Editor’s Note: In extending its tradition, The Utah Review, with the assistance of Christal Jackson, an English teacher and ELL coordinator at City Academy, asked two students to review Ballet West’s production of Willam Christensen’s The Nutcracker. For a preview ahead of this year’s production, see this link to The Utah Review feature.
Before turning it over to our two guest reviewers who are City Academy students, I wanted to add a few brief thoughts. Observing the reactions of both young reviewers as well as two other guests who were viewing the historic Ballet West production of The Nutcracker for the first time, it is immediately apparent why, in its ninth decade, Willam Christensen’s version has become truly a living landmark for the arts. It lives up to every iota of promise as America’s 1st Nutcracker™.
This particular performance snapped and crackled with precision at every turn, and the Ballet West Orchestra, led by Jared Oaks, kept the pace exquisitely. It was uniformly outstanding across the board: from Robert Fowler’s performance as Dr. Drosselmeyer to James Jobson-Larkin as The Nutcracker Prince and Jake Preece as The Mouse King to the regal elegance of Rylee Ann Rogers and Tyler Gum as Snow Queen and Snow King and to the exacting technical execution of Jenna Rae Herrera and Jordan Veit as Sugar Plum Fairy and Cavalier.
The production run continues through Dec. 27 at the Capitol Theatre. For tickets and more information, see the Ballet West website. There have been record numbers of fraudulent ticket scams this year. Patrons who suspect they have purchased fraudulent tickets should verify their ticket confirmation is from balletwest.org or arttix.org. For legitimate ticket purchases and inquiries, contact Ballet West’s box office ticketoffice@balletwest.org or visit balletwest.org.
STUDENT REVIEWERS:
Blake Archer attends school at City Academy, where he is enrolled in a playwriting class. He enjoys history and working on models.
A flash of lights blinds the audience. When it clears you see a box open with a nutcracker in it. This was just one of many great scenes in the ballet. This is my first time seeing The Nutcracker. Ballet West’s production of The Nutcracker is the longest running in the United States. This production of The Nutcracker is amazing because of the special effects, the dancing and the music.
The special effects they used in the play were fog, snow, lighting, and lifting a carriage out of the sets. In Scene 3, the Land of Snow, they use fog and fake snow to give the effect that it was a winter on the stage instead of just a background behind it.
There is a bright flash of light before they reveal the Nutcracker. When the Rat Army and The Nutcracker’s Army are fighting, they bring out a cannon; they fire it. It has a small flash of light and then they pull it back in. The last special effect they do is they take a carriage and make it seem like it’s flying.
The dancing was entertaining, it was fun to watch and it was fun to see the costumes. They were fun and graceful dances. The dances in the First Act told the story really well. They were also interesting to see. And they found new ways to show dance scenes. Costumes were really fun to look at because they looked so interesting. There was one scene (Mother Buffoon) where someone came out in a massive dress and children came out the bottom dressed as bees.
With the music it made it even more entertaining to watch. The dancing helps convey the story. The music in the second act was fun to hear because there were all kinds of different dances. And I really enjoyed listening to the music along with seeing the acting.
The Nutcracker is the best ballet because of the special effects , the acting and the music. All these things combined makes it look magical. These are the reasons why you should go see Ballet West’s performance of The Nutcracker.
Jade Gourd is a 17-year-old senior in high-school, attending City Academy for around six years. She has a big interest in creative mediums, including art, free-form writing, and playwriting.
Coming into this performance, I had previous experience with Ballet West’s take on The Nutcracker. However, I hadn’t been able to finish it. We had seen the first part of the performance as a field trip, back in elementary school when I was around 9-10. It was something that I had been yearning to finish since I was younger, and being able to have the chance to finish it now is truly wonderful considering how the first section had made me like the production so much already.
Now, regarding The Nutcracker, the performers did splendidly, and I think personally, my favorite part was definitely the Chinese Dragon, the set piece being one of the coolest things I’ve seen on a set before. I hadn’t even come into the theater expecting it! Ballet West’s usage of props to uplift the dancers’ performances were very intuitive. Along with this, they did a great job of sprinkling in funny bits for younger audiences watching. I can specifically point out the section with the Mouse King, when he’s on the floor and nearly about to die— and keeps toppling forwards and backwards before he eventually kicks the bucket. I noticed that the audience was quite engaged, including the people in front of me.
This entire show was a magical highlight of my month. I’ve never been able to go to a big production ballet. This was especially meaningful since it’s a Christmas production I’ve been wanting to be able to finish in person for a long, long time. I’d surely confirm that this would be a wonderful experience for any member of the family, and I’d quite recommend you seeing it.