The big, fat Rat King waddled out waving his gilded sword and then paused to pat down his lacquered helmet of baby-poop-yellow hair.
He hollered, “I’m going to shut this whole place down, and I’ll be proud to do it. What, Bunny? What did you whimper, you fake little cottontail? How did you ever get into my country?”
The Bunny muttered under his breath, “We’re having ourselves another tinkle contest with the skunk. Every Christmastime we have to have this same fight with him. It’s like a manhood thing with him, as if manhood could ever be associated with him.”
The Rat King stomped and bellowed and belched smoke. Out of nowhere came the Nutcracker Prince who bravely jumped on the Rat King’s back and began pulling out strands of yellow hair from his head.
The Rat King roared, “Don’t touch my hair!” and then threw the Nutcracker Prince to the ground. “Where are my rat friends when I need help?! Are they all flipping and ratting on me now?"
Suddenly, the heroic Bunny raced toward the Rat King and grabbed his tail. “I’ve got your manhood! I’ve got your manhood!” He yanked the Rat King’s tail and gave it a bite before hippity-hopping back to his 54% renovated house. While the Rat King stroked his sore manhood, the Nutcracker Prince skewered him in the paunch with his sword and screamed, “Shutdown shmutdown. $15 federal minimum wage for your undocumented hotel maids is coming, RK, along with a climate change that you never imagined!” The Rat King’s medics rushed onto the scene, formed a protective wall around their leader, and carried him off to his Fox hole.
A calming snow began to fall about the land while the soothing notes of some of the most beautiful music ever heard on earth began to heal our time.
And so it went these last two Sunday evenings and probably all those in between. New York City Ballet’s Nutcracker is the major event of the holiday season in this city. It’s as traditional as it gets. It’s as charming as ever. And it continues year after year to enable families to create lifelong joyous memories that will be more deeply imprinted than any impressions forced by our turbulent times.
On December 9th, Lauren King and Daniel Applebaum danced the roles of Sugarplum Fairy and Her Cavalier with the rich sweetness of the Wintermint cake from Baked in Brooklyn. (You may as well slap it right on the hips – the cake, that is.) This was Applebaum’s debut in the role and his most significant opportunity to date. His lines were princely and confident; his partnering attentive. There seemed to be an issue with upper body strength that made some of the lifts less glorious than they could have been, but overall, his pairing with the festive, ebullient Lauren was a stunning combo. Like many of the NYCB men, Appebaum’s turns a la seconde seem not to be high on the list of priorities all year around; so, they suffer come December. Lauren’s dancing continues to grow in authority and clarity. Newly noted this year was an expansiveness in everything from simple developpe steps to pique to her grand saut de chat. At times, however, arms overhead with raised shoulders looked more like () than ( ) - a habit possessed by other NYCB dancers as well.
Yesterday, Erica Pereira and Anthony Huxley were confection-perfection as the Sugarplum Fairy and Her Cavalier. Without a doubt, the roles that require faultless, Waterford quality classical technique dispensed with calm and joy are Erica’s best roles. Haglund is going to be soooooo disappointed if he can’t watch Erica as Aurora in this year’s Sleeping Beauty run — opposite Huxley, of course. The problem with Erica has always been her small size. Dancing on stage in front of a corps of NYCB amazonians can make her seem like The Bunny in Nutcracker. But when on stage yesterday in front of a semi-circle of little angels while performing choreography that invited her to dance downstage, Erica was a revelation. Exquisite arabesque shapes held gloriously on balance, musical pirouettes that ended perfectly, floating pas de chat, complete confidence in her partner during jumps and promenades – it all boiled down to making Haglund open up his wallet for another Nutcracker performance next week. This time, Erica will dance opposite Daniel Ulbricht in his NYCB debut, and this surely will be a treat.
Huxley's variation as The Cavalier was brief but nevertheless superb. It even seemed like he had been working on his turns a la seconde. Perhaps Haglund’s eyes deceived him, but it looked like Huxley threw in a 3rd revolution during those turns. A partner of such elegance and noble bearing should not be denied the role of Prince Désiré. Haglund is going to be sooooo disappointed if he can’t watch Huxley as Prince Désiré –– opposite Erica Periera, of course.
On December 9th, Brittany Pollack danced a scrupulous, light and lightning fast Dewdrop while avoiding the ostentatious flashing of power that spoils the performances of some other Dewdrops. Her artistry is perhaps the most mature and best calibrated among the women soloists. Anthony Huxley’s Candy Cane had the kids bouncing in their seats and their parents dropping their jaws. Clara Miller showed the type of poise and decisiveness in her Coffee solo that we don’t generally see in her corps work. For a while now, we’ve been noticing her long lines and lovely feet in the corps along side Christina Clark, Isabella LaFreniere, and Emily Kikta but frequently sensed uncertainty in her execution. Hopefully, her fine work in Coffee will make that uncertainty a thing of the past.
Yesterday, Miriam Miller’s Dewdrop showed that she’s made great progress in the areas of strength and confidence but still has major work to do on stability and stamina. As the conductor gave her extra room in the music to labor through the last turn variation, it seemed that it might have been easier for her to accomplish it through a faster tempo. Oftentimes, when faced with a quick tempo, the body automatically rises to the challenge and makes the steps less perilous. Metaphorically, a too slow tempo can mean the difference between separately pronouncing each syllable of a word and pronouncing the word itself. Roman Mejia’s Candy Cane smoothly cruised through his choreography until the final double-spin of the hoop which got stuck at the front of his feet. Emilie Gerrity's Coffee was smoldering and mysterious.
Among the cast of children, Athan Sporek’s Little Prince gave a huge performance. The kid already has tidy lines and good feet and can act up a storm. His miming sequence in Act II was as good as Lance Chantiles-Wertz's from a decade ago. (Lance has been the high barre for a long time.)
We don’t have much to complain about. Oh, the Marzipan Shepherdesses needed some primping; there’s a light out in the big chandelier; and … why yesterday was a water bottle $4.50 on the promenade but $3 in the 4th ring? Same water. Time for a concession confession from someone.
The H.H. Pump Bump Award, a diamond winged stiletto in Rose gold, is bestowed upon Erica Pereira, perhaps the most undervalued ballerina at NYCB. We’re going to be sooooo disappointed if we can’t watch her Aurora next year.