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It’s “Nutcracker” season. And across the globe, dance companies, costumers, set designers – not to mention parents and kids – are getting ready to dive into the opulence and magic that is the tale of Sugar Plum Fairies, dancing snowflakes, a massively blossoming Christmas tree and childhood dreams.
“The Nutcracker” is such a holiday institution, you may think you already know everything about it. But here are some behind-the-scenes secrets, from DIY tutus to sunflowers, quick-change artists and recycled snowflakes.
An epic fail
Adapted from an 1816 E.T.A. Hoffmann story, “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” the famous ballet debuted in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1892, with choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov and a score by Tchaikovsky – and it pretty much bombed. Except for Tchaikovsky’s score. The composer craftily culled a 20-minute suite from the ballet, which was an immediate hit. The ballet, of course, has since become a mega-success. The U.S. premiere was 75 years ago – on the San Francisco Ballet stage on Christmas Eve, 1944.
Then and now
San Francisco’s original “Nutcracker” was staged on a tight wartime budget that included just $1,000 for all the costumes. S.F. Ballet dancers Jocelyn Vollmar (the Snow Queen) and Gisella Caccialanza Christensen (Sugar Plum Fairy) had to make their own tutus. The current production uses Martin Pakledinaz’s eye-popping costumes, from the Snow Queen’s tutu and its hundreds of Swarovski crystals to Drosselmeyer’s coat, which cost $11,000 all by itself.
A lot of snow
S.F. Ballet’s lavish “Nutcracker” set designs, created by Tony Award winner Michael Yeargan, include 600 pounds of “snow” – fire-retardant paper confetti – fluttering gracefully to the stage during the “Dance of the Snowflakes.” It takes six stagehands to make that happen.
Now, that’s recycling
San Jose Dance Theatre, which has presented “The Nutcracker” every year since 1965, uses rice paper to create its magical snowflakes. After each show, the flakes are swept up and used again the next night — and the next and the next.
Snow in L.A.?
Los Angeles Ballet’s “Dance of the Snowflakes” scene results in 3 inches of “snow” fall for each performance – more than the Los Angeles region gets all year.
California stylin’
The Los Angeles Ballet sets its popular version of “The Nutcracker” in 1912 L.A, with nods to historic neighborhoods like Hancock Park, the snowy pines of the Angeles Forest and the Pacific Ocean view as seen from Venice Beach. The show also uses SoCal flora, such as citrus trees and bougainvillea. And the “Waltz of the Flowers?” Giant sunflowers.
Quick change
In San Jose Dance Theatre’s “Nutcracker,” the dancer who plays Clara has just 20 seconds to change from party dress to nightgown. She rarely needs even that much time. The current company record is 6 seconds.
A tree grows (and grows)
San Jose Dance Theatre’s “Nutcracker” Christmas tree grows to a height of 60 feet under the spell of Dr. Drosselmeyer (yes, the guy with the eyepatch). It takes 15 crew members to move the Stahlbaum home apart to accommodate the mushrooming evergreen.
A show shortens
Bay Area choreographer Mark Foehringer got the inspiration for his take on the ballet while watching a traditional “Nutcracker” performance. “I heard a little boy turn to his mom at the beginning of the Second Act and say ‘Is it almost over?!’” he recalls. “A light bulb went off in my head.” The result: “Mark Foehringer’s Nutcracker Sweets,” a 50-minute, streamlined production aimed at kids (and their grateful parents).
A hip-hop ‘Nutcracker’
The ballet has been adapted into all sorts of musical frameworks, including rock, metal and rap. Music/dance producer Mike Fitelson, who debuted his “Hip Hop Nutcracker” in New York in 2014, grew up in Oakland’s Montclair neighborhood and got his first look at the ballet right here. He was “horribly bored” by it, he says, except for one segment featuring high-leaping Russian dancers. That memory fuels his “Hip Hop Nutcracker” – set on New Year’s Eve in the present day – which embarks on a nationwide tour this season, with stops in Oakland on Nov. 19, as well as San Diego and San Luis Obispo.
Mariah Carey does New Orleans
SoCal’s popular, kid-friendly “Hot Chocolate Nutcracker” is set in New Orleans in 1928. And, yes, the young girl at the center of it falls asleep after a cup of cocoa. Created by famed choreographer Debbie Allen and performed by her dance academy, the production also features Raven Symone. And the original score was written by Mariah Carey, Arturo Sandoval, James Ingram and others. It returns to Redondo Beach in early December.
Everybody is a star
The San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band is all about bringing together people from all walks of life, so it’s no surprise that its take on the famed ballet is the annual “Dance-Along Nutcracker.” There’s no stage separating audience from cast and musicians, and when the disco ball and the “Dance-Along!” sign alight, viewers – particularly kids – are encouraged to get up and bust a move. Each year features a different, usually comedic, theme – this year’s is “Nutcrackers in Space.”
Strings attached
Some very famous dancers have starred in “The Nutcracker.” But puppets? Yes, Virginia, there is a puppet “Nutcracker.” The beloved, L.A.-based Bob Baker Marionette Theater has its own kid-friendly version of “The Nutcracker,” currently on hiatus, as the troupe has recently relocated to a new home in Highland Park.
Stars take their shot
Among the pop culture icons who have starred in lesser-known adaptations of Hoffmann’s “Nutcracker” story are Barbie, in the 2001 direct-to-DVD animated feature “Barbie in the Nutcracker”; Tom and Jerry, in “Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale,” noted for being the last project that animation legend Joseph Barbera (of Hanna-Barbera fame) ever worked on, as he died during production; and Robert Goulet and Carol Lawrence, in a poorly received 1961 TV film “The Enchanted Nutcracker.”
