By Brooklynn Wong
Merry Christmas to you, Orange County!
The Segerstrom Center for the Arts and American Ballet Theatre have once again brought a wonderful gift to art aficionados. The former has brought in the latter, arguably the most highly-regarded ballet company in the United States, once again for a “Nutcracker” residency leading right up to Christmas.
The New York City-based company that household name Misty Copeland calls home, has been in partnership with the Segerstrom Center since 2015. That year, the American Ballet Theatre William J. Gillespie School at Segerstrom Center for the Arts opened. It is a selective and rigorous ballet school for children. Former American Ballet Theatre (ABT) dancers and staff teach at the school, and it follows ABT’s training curriculum.
Segerstrom’s relationship with ABT paves the way for them to bring the world-renowned company in for performances multiple times a year, including The Nutcracker each Christmas.
This year there will be performances through the 22nd.
On opening night, December 13, the house was packed, and it was a lovely rendition of the Christmas classic.
There were loads of children in the audience getting their first exposure to the tradition.
On the surface, it was very nice and checked all the requisite boxes—all the usual songs and dances, and elaborate costumes and backdrops. The music was played wonderfully by Pacific Symphony, with help from a children’s choir on the snow scene that ends Act I.
The Nutcracker was once a novel and high-culture ballet when it first came out in the late 19th century, and then was establishing itself across the great ballet houses of Europe and across the Atlantic in New York City in the first three-quarters of the 20th.
But over the last 50 years, what it has gained nationwide in quantity, it seems to be losing in quality. It has become a bit watered down as most every ballet company in every city across the country does a Nutcracker this time of year.
To prestigious professional companies that spend the rest of the year doing either new, obscure, cutting-edge ballets or high-culture renditions on ancient ones, I can see taking time away to do The Nutcracker year after year becoming rote and a bit of a hassle.
It’s become a little watered down and like a routine obligation that must be endured year after year. The privilege of being in a Nutcracker, or the excitement of doing a production of it, seems to have gone away. And there are so many different iterations of it these days that deviate from the original.
Reflecting on the show, this is the overall take that rises to the surface.
Hee Seo and Cory Stearns were Clara and the Nutcracker Prince that night, and he was lovely, and she mostly was, but a little lethargic.
One other perk of having the ABT Gillespie School at the Segerstrom Center is that children in the school get to perform alongside the ABT pros in The Nutcracker. They were wonderful additions, and in places even looked as good as the pros.
The big, lovely Christmas tree in the family home at the ballet’s beginning was a sight to behold, but in other parts the sets were surprisingly simple, with lackluster effort shown that mirrored some of the professionals’ dancing.
But there were certainly good parts. The snow scene was the loveliest of all, with the beautiful music and a stage full of white-clad snowflake ballerinas. The Land of the Sugarplum Fairy in the second act was an entertaining spectacle as well, with the dancers from around the world dancing before the Sugar Plum Fairy and Clara and the Nutcracker. In the famous pas de deux followed by the two solos by Clara and the Nutcracker, Stearns danced very well, and he and Seo have nice chemistry in their partnering and acting.
There will be a different cast in each show going forward. Highlights include Misty Copeland dancing the lead tonight (December 18, at 7 p.m.) and again on the 21st at 7 p.m., and Principal Isabella Boylston—not as much of a household name but a very big deal in the ballet community—on the 20th and then in the final show, Sunday, the 22nd at 5:30 p.m.
Taken at first blush, ABT’s Nutcracker was fine, most everything you’d want in a Nutcracker, and really a lovely Christmasy spectacle. This company and others just ought to reevaluate whether they want to continue doing a Nutcracker every year, and if so, they need to come at it with renewed vigor and commitment to do it very well, challenging themselves to a standard of excellence.
But how many people can say they get to see one of the nation’s—maybe even one of the world’s—best ballet companies perform The Nutcracker, especially one imported from the opposite end of the country? It is a gift indeed, and I still say it’s worth your time.
See scfta.org for ticket information and further details.
