over, the best parts of the Act, maybe even of
the whole ballet, unfold: the brief Clara/Nutcracker duet, in which Joseph
Walsh was every bit the Prince - regal, debonair and gallant in every balance,
turn and jump. And then the wintery forest scene, led by the Queen and King of
the Snow, danced at this performance by Lauren Strongin and Wei Wang.
As Strongin and Wang
began their opening pas de deux, with its grand lifts and partnered turns
(including a low attitude spin that awes), the snow was already in a steady
descent. The women of the corps de ballet (which on Friday night also included some
of the apprentices and senior trainees from the school) joined the scene for
the delicate, yet technically challenging variation: quick jetés, emboîtés in
sequence and posé arabesques. This was all accomplished while a Sierra Nevada
Mountains-style storm whirled about, with so much snow that whenever the
dancers were at the back of the stage, unfortunately, you could barely see
them. It was the only downside to an otherwise idyllic experience.
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| Joseph Walsh in Tomasson's Nutcracker Photo © Erik Tomasson |
Then we were off to
another destination entirely for Act II. Sometimes referred to as the ‘Land of
the Sweets’, in Tomasson’s Nutcracker,
it is the Crystal Palace, presided over by the graceful and stately Sugar Plum
Fairy (Sofiane Sylve). And after some onstage storytelling, the Act II
divertissements get underway. The Spanish pas de cinq (Wona Park, Lauren
Parrott, Blake Kessler, Sofranko and Myles Thatcher) had some of the best
unison I’ve ever seen in this variation. Similarly, the lengthy French trio, in
which Kamryn Baldwin, Ludmila Bizalion and Elizabeth Mateer have to navigate
their pointework while twirling hand-held ribbons, also had a standout sense of
special awareness. As the lead in the Russian dance, Daniel Deivison-Oliveira
wowed the audience with his successive split jumps in second. There was so much
loft and punctuation; it looked like he was jumping on a trampoline. Sylve led
the Waltzing Flowers with super high extensions and multiple turning sequences
that had both speed and exactitude. And then came the grand pas de deux, its
solos and coda, danced by Walsh and Maria Kochetkova. While the first duet
features thrilling shoulder lifts and the coda, superb turning phrases by both
dancers, Walsh really stole the show. His solo was marked by exceptional
pirouettes and multiple tours and he completely astonished with his fouetté
series in the coda, arms alternating between second and fifth.
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