By Kathryn Olsen
Salt Lake City is known for its full complement of holiday happenings, but few are as long-standing as Ballet West‘s annual production of Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky‘s The Nutcracker at the Capitol Theatre. This 1892 ballet by the composer who brought Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake to the stage is based on the 1816 story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” by E.T.A. Hoffman, in which a young girl finds that the nutcracker doll she receives for Christmas is the key to a magical alliance with a prince. This weekend kicks off the 75th anniversary production and I was fortunate enough to speak to Artistic Director Adam Sklute ahead of opening night.
What is one word that sums up this year’s production?
Put at the forefront of this one is magic and tradition
I have recently read that your work with Ballet West has included restoring lost parts of the original Ballet West production by Willam F. Christensen. Can you tell me a bit about that process?
Let’s be clear. Not all of the lost parts, but sections were ones that I brought back. Steps were brought back and transitions in the way it was done over the years We worked with people who worked with previous productions. One of the things I worked to reintroduce is a man in the Spanish variation. It was originally done as two women and a man and more recently has been an all-female variation.
I know that you have worked extensively with the younger performers that are so essential to the production. What can you tell me about the process and your collaboration with the Ballet West academy?
My work has been the expansion of the academy over 13 years. This year, in specific, we worked with 300 students from all over Utah and inter-mountain regions. We open auditions to kids from every ballet school in Utah as well as performers from Wyoming and Nevada. In any given production, we have 75 students in each of the four casts, drawn from having auditioned 600 students. They are all very well coached and we work to bring out some of their character. We have excellent dance masters who work with them.
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One of the things we’re doing, we’re hosting a big party for the people who helped us with the production that happened a couple of years ago and next weekend, we’ll have an alumni gathering for anyone who was involved in Christensen’s production. These are people we were already connected to, but we put out a big call to anyone we could connect to–friends, friends of friends, etc., especially on social media and it was not only performers who responded.
There is a book that has just been published commemorating this anniversary. What has been your involvement with that project?
The book is designed to celebrate. It’s filled with wonderful historic images and anecdotes, quotes from Christensen and from me as well as people who were involved in the productions over the years. It is the brainchild of the marketing team and done by our wonderful marketing team. It will be sold at the boutique as well as in bookstores.
There are many interpretations of this ballet. I grew up with the Boston Ballet version and the Joffrey Ballet. Please tell me what audiences might look for in the Christensen version.
I think what I love about Christensen’s production, which was the first full-length American production and is the longest-running version in America, is that it is so charming, fun, enjoyable, and fast-paced. He was a vaudeville man and understood how a show should go. I think that is why it has had so much success over the years.
This is undeniably not a show to be missed. Closing night isn’t until after Christmas has come and gone, so there are many opportunities to get tickets for an unforgettable show for the whole family.
Ballet West presents The Nutcracker by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Choreography by Willam F. Christensen, based on the story by E.T.A. Hoffmann
Capitol Theatre, 50 W 200 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Dec 7-26, 2019, 7:00 PM, matinee 2:00 PM. See website for dates and times.
Tickets: $34-$129
Contact: 801-869-6900
www.balletwest.org
Ballet West Facebook Page
The Nutcracker Facebook Event
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