Ballet review: 'The Nutcracker' from Los Angeles Ballet

As Los Angeles Ballet matures, so too  does its first full-length production, Colleen Neary and Thordal Christensen’s version of “The Nutcracker.”

Los Angeles Ballet’s co-artistic directors have been tweaking their Angelino-specific story since it premiered four years ago at the Wilshire Theatre in Beverly Hills. Most of the choreographic refinements have been welcome additions, and this was true again as “Nutcracker” season is in full swing and Los Angeles Ballet opens its fourth season.

At the Sunday matinee in Glendale’s Alex Theatre, the ballet had a distinctly warm and cozy feeling (the run continues at UCLA's Royce Hall and in Redondo Beach). The relationship between the Nutcracker character --  played by a living, breathing lad throughout -- and the ballet’s tween heroine Clara popped into focus with the propitious casting of the accomplished 15-year-old Harrison Coll. He is a student at the School of American Ballet and was entirely comfortable with the leading man duties. He showed off clean beats, an etched technique and a lovely and sensitive presence. Pairing him with the younger, less mature Helena Thordal-Christensen (the directors’ daughter) as Clara helped to realize the ballet’s potential as a sweet story of first, innocent love.

The Waltz of the Flowers has a new ballerina part, the Rose, to which Melissa Barak brings an expansive, lyrical style. Barak, ever confident, but never haughty, emphasizes the accents in Tchaikovsky’s most glorious waltz (the company uses recorded music). In a series of three grand jétés, she caught an updraft and hovered at the top of a perfect arc. The corps de ballet beamed throughout and floated easily in and out of synchronized geometric patterns. They had us swaying in our seats.

Still, clunker moments remain. The ballet has some life-sucking dead zones, where the choreographers are unable to match Tchaikovsky’s rich melodies. Children and adults don’t always have enough to do in the party scene. Clara and the Nutcracker actually jog (in place) to the Land of Snow, which is a distraction at the very least. One wishes that the original grand pas de deux had been restored.

The dance-heavy second act is where Los Angeles Ballet shines, which is to be expected from the city’s only fully professional classical company. The company’s sincere dancers do not disappoint.

Monica Pelfrey, brand new to the troupe, was thrust into the ballerina role Marie, a character meant to represent Clara’s favorite doll. She showed pleasing potential, with a magical lightness in her footwork and an expressive way of communicating to the audience with her whole upper body.  Her Prince, guest artist Kenta Shimizu, also making his Los Angeles Ballet debut, was a confident soloist. They bobbled at points as a duo, but maintained their aplomb.

Katie Tomer was the flexible, sensuous, but always strong Arabian dancer. Partner Drew Grant, who gracefully remains Tomer’s obedient servant, hefted her about his body without strain. Audience favorite Sergey Kheylik returned to wow everyone with new and even more astonishing vaults and floor rolls as the Cossack Doll and in the Russian variation. In the latter section, Tian Tan and Chehon Wespi-Tschopp joined him for high-flying leaps.

The ballet’s children, all from the Los Angeles Ballet School this year, gave their all with a mixture of spunk and discipline. Billy Schaffer was especially charming as the unappreciated, misunderstood Fritz. LA Weekly dance writer Ann Haskins was again happily stuck in the gingerbread house chimney wearing a smoky black wig as Mother Ginger. Andrew Brader was the flamboyant Uncle Drosselmeyer, managing to enliven the first act with oversize bonhomie.

Los Angeles Ballet shows that even a flawed “Nutcracker” can please if the dancing is passionate --  and the tree grows impressively.

-- Laura Bleiberg

"Nutcracker." Los Angeles Ballet, UCLA’s Royce Hall, 340 Royce Drive, Los Angeles; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 19; 1 and 5 p.m. Dec. 20.  Also: Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, 1935 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Redondo Beach, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 26; 2 p.m. Dec. 27. $15-$95; (310) 998-7782.

Photos, from top: Helena Thordal-Christensen as Clara and Harrison Coll as the Nutcracker; the Snowflakes; and Katie Tomer and Drew Grant as the Arabian dancers. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times

Related:

Where else to see "The Nutcracker"

Comments

[Get the U-Hauls]

To re-open the discussion about LAB @ The Music Center, maybe it will take some nudging and some more dollars from Ms. Glorya Kaufman to get LAB up to the level necessary to move into Grand Avenue. BUT there's no doubt that LA dance is vying for an identity and a foothold in the arts landscape. Companies from the entire sphere of dance such as LAB, Viver Brasil and Contra Tiempo show the resiliency of the form here and their efforts to break down that anti-dance stigma in the City of Angels. So I applaud the effort of the philanthropists, dancers and artistic directors who have spearheaded this process over the past decade.

As long as The Music Center continues to hold off on granting a non-LA company permanent residence, I think there's a good shot for LAB to get into Dorothy Chandler in the next 5-10 years. As it is, they seem set on bringing in a mix of super-national and non-Classical dance acts for the next few seasons. There are many power players who have to get on board for it, including Renee & Tommy Lee, Ms. Kaufman, Steve Rountree and John Emerson...

As the Music Center's 50th draws ever closer, LA must ask itself: what kind of dance could show there? should show there? and what company is more viable and local than LAB?

[Matt]

"and the tree grows impressively."???
My god. What a poorly written article. I miss the old dance reviewers.

[Martha Millard]

I enjoyed this review and would like to mention vis-a-vis the previous comment about the growing Christmas tree -- no less a light than George Balanchine himself insisted on an expensive, glittering, growing tree in his 1954 production -- he knew it was very important. The LA Times reviewer obviously knows that history and is simply referring to audiences' delight in that feature of any good production of The Nutcracker. Merry Christmas!

[Bertha Blankenship]

Ms. Bleiberg's review asserts that the Los Angeles Ballet is the "city's only fully professional classical company".

This assertion overlooks the presence of The Blankenship Ballet Company, which is also a fully professional classical company with professional dancers from from Ballet Nacional de Cuba including myself and Annia Hidalgo (who resigned as a dancer from the Los Angeles Ballet recently to join The Blankenship Ballet Company as a Principal Dancer).

Bertha Suarez Blankenship
The Blankenship Ballet Company

[Laura Bleiberg]

Thank you for your comment, Ms. Blankenship. My assessment of Los Angeles Ballet's professional status is my opinion, based on standards and criteria both objective and subjective developed from 30 years of writing about dance, primarily in Southern California and New York. In reviewing and categorizing any company, I take into account its artistic direction, the repertory, the level of the dancing, the number of dancers in the company, and a host of other aesthetic issues. It's those issues that are most significant. Laura Bleiberg

[daphne]

I just returned home from the performance at Royce Hall and while the dancers were very good for the most part I found the lighting so poorly done that I had a difficult time watching the performance. The opening seemed to drag a bot as well and yes the running in place was really odd. I also believe the ticket price of $95 was exorbitant.

[Angela Bradley]

Where was the sugar plum fairy? Why have the story be based in LA versus Russia. The second act was good but this one is too different from the classics.

[LA Nutcracker is poor and pitiful]

I'm not sure that the reviewer watched the same performance as the audience. The LA ballet's version of The Classic Christmas tale is lacking in both sets, scope and talent to truly have the story come to life. You you have ever watched performances from various european ballet companies performed in theaters across europe, you will NOT appreciate the high school level performances the LA version offers. Save your money it is just plain awful.