SAN JOSÉ, CA –  On December 8th  inside the Center for the Performing Arts one could feel the electricity emanating from the audience: children and adults dressed in glamorous gowns, work clothes, covered with sweaters or fur coats. The occasion was  the World’s premiere of Tchaikovsky’s new version of  THE NUTCRACKER of Ballet San José.

The previous production of  THE NUTCRACKER, choreographed by former  B.S.J. Artistic Director Dennis Nahat, had been recognized for years as the best of all THE NUTCRAKER ballets. On this night, however, B.S.J.  was premiering a new version written and choreographed by one of its  Principal Dancers, KAREN GABAY.

Brief History of the NUTCRACKER

In HOFFMANN’s story this is how a man was turned into a  nutcracker: when Marie Stahlbaum lies recovering from the fright of the mice’s battle with the tin soldiers in the living room of her house, Herr Drosselmeyer, (Mr. Drosselmeyer) her godfather, a builder of clocks and mechanical toys, tells her the story about the beautiful princess Pirlipat, a baby whose life is threatened by the wicked Lady Mouseykins. The only person who could save the baby’s life, is a brave young man who could brake the shell of a very hard nut in his teeth and give the nut to Pirlipat. A brave young man succeeds, he saves the life of the princess  but just before Lady Mouseykins dies during a battle, she turns the man who saved the princess' life, into a nutcracker. The tale ends when Marie Stahlbaum tosses her slipper at the mouse, and when the mouse dies the wooden nutcracker is restored to his human form again.

In GABAY’s  story,  Shortly after Drosselmeyer arrives at the Stahlbaum’s Christmas party, he stages a play for the guests. The play tells the story of a princess and a mouse craving for cheese and the King and the Queen saying “no” to their pleas. Because this mouse has magic powers, he puts the princess to sleep. The princess will not wake up until a rare nut is found. When Dross, (not Drosselmeyer) who is a star gazer, brings the hard nut to the palace, the King decrees that any suitor who could crack the “hard nut” with his teeth could marry the princess. Many suitors tried, including Nimble and Nye, but it was not until Dross brings Klaus, his nephew, that the problem is solved. Klaus cracks the hard nut with his teeth and on that moment the princess awakes. Apparently upset, the mouse bits Klaus and turns him into a nutcracker. The tale ends when during the battle the mouse dies and the wooden nutcracker is restored to his human form again.

GABAY’s story is creative but as it was presented it did not translate well as a ballet.  The problem starts with the lack of characterization of Drosselmeyer (RAYMOND RODRIGUEZ) the principal character in Act I of the ballet. In all the versions of the NUTCRACKER ballets, Drosselmeyer is represented as a readily distinguishable from others character. We see him wearing a black patch over one eye, wrapped in a black cape, completely dressed in black, wearing a top hat, but always  “looking different” from everybody else. Also, in most of the ballets, to show his trade, (watches and toys' maker) Drosselmeyer exhibits his “mechanical” toys: a life-size ballerina who dances, a life-size soldier, who marches, the options are many. With these toys, he establishes himself (to the audience)  as a man who creates “magical toys” (Marie knows that)

In GABAY’s ballet,  Drosselmeyer, danced by  RODRIGUEZ  who is B.S.J. Principal Ballet Master, dresses elegantly in a velvet purple suit, dances well and has the bearing of a gentleman, but because there is nothing to distinguish him in his attire,  he just “looks” like any other guest at the party.  In this version Drosselmeyer is a star gazer, how does the audience learn what he is? he bears no stars in his outfit, and he brings no stars as gifts. The main problem with his character as presented in this ballet, is that Drosselmeyer does not show us that he can create "magical" toys. Becase of it, there is no way the audience can believe that Marie is convienced, when looking at his toy nutcracker, that he is the prince of Drosselmeyer's story. 

Because as an art, the Ballet lacks dialogue, and on opening night RODRIGUEZ failed (in his pantomime)  to make  audience aware that he was “telling a story.” to the guests at the party,   (A change of lighting could have helped), many people in the audience wondered  why were a King, (ANTON PANKEVITCH) a Queen (CYNTHIS SHEPPARD) a Princess (MIRAID NODA) and two ball-bouncing men (AKIRA TAKAHASHI and PETER HERSHEY) doing at the Stahlbaum’s.

For those who understood that the royals were part of Drosselmeyer’s “story,” the story did not impress us as a dance. The King Mouse biting Klaus on the stage, looked ludicrous and not even the dance mastery of RAMÓN MORENO (who played the role of Klaus and Nutcracker/prince) or his fantastic pantomime could convince the audience  that the mouse bite had now converted him into a wooden nutcracker. His transformation was deficient, (some special effects were needed) Another matter that confused the audience in the story was that they were led to believe that the KING MOUSE magic can put a person to sleep (as it happened with the princess) not convert a man into a nutcracker.

While  GABAY’s choreography  was creative, in some dances she needed to focus the attention of the audience on the principal dancers.

In ACT I, for instance, Drosselmeyer (RODRIGUEZ) a principal character in the ballet, stands up  back stage, as the adult couples dance on Stage Front in front of him. In another dance,  the children dance in front of him as he stands holding a box Back Stage next to the Christmas tree.

As Marie (MARIA JACOBS-YU) Another Principal dancer of B.S.J. and the lead in this NUTCRACKER, dances a rhythmic ballet solo in Pointe  holding the toy Nutcracker in her arms, the adult couples dance next to her. At that point, the stage gets so “crowded” with all these dancers that the audience doesn’t know what to see. The result is that JACOBS-YU classical solo dance completely loses focus.

JACOBS-YU as Marie  and  RODRIGUEZ as Drosselmeyer

The problem is repeated again when later in the same Act, Marie (JACOBS-YU)  places her “hurt” nutcracker on her dolls’ bed while sitting on the floor on the Right corner of the stage as the couples dance on Stage Front center.  Because Marie is sitting and the couples are dancing, Marie's actions get out of  focus again.

On the positive side, GABAY also managed to choreograph some wonderful dances. for this NUTCRACKER, the most beautiful for its perfect synchronization was “The Winter Wonderland” a female ensemble of snow flakes and Snow Flurries.  Other wonderful ensembles that night were  “A  Christmas Forest” and the “Waltz of the Flowers” which GABAY moved to the end of the ballet and was danced by male and female dancers.  The Costumes (THEONI V.ALDREDGE) in green color for the men and in orange hues for the ladies dresses put a touch of  “magic” on  the stage. On opening night, even the ensembles of the Ballet S.J. school students which included The Mice, Flower Bossons, Flower Buds and Mere Maxine Dolls and Les Enfants du Monde were danced in perfect synchronization 

The Winter Wonderland ensemble of  B.S.J. the NUTCRACKER

Because of the mastery of  all Ballet San José dancers, all the dances on that night were masterful on technique. Outstanding, however, among them was the Grand pas de deux  of the Nutcracker/prince RAMÓN MORENO  and MARIA JACOBS-YU as Marie. Aside from looking “regal”in all their movements, the couple managed to form beautiful body figures with each “Fish.” Their solo dance was also outstanding, with JACOBS-YU spinning rapidly in Pointe around the stage and RAMON jumping with both legs wide open in the air parallel to the floor.

The Spanish dance with SHANNON BYNUM, RUDY CANDIA, JING ZHANG & DAMIR EMRIC was rhythmic. MAXIMO CALIFANO showed his dancing masterly and also his strength in his Arabian dance lifting both BETH ANN NAMEY and NUTAREE PIPIT SUKSUN in his arms. He also made us laugh in his second role as The Sugarplum Fairy hiding six small children under his crinoline.

While the men in the Russian dance needed synchronization, AMY MARIE BRIONES was excellent in her part.  The Chinese Dance with AKIRA TAKAHASHI, JUNNA IGE y MIRAI NODA was dainty.
Under the direction of  conductor GEORGE DAUGHERTY, the Symphony Silicon Valley orchestra sounded thin, but in tune.

There are also some details that may  need to be changed in the future. Life-size mice running on the living room during the party don’t look good and Mrs. Stahlbaum trying to hit them with a broom looks even worse and completely out of place in this ballet. Another things that may require changing is the staging. Since the tour to all these  “magic Lands” was given to Marie by her nutcracker as a reward for helping him regain his human form again and he is showing her all these places, both Marie and the prince ought to be present in each place.  The audience also would have liked to see what mean of transportation used the nutcracker/prince to take Marie on this trip.

The scenery in the ballet is creative and some of the effects are beautiful, such as the big dresser of Marie’s dolls where she places her nutcracker on that night.. The most wonderful effect in this production, however, is the lighted ornamented Christmas tree that grows bigger and bigger.

Center Marie (JACOBS YU) & Prince (MORENO)  in the Christmas Forest with the whole cast of the NUTCRACKER in the background

Since this was the premiere of a new ballet, we hope that all its little flaws will be corrected next year so  THE NUTCRACKER of Ballet San José becomes again the best NUTCRACKER of all the NUTCRACKER ballets.

THE NUTCRACKER will play through December 23, for tickets call (1-408) 288-2800 or order them online at www.balletsj.org.