San Francisco Ballet
NUTCRACKER
Saturday, December 7, 2024/7 PM
An old favorite/a new delight!
I first saw Nutcracker at the old NY Metropolitan Opera House. Like so many children attending this annual ballet ‘celebration’, I hardly saw nor could remember the many acts and dances but the event lives with me still. We sat far away in the upper balcony. But, as it still does today, “Nutcracker” remains a marvel with its many episodes, solo and group performances and above all, the amazing stagecraft that makes it all possible. Such was the San Francisco Ballet’s December 7 performance for this 2024 holiday season. Above all was the ‘Grand Pas de Deux” performed by Nikisha Fogo and Max Cauthorn.
“Nutcracker” is an annual celebration of Christmas, complete with a family gathering, presents for children, dancing for all age groups and then a remarkable dream fantasy for the girl who has been given ‘the Nutcracker.” History tells us that the original “Nutcracker” was an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas 1844 short story and a retelling of E.T.A. Hoffman’s 1816 story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.” The German tradition reports that “decorative nutcracker figurines most commonly made to resemble toy soldiers and are symbols of good luck frightening away malevolent spirits.” All of these backgrounds are inherent in the ballet’s story.
But it’s the continuing performance that holds the magic. “On Christmas Eve, 1944, San Francisco Ballet launched a national holiday tradition with the American premiere oI NUTCRACKER choreographed by William Christensen – the first complete version of the ballet ever staged in the United States.” The Helgi Tomasson production (modeled after the NYC Ballet’s Balanchine original), is Nutcracker as a holiday tradition. Outstanding in this current performance (which will run through December 29) is Val Caniparoli as Drosselmeyer (the magician storyteller) and
Loé Dechelette who dances Clara who receives the Nutcracker doll. Drosselmeyer (in magical dream sequences) takes Clara through the various episodes, including visions of snowflakes dancing, a battle between mice and the Nutcracker Prince, dance sequences from a variety of countries (Spanish, Arabian, Chinese, French and Russian). In addition, there are, waltzing flowers, Madame Du Cirque and her Baffoons (SF Ballet students) and finally, the Grand Pas de Deux. Max Cauthorn returns from Act 1 to partner the marvelous Nikisha Fogo.
Fogo has the ability to bring dramatic projection to her excellent technical skills. Her solos and her work as a partner in the “grand pas de deux” carry across the footlights. She is very much the dedicated and matched ‘’partner’ but her focus and technical achievements dominate (but do not diminish) Cauthorn’s excellent performance. All dancers in “Nutcracker” are to be praised…but Fogo’s achievement makes this reviewer look forward to her roles in the 2025 SF Ballet season. She deserves great admiration for her previous roles in the SF Ballet.
Applause and admiration to the technical staff of the SF Ballet who are able to move the dancers from scene to scene, décor to décor with great skill and no ‘glitches’. We also congratulate the SF Ballet orchestra under the direction of Martin West who give the audience the beautiful music of Tschaikovsky’s well known and still marvelous score.
Note: There is a Nutcracker Museum in Leavenworth, Washington “dedicated to nutcrackers and nutcracking devises. It was founded by Arlene Wagner and her husband George.” Wagner taught “multiple productions of Nutcracker and became enamored by them. The museum houses of 9,000 nutcrackers.
The December 2024 SF Ballet program correctly notes: “On Christmas Eve, 1944, San Francisco Ballet launched a national holiday tradition with the American premiere oI NUTCRACKER choreographed by William Christensen – the first complete version of the ballet ever staged in the United States.” My apologies for hasty research on the history of the US. Performance of NUTCRACKER Joanna Harris