2007 NUTCRACKER #1

Sunday November 25, 2007 at 1:00 - I thought I could get thru the first week of the New York City Ballet's current season without a NUTCRACKER but I heard Maria K, Ashley B and Chuck calling me and I couldn't resist. It's been a while since I'd seen Maria's Sugar Plum Fairy; Dewdrop is one of Bouder's masterpieces, and Charles Askegard is always such an attentive and elegant cavalier. Scanning further down the cast list, the beloved names popped up: Tom Gold, Tess Reichlen, Daniel Ulbricht...and then the inevitable clincher: Rachel & Abi leading the Waltz. As the Borg are so fond of saying: "Resistance is futile!"

The house was almost full, but rather stingy with applause. Maestro Karoui tends to take things very rapidly; the Polichinelles were hard-pressed to get all their steps in, but they did it. Mssr. Karoui does bring out some wonderful details, like the ominous quality of the music leading up to the soldier's solo (nicely danced by Aaron Severini) and the harp glissandi in the Snowflake scene. There are a lot of new faces in the Corps and it will take some time putting names to them all. Dear Dena Abergel and Jason Fowler (welcome back!) were the Stahlbaums today, and Robert LaFosse  was Drosselmeyer.  Watching Georgina Pazcoguin and Stephanie Zungre as Harlequin and Columbine, I was thinking I'd love to see them dancing Sugar Plum and Dewdrop. Rachel Piskin led off the Snowflakes, and I loved watching the delicate Erica Pereira as well as Katie Bergstrom and Ashley Laracey. Lauren King, who stepped in as Marzipan in place of Alina Dronova, sportingly appeared in the snow scene as well, and I thought Pazcoguin was especially riveting here.

Once we reached the Kingdom of the Sweets there was plenty to enjoy, notably Teresa Reichlen's luxuriously languid Arabian and Lauren King's sweet Marzipan. Tess managed to hold the somewhat unsettled crowd of youngsters in her thrall; Lauren looks extremely pretty and was backed by an attractive quartet: Maya Collins, Ashley Laracey, Stephanie Zungre and Glenn Keenan who was subbing for Amanda Hankes. Savannah Lowery and Amar Ramasar seemed to be having fun in Hot Chocolate; their fellow Spaniards were almost all new to me. Daniel Ulbricht is fantastic in Tea and Tom Gold is ever the imperial Candy Cane. It seems to me that in recent seasons, Mother Ginger has been played in a rather subdued manner - I've seen her really camped up in the past - and Adrian Danchig-Waring went thru the routine amiably. Adrian should be dancing the SPF cavalier, though.

A Saturday matinee, one of three back-to-back Dewdrops for Ashley Bouder...I wouldn't have blamed her if she'd coasted thru it. Instead she danced like it was opening night at La Scala. The Bouder magic was at full-force today, everything so daringly phrased and so brilliantly executed. The myriad turns and the naughtily held balances are all delivered with the mischievous Bouder grin and ample lyricism to boot. A great performance! Rachel Rutherford and Abi Stafford led the Flowers - it's always frustrating to watch this number because the two demis are usually at opposite sides of the stage and you have to decide which one to concentrate on. They both looked lovely, as did Marika Anderson and Katie B.

Bouder's Dewdrop sets the 'barre' very high; whoever follows her in the pas de deux has to be at her very best and Maria Kowroski, with her cool grandeur and revelatory extension, was a remarkable Sugar Plum, dancing with her established partner, Charles Askegard. Charles is thoroughly attuned to everything Maria does so that the technical demands of this piece - which are many - are delivered with consummate clarity. Maria's swiftly rushing leaps to Chuck's shoulder and his flashy 'hands-off'  were especially nice today. At the climax, Maria took a neat balance before Charles swept her into the final pose. Uncannily, he actually gave her a slight toss before she plunged into the dive. I just loved watching them together.

Comments

[Sandi]

Thanks for the detailed review! I look forward to all of your Nutcracker viewings.

[Philip]

I hope I don't run out of adjectives!

[Bob]

Since this was virtually the same cast as opening night, I just have to note how superior your review is to Ms. Dunning's in today's NY Times.

[Philip]

Usually I think Jennifer Dunning is one of the best dance writers, even when I disagree with her. An identical set of dancers can give variable performances from day to day in the same ballet, and also people look for different things and have different expectations while watching a performance. Dunning probably wrote accurately about what she saw. And I tried to, too!

[Laura]

This is a great Blog - it is nice to see somebody out there who loves ballet as much as I do! Keep up the good work.

[Philip]

Thank you, Laura...I have a bunch more NUTCRACKERs coming up, so stay tuned...

[Sarah]

Oh Philip... Casting for the week of the 12th is up. Look at this!
Sugarplum: *Morgan
Cavalier: Garcia
Dewdrop: *Lowery
Hot Chocolate: *Collins, R. Fairchild
Coffee: *Ostrom
Tea: *Renko
Candy Cane: *Peiffer

Talk about a NEW cast! I may have to double up on Nutcracker this year.

Marzipan: *Piskin
Mother Ginger: Tworzyanski
Drosselmeier: Hendrickson

[Philip]

Hi Sarah! Yes, I have circled that performance in red!! Hopefully we can meet there that day. In the meantime I'm going this Sunday matinee to see Scheller/Garcia/LeCrone and hopefully next Thursday for Wendy.

[Sandi]

So funny! when I saw this casting I came to post it here! I'm very excited and hope I can make it to see this cast.

[Bob]

I could not possibly miss Katie Morgan's debut as the Sugar Plum Fairy so I too hope to be there at that Saturday matinee on the 15th. But who is Renko (Tea)?

[Philip]

Matthew Renko is an apprentice; he appeared last season on the NYCB stage dancing a featured role in the Peter Martins ballet LES GENTILHOMMES and he was really good, so it's a fine opportunity for him to get a solo role while still in his apprenticeship.