For many people, The Nutcracker is their first and possibly only experience of ballet. For others, it’s an unmissable holiday tradition—and maybe even a memory of a few times they got to perform onstage themselves. (Raise your hand if you’ve ever worn a mouse head!) Since 1892, when it premiered at Russia’s Mariinsky Theatre, The Nutcracker has been a magic wand enchanting people all over the world with Christmas spirit.
With Tulsa Ballet’s new production of the ballet, accompanied live by the Tulsa Symphony, you’d better be ready to fall under an irresistible spell. The company has been bringing this classic work to local audiences since 1969; for the past 17 years, a version created by TB’s artistic director Marcello Angelini, set in 1920s Paris, has graced the Tulsa PAC stage. This year, with that production’s sets and costumes wearing out, a whole new Nutcracker has been born at the hands of choreographers Ma Cong and Val Caniparoli and legendary New Zealand production designer Tracy Grant Lord—and, as promised, it is absolute magic.
A little bit steampunk, a little bit Beauty and the Beast, Act One’s world is all Victorian charm with sparks of wizardry glinting at the edges. Modular sets mean transitions between scenes are worthy of Broadway—not to mention the actual “wow” of the moment where the Christmas tree grows and Shawn Boyle’s masterful animated 3D-mapped projections send us flying into another dimension. Parents in the party scene actually appear to be having fun for a change, thanks to the delightful swoosh of Caniparoli’s choreography.
He keeps things moving swiftly as adorable kids swam the stage for the battle scene (let’s be honest, the kids are maybe the best part of any Nutcracker). I love the moment when Herr Drosselmeyer—the heroine Marie’s magical godfather, played with Harold Lloyd-silent movie verve by former Tulsa Ballet principal dancer Alfonso Martin—hovers darkly over the stage, directing the action that will lead her into the Kingdom of the Sweets.
After a thrilling Snow Scene, Act Two is pure Fantasia. It doesn’t so much draw you into its world as jump out to meet you, with costumes in colors and textures that reach all the way to the back of the house. (One fabric Lord employs here and there looks as glossy as a peppermint stick and as satisfyingly metallic and crinkly as an old-fashioned candy wrapper.) Poinsettia flowers in wide-brimmed gauzy hats? Delightful. A golden coach drawn by hawks? Here for it. Tiny children as holly berries bouncing up and down? Amazing.
This Nutcracker nerd loved seeing the traditional Sugarplum Fairy variation set in and sparkling like a diamond amid all of Cong’s bustling, flowing movement innovations. Cheers, too, to his updated “Tea” sequence—a dance historically full of Asian caricatures—which now dynamically reflects Cong’s background in authentic classical Chinese dance. (Here’s his take on the issue in a recent New York Times article.)
The audience hit of the evening? To the “Russian Dance” music, three Golden Drillers (one with a giant bear head; long story) cavorting in yellow jumpsuits, hard hats and red neckerchiefs, split-kicking and oil-pumping and doing some sort of Funky Chicken … it’s hard to describe, y’all. It’s the best kind of Tulsa love—in a production that’s tough not to fall in love with.
