The Joffrey Ballet’s annual production of the Nutcracker is now appearing at the Auditorium Theater, and this is one holiday tradition you absolutely should not miss.
Few things in life match the splendor of a great ballet performance. If you’ve never been to the ballet and feel a bit intimidated by your lack of knowledge or have some preconceived ideas about this art form, set all ideas aside long enough to see for yourself what the fuss is all about. Professional ballet dancers have mastered the rare combination of athletic prowess with extreme gracefulness and incredible strength with the ability to convey precision and beauty, and the Joffrey Ballet exemplifies these qualities in abundance in the Nutcracker.
The settings and costumes in this year’s production of Nutcracker are gorgeous and create a visually stunning backdrop fitting for the exquisitely beautiful dancing.
This production dazzles your senses from the beginning. The first half of the production has so much taking place on stage that no matter where you look, you’ll find a feast for your eyes. There are a lot of “special effects” in this production that significantly add to the visual imagery of this production.
Each dancer performed his or her role with near flawless execution. I saw just one error, and I point it out only to highlight the level of skill and professionalism in this dance company. When one dancer dropped a hand-held prop, she retrieved it so quickly and fluidly that it left the audience wondering for a moment whether the drop was part of the performance. One of the marks of a skilled professional is the ability to not only quickly recover from an error but to find a way to weave the error into the performance, and this dancer did so beautifully.
Because each dancer performed so exquisitely, I hesitate to highlight any one individual dancer, but there are a couple worth noting. Ricardo Santos, who performs the role of Fritz, Clara’s brother, is so much fun to watch. He perfectly captures the extreme excitability and impatience of children at Christmas to the point where their uncontainable excitement spills over into misbehavior. In using his movements as a tool to convey this excitement, his entire body quivers with the exhilaration and anticipation that children feel on that special day.
Christine Rocas, who performs the roles of the Snow Queen and Coffee from Arabia , has a flexibility that has to be seen to be believed. The quiet gasp in the audience attested to the audience’s amazement as she performed with a limberness that most people can’t imagine having.
The Battalion of Mice brings a touch of playful comedy to the production with their performance, and the children in this year’s production are, of course, adorable (I especially liked the little gingerbread man).
Tchaikovsky’s familiar musical score is beautifully performed by the Joffrey Ballet’s resident orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta. Russian composer Peter Tchaikovksy wrote the score for the original performance of Nutcracker 118 years ago. If you’ve never seen the Nutcracker before, you may be surprised to learn how many of the pieces you’ve heard before.
The Nutcracker will be performed Thursdays through Sundays from now through December 26 (no performance on Christmas). Tickets can be purchased online.
If you’d like to learn about the story upon which the Nutcracker is based, click here.
The Joffrey Ballet performs in the beautifully restored Auditorium Theatre at 50 E. Congress Parkway (between Michigan Wabash ) in downtown Chicago
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