Dance Reviews

Dec 17, 2005 - A.V.A Ballet Theatre's impressive "The Nutcracker Ballet" at Reno's Pioneer Center

By Jack Neal

It's easy to be Scrooge when it comes to yet another Christmas outing with Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker Ballet," especially when it's billed as a hometown event.

Surprise!

Choreographer, local dance entrepeneur and impressario Alexander Van Alstyne has glued together a colorful and impressive "Nutcracker" that's a winner.

In collaboration with the Reno Philharmonic and its resident conductor Barry Jekowsky, the music - at least - was sure to please. It was my first experience hearing a Jekowsky dance performance and any doubts (not deep doubts, but some doubts) about the maestro's ability to attach superb score with on-stage movement were quickly dispelled. Any awkwardness, and there wasn't much, is a matter of having time for everything to sink in (there are never enough rehearsals) and not a matter of skill and talent. With the exception of a tinkly grandfather clock pinging away at midnight from the pit (Hey gang, who lost the chimes?), musically the show is in great shape.

Back to dance.

Shrewd old George Balanchine knew what he was doing back in the 1940's, when he peppered his New York City Ballet with a "Nutcracker" loaded with children and propelled this plum of a sugary ballet into a big, big hit that just keeps making money during the season to be jolly.

Why not cash in?

And that's just what the A.V.A. Ballet Theatre is doing. To its credit, the show is so good it could play deep into the future with visions of sold-out signs dancing in Mr. Van Alstyne's head.

There is a framework for my overview of this "Nutcracker." Kudos for all the time and energy it takes to make all the ballet's myriad parts fit. Bravo, too, for bringing in excellent principal dancers to satisfy dance aficionados. What director Van Alstyne and co-director Miriam Allen are working with isn't so much a seasoned company as a pastiche company raring to go.

And go they do for a production with so much energy it takes flight.

Imports Amy Foster, a radiant Sugar Plum Fairy, Jekyns Pelaez, an assured Sugar Plum Cavalier, Mayo Sugana, an elegant Snow Queen, and David Fonnegra, a lyric, athletic Snow King, did what imports should do - dance beautifully, and anchor a fledgling ballet troupe with professionalism. That there were moments (few) of hesitancy (I saw the production Friday, 12/16/05) can be chalked up to the new kids on the block getting used to a new environment and a whole different set of personalities.

Clara is in the capable hands of Nicole Shutt, a lovely young dancer. That Miss Shutt, whose bio says she's fifteen, has the gorgeous looks of a twenty-year-old young woman more likely to be interested in thumbing through an Abercrombie and Fitch catalogue than hugging a toy nutcracker only means that this young lady is ready to move on with her career. She is, nonetheless, a fine dancer and is given more than the normal Clara kinds of dances to do.

Happily she's been cast opposite a real life Nutcracker Prince, David Resnick, who is handsome, athletic and charming enough to be an Abercrombie and Fitch model. That makes their relationship as a couple work. If not as wide-eyed kids in the Kingdom of Sweets at least as handsome youngsters an audience can be wide-eyed watching. Both do what they have been asked to do entrancingly.

Also exceptional is a high-flying Cheston Repola as Clara's annoying kid brother Fritz. Without-a-doubt wonderful is Eve Allen who is everywhere in this "Nutcracker" and just grand wherever she lands (among many spots, a terrific "Arabian"). Maegan Price shines as the Mechanical Doll. Kisses to all involved in the marvelous show-off dance miniatures that transpire in the Kingdom of Sweets. They are all, without exception, nicely brought off.

What would "Nutcracker" be without children? This production has oodles of them - soldiers, mice, pages, you name it - and they range from cute to showing signs of having real talent beyond the nursery. All the kids in this show are just super.

The lighting, not credited in the program, is first-rate as are the elegant costumes, and bargain but attractive sets.

In collaboration with the Reno Philharmonic, this A.V.A. Ballet Theatre production of Tchaikovsky's immortal "The Nutcracker Ballet" may not be immortal itself, but it is enchanting enough to be memorable.

"The Nutcracler Ballet" can be seen at the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts, 100 South Virginia Street, Reno, Nevada, Friday and Saturday, December 16 and 17 (2005) at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, December 18 (2005) at 2:00 p.m. For information call 775-686-6600.