With the debut of their new Nutcracker, Pacific Northwest Ballet was up against stiff competition from their own beloved long-running Maurice Sendak Nutcracker. This year, with George Balanchine's version of the ballet with set and costume design from Olivia the Pig author Ian Falconer, PNB showcased a strong visual aesthetic and a talented company of dancers of all ages. This year's performance was a gorgeously designed and charming take on the classic Christmas ballet, with stunning costuming and sets and strong, engaging performances from the company's youth dancers. PNB also worked hard to make the opening performance welcoming to children, even very young kids, with a wand-making station open before the show where kids could decorate star-shaped wands with glitter and ribbons.
The show itself starts off with an IMAX-like journey through a wintry forest, complete with small and charming visual treats for kids, like a fox darting across a log. We wind through the dark, snowy trees and arrive in a sleepy small town, zooming up through the gate of a lush mansion. A gaggle of mice dart up the mansion's front steps, a moment that elicited laughter from the audience, and we enter into the front hall of the house. In an interesting moment of visual trickery, the frontmost screen pulls up to reveal the home's hallway in real time, with Clara and her little brother Fritz resting on a chair. They watch through a thin, translucent scrim as their parents decorate the Christmas tree and set presents underneath the tree, eventually joining in on the decorating.
The young dancers shine in the first scene of the ballet, with extensive choreographed dances and partner dancing among the groups of young boys and girls as they revel at the Christmas party. The costuming of the youth dancers is particularly smart, as each girl wears a different colored and patterned gown and each boy a differently colored jacket, making it easy for the kids in the audience to distinguish between the dancers and keep track of their movements.
At the Christmas party, Clara meets the slightly spooky Drosselmeier and his nephew Nathaniel (soon to appear as the Prince) and receives a wooden nutcracker as a present. After all the guests leave, she sneaks into the darkened parlor to check on the wooden toy. Drosselmeier, perched on the tall wooden clock in the parlor, works some of his magic and we suddenly see a life-sized mouse dash through the parlor. Clara is transported as the parlor's furniture seems to swell in size, the Christmas tree growing so tall that its top disappears – an artfully staged moment of set design, with a tree-shaped "wall" of lights ascending in front of the actual three-dimensional tree from the parlor set.
Clara is now the same size as the toy soldiers and mice in the parlor, and the famed battle between the mice and the soldiers ensues, with the Nutcracker leading the soldiers. Lovely moments of physical comedy appeal to young viewers: the mice's costumes are deliciously rotund, reminiscent of stuffed animals, with soft, velveteen-looking fur and tails that wiggle and bob as they race around the stage.
After the battle, Clara and the Nutcracker, who is revealed to be a handsome, young Prince (played by the same actor as young Nathaniel), wander through a stunning snowy forest set toward a Christmas star that transports them to a magical, distant land. The star is another moment of spectacular, unique set design (the golden, twisted arms of the star are a Chihuly creation).
The ballet's second act is more tailored to adult viewers, with more complex choreographed dance sequences and displays of balletic prowess. However, kids will be enraptured by the show's costuming, as the outfits in the second half of Act 2 are particularly spectacular, with gorgeous jewel-toned skirts on the women dancers and unique, sparkling, bright skirts and tutus on the Sugar Plum Fairy and the other dancers. Despite the many colors and patterns onstage, the dancers' costumes pair beautifully with the set for Act 2, a Candyland-esque ballroom with arching green, pink and white candy stripes and towering platters of jello-molded desserts flanking the far left and right of the stage. With each different group of dancers that appears onstage, the back scrim of the stage turns a different bright jewel tone; the orange-and-pink ballerinas dancing against a turquoise-green backdrop was particularly striking.
Although the second act is a more refined and restrained performance showcasing the talent of the older company dancers, the musical numbers will be familiar to younger and teenage audience members who've likely heard Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" and "Waltz of the Flowers" many times over. The second act also gets some gentle comic relief from Mother Ginger, a hilariously costumed lady with a skirt that's easily eight feet wide, complete with young dancers hiding underneath her beribboned skirt.
PNB's Nutcracker is particularly great for young viewers, as the performance runs just over two hours including intermission and features a cast of young dancers that kids can connect with. Many of the performers are very young – some under ten – which is awesome for kids to see, as it's always thrilling to watch other kids perform. The ballet's central character, young Clara, gave an expressive performance, giving young viewers the ability to understand the ballet's plot progression, which can be tricky in a wordless ballet.
Pacific Northwest Ballet, 301 Mercer St, Seattle, WA 98109
