Last night just as the Little Mouse abducted the Nutcracker doll and taunted Little Clara before chasing her across the stage toward the Grandfather clock, out of the darkness in the audience came a toddler's crescendo, "Mommy, it's a naughty mouse!" Judging from the emphasis on "naughty," the kid probably knew Merriam-Webster's chapter and verse on the entry. Yes, Virginia, it was a naughty mouse - and last night Justin Souriau-Levine was working it for a Tony Award.
The adult principals in last night's performance at BAM, Maria Riccetto and Daniil Simkin, repeated their glorious success of last year's debut. While watching Maria's generous epaulment, maturity of presentation, confident application and exploitation of textbook technique, and the shimmering glisten of her dancing, Haglund thought, "Man, this is the beauty of a dozen years of experience." You don't slap on what Maria has in a couple of rehearsals - no matter how much hype the New York Times gives you. Maria has been polishing the details of her craft and art with ABT since 1999 through dozens of roles of gradually increasing profile. This past fall she spent several weeks under the tutelage of Julio Bocca preparing her lead principal role of Medora in his company's production of Le Corsaire. Julio was the one who vaulted Herman and Erica Cornejo to brilliance when they danced in his first company before arriving at ABT's doorstep, and there is no denying his ability to coach dancers to greatness.
Over the past year, Maria has found a way to make what ever she dances look, well, expensive and like she's the only one in the world who can wear the choreography the way it should be worn. It always looks like it was made especially for her. It's a shame that after all that preparation with Bocca and her performance success, Maria was overlooked for the role of Medora next year at ABT in favor of a guest artist with sketchy classical credentials who of late prefers slithering down a stripper's pole to honing her classical skills.
Daniil was perfectly cast as Clara's vision of her grown up Nutcracker Prince. His huge jumps and slicing allegro contradicted his youthful appearance. His dancing was very mature whereas his face and frame appeared more adolescent. There were times when Daniil seemed to stretch his torso to make himself look taller just the way a youngster might straighten himself in order to stand taller with the grownups. The partnering aspects of the PdDs went very smoothly, especially the lift of Maria to the back of Daniil's shoulder followed by a spin of increasing velocity. Their fish dive at the conclusion of the first part of the Act II PdD was as deep as they go. Maria danced as though she had 100 percent confidence in Daniil. There were no hesitations in pirouettes or leaps into her partner's hands.
It was a pleasure to see Isaac Stappas return for a stint as Drosselmeyer. Roman Zhurbin, Luis Ribagorda and Julio Bragado-Young flailed through the Russian dance with a lot of silliness that spoke to a large part of the audience. Gemma Bond and Joseph Gorak were stunning perfection in the Chinese section. The Nutcracker's Sisters had a reasonably good performance until the exit during the coda when one took a really bad spill flat on her back. Haglund was concerned that she might have hurt herself, but when the Sisters appeared on stage for their bows, the one who took the fall was angrily complaining to the Sister next to her and shaking her head during the applause for other performers. It wasn't a very nice thing for the audience to see.
Lauren Ann Bonfiglio, Kai Monroe, and Benji Pearson repeated their fine performances of Clara, the Nutcracker Boy, and Fritz.
The evening's Pump Bump Award, a Jimmy Choo design of subtle but mesmerizing beauty, is bestowed upon Maria Riccetto, whose honest progress through the company has come by her hard work, and whose every performance is something to look forward to and then remember.
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