By Jennifer Mustoe
After speaking with Founder and Artistic Director for Odyssey Dance Theater Darryl Yeager, I was completely captivated with his Christmas dance creation, ReduxNut-Cracker. He has the experience to choreograph a show that will appeal to all–and his enthusiasm and excitement for this redo of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky‘s Christmas classic will knock your socks off. ReduxNut-Cracker is playing until Saturday at Kingsbury Hall in Salt Lake City.
Because they use projections and not set pieces, the sky’s the limit on what they can show to enhance this fun production. For instance, during the Variations, they can change the set and backgrounds for each nationality. When the tree grows, it turns.
Everything has a modern, upbeat, fun twist. Yeager asked himself, how can I modernize The Nutcracker to make it relevent? Do kids even know what a nutcracker is and why a little girl would like it? His answer was a modern upgrade. Nobody wants a nutcracker anymore, but kids want iPhones! So that is what Clara receives. This ingenious invention for this upgraded show will immediately interest all in the audience, from the smallest kiddo to the smiling grandparents in the audience.
Of course, the costumes are all modern, the music is giving a fun, modern vibe (give this a listen), and the dances! Watch as hip-hop and other modern dances take us to a land we’ve never seen and always wanted to go to.
Here are a few things you’ll see:
- The mice are hip-hop dancing.
- The battles are a video game.
- Go to the Weather Channel and there’s snow.
- The Sugar Plum Fairy is Siri.
- The buffoons are Marios and Luigis.
- Waltz of the Flowers is now Angry Birds Waltz.
- A sweet and heartwarming moral to the story that only this re-telling can supply.
As Yeager says, they took out all boring parts and modernized all the rest. At one and a half hours with no intermission, ReduxNut-Cracker is a treat for all this holiday season. Get ready to see The Nutcracker like you never have before. But hurry! It closes Saturday.
Odyssey Dance Theater presents ReduxNut-Cracker
Kingsbury Hall, 1395 E. Presidents Circle, Salt Lake City, UT 84112
Dec 20 7:30 PM, Dec 21 7:30 PM, Dec 22 2:00 PM, Dec 22 7:30 PM
Tickets: $25.50+ Children under 6 not permitted, no babes in arms
Contact: 801-581-7100
Odyssey Dance Theater Facebook Page
ReduxNut-Cracker Facebook Event
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