We are into the fourth season of Alexei Ratmansky’s vision of The Nutcracker, and finally – finally – we got to see the Nutcracker Prince nail the dramatic Grigorovich Lift in the Grand Pas. Was it a guest artist who accomplished this feat? No. Was it an import? No. Was it one of the Nutcracker Princes who has had several years worth of chances to get it done? No.
The guy who finally got the job done and got it done in good style was dancing his debut after being rudely passed over for the role in the previous three seasons.
For the past three seasons, every time it came time in the Grand Pas for the grown-up Clara to run to the Nutcracker Prince and jump so that he catches her arabesque supporting leg and presses her fanny over his head followed by a triumphant march downstage on the diagonal, ABT’s Claras and Princes have all uniformly wimped out on this major strength-sapping overhead lift that was created by Yuri Grigorovich during the golden era of Soviet ballet, and have, instead, substituted some grade-school version that always looked worse than if they never tried it at all.
The lift is a magnificent, incredibly difficult, gut-stinging, hernia-inviting, showy maneuver that Ratmansky inserted in his Nutcracker at the music’s climax for whatever reason – maybe to inspire a few of ABT's men to try harder. Yesterday afternoon Jared Matthews rose to the occasion – the only one of ABT's Nutcracker Princes ever to do so in this production. If Ratmansky wasn’t there to witness it, surely his heart must have skipped a beat wherever he was.
But more important than the lift was the overall exquisite and joyous performance of Jared and his Clara, Yuriko Kajiya, in their two PdDs. Their hearts were huge, their spirits generous, and their dancing was grand and exuberant. Throughout her variations, Yuriko displayed her special musicality that intensifies the beauty of the music: a slow release of an arabesque to extend the musical phrase, breathing balances, getting full value from every movement. Jared’s own musicality has grown enormously these past couple of years. Yesterday he punctuated the finishes of the pirouettes and allegro phrases with genuine authority. He not only gave us his best dancing, but he gave us his whole heart. No doubt, David Howard was smiling down on the stage yesterday while quipping, “That’s right - now do it again!" Here’s hoping that Jared’s thigh was taped just as a precaution and that nothing will prevent him from repeating his fine effort this coming Wednesday. After Saturday’s performance, Haglund couldn’t get to the box office fast enough.
While Jared and Yuriko may have been the highlight of the ABT Nutcracker run so far, the opening night performance by Veronika Part and Marcelo Gomes and Sunday afternoon’s performance by Gillian Murphy and Eric Tamm were Christmas come early.
Veronika, looking Chanel sleek, danced with exquisite lightness and the brilliance of Coco’s famous Bijoux de Diamants. It’s only when she is cast in Ratmansky’s works that we ever have the opportunity to see her move at such high speeds in über complex choreography. And it is only when dancing with Marcelo that she is free to take the risks that produce jaw-dropping results – as on Friday night when Marcelo tossed her up into the air in front of him like she was made of paper and rotated her in a multiple tour, or her maximum saute fouette that preceded the final, dramatic fish pose of wedding-kiss perfection. It is such a privilege to see these two dancers perform together. It is so unfair to ABT’s audience that we must face another Met Season without their Swan Lake.
Marcelo, by the way, was jumping and pirouetting like he was 22 and it was impossible not to do. Haglund had to give a rather noisy whoop when Marcelo polished off a fast pirouette with a particularly fine finish to the knee, but there were other whoops from the audience as well. Both he and Veronika were in top form on Friday night, but we did miss seeing their diagonal of fast double pique turns or double step-overs. Maybe we just blinked at the wrong time.
Sunday afternoon saw the return of another exceptional pairing – that of Gillian Murphy and Eric Tamm. One would think that their similar coloring would make them wash out on stage but it has the opposite effect. They are a stunningly handsome couple. He is a gallant and accurate partner for her, and if she has to dial back the force a tiny bit on supported pirouettes, it’s not a bad thing – we get to see more musicality and less dazzle. Gillian wears restraint well, and this guy should be her Albrecht. If only artistic sense prevailed at ABT.... As in their performances during the second Nutcracker season, some of the details of the choreography tend to show through more clearly than with the other couples. During the Snow Pas there is a lift where Clara gazes down into the Prince’s eyes while her legs are crossed off to the side of him. It is a beautiful image especially when the Prince can hold the pose still for a moment and meet her gaze as Eric always does. Also, after the first section of the Grand Pas when the Prince walks upstage in silence to begin his variation, Eric suddenly pauses to look up at the beautiful stars in the sky. It is a very human moment that comes at an unexpected time. Haglund so wishes that McKenzie’s radar would blip upon Eric Tamm, who looks exceptionally handsome in white tights, and that this dancer would be afforded more white-tight roles.
Overall, the performances seemed to have a heightened energy to them. The two Drosselmeyers (Victor Barbee and Roman Zhurbin), the Sugar Plum Fairy (Zhong-Jing Fang and Nicola Curry), the Cook (Julio Bragado- Young and Kenneth Easter), and other of the character types made larger impressions than in years past, like they were playing to a much larger house than BAM. It looked very good and captivated the youngest members of the audience better. The Snowflakes and Flowers continue to have some of the most extraordinary choreography in this extraordinary production. Ratmansky's Nutcracker is the finest thing that he has made for ABT to date. It is unquestionably a major artistic success in every important respect. Why then has ABT failed to make it a marketing success? At this point in time, we were supposed to be seeing five weeks of Nutcracker at BAM. We’re not even seeing two.
Haglund has more ABT Nutcrackers to see but it won’t be easy getting there from the Wild West Side where no subway trains rumble through, no buses pass by, the taxis fear to tread, and the horse don’t wanna leave its warm barn. But somehow, some way, he’ll get there, because there are a lot of people dancing exceptionally well in a great production. If you miss Jared and Yuriko this Wednesday, well, it’ll be just like missing their Giselle in Chicago a couple of years back – you'll probably never get another chance to see it. Besides, they may even be showing off their H.H. Pump Bump Award, a seasonal stiletto direct from Charlotte Olympia's own closet:
