SAN FRANCISCO — The lobby of the War Memorial Opera House is already intensely theatrical in “Nutcracker” season, with a perfect tree not only beautifully decorated but also spotlighted. In the afterglow that follows the matinee, children and their parents linger a long time, and many photographs are taken. This, with Houston, is one of the two best-dressed “Nutcracker” audiences of my travels – and, if the attire is less spectacular than Houston, it’s more elegant.
It’s in this opera house that America’s first complete “Nutcracker” had its premiere, in 1944: the same version, choreographed by Willam Christensen, that I saw danced by Ballet West two weeks ago. One look at the dancers and I’m reminded that San Francisco Ballet is among the best companies in the world: finesse, elegance, polish, line, technique, ease. One look at the cast list and I’m aware that this is an exceptional matinee, with Sarah Van Patten and Tiit Helimets as the Queen and King of the Snow, Vanessa Zahorian and Taras Domitro as the Sugar Plum Fairy and her consort, and Elana Altman, Ricardo Bustamante, Val Caniparoli, Frances Chung and Pascal Molat in supporting roles.
Unfortunately, travel delays meant my flight to San Francisco was three hours late, and so I arrived only in time for the last few dances of Act 2. I regret this not just as a dancegoer but as a tourist: Helgi Tomasson’s production is set in the 1915 San Francisco World Fair.<
There is plenty to say even about the little I see. Martin West does some of the best conducting I have heard from him, and the company’s orchestra is a match for its dancers. This is neither the first nor second production in my recent experience to feature a dancing bear, but I hope it is the only one where the bear emerges from the skirts of Mother Ginger (here called Madame Du Cirque). Ms. Zahorian and Mr. Domitro are outstanding in the grand pas de deux, which features some prominent references to both the 1892 Ivanov and 1954 Balanchine versions.
But there and in the Waltz of the Flowers, Mr. Tomasson lets appealing dance ideas flounder blandly without building them into an architectural and musical array that would make them poetic or memorable. It’s confusing to have a Sugar Plum Fairy who dances none of the music that Tchaikovsky designated for her. Instead she leads the Waltz of the Flowers. Then young Clara steps through a Narnia-type door that transforms her into a ballerina (Ms. Zahorian). This alter ego device is set to a passage from the Sugar Plum adagio that’s taken out of context, right before the adagio then occurs. It’s a jarringly unmusical effect of structure.
I’m told 85 children appear in each performance here. Is this – surpassing Boston Ballet’s 83, Ballet West’s 65 and New York City Ballet’s 55 – a present-day “Nutcracker” record?
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