Les Grands Ballets Canadiens production of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker

For as long as I can remember, one sure sign of December in St. Louis has been the myriad of productions of Tchaikovsky's venerable holiday ballet, The Nutcracker. For some years now, the biggest and most spectacular Nutcracker has been the one produced by Dance St. Louis at the Fox Theatre and performed by the Missouri State Ballet and the St. Louis Symphony. This year, however, Dance St. Louis artistic director Sally Brayley Bliss decided that local audiences needed something new, and she found it last December in Montreal in the form of Les Grand Ballet Canadiens.

In her program notes Bliss describes this new production of The Nutcracker - which played the Fox Theatre Wednesday through Sunday [December 10-14] - as "elegant, lavish, and beautifully danced". I couldn't agree more. To those adjectives, let me add colorful, polished, magical, and often quite witty.

The first thing I noticed about this Nutcracker is its sheer size. Large, opulent sets by Peter Horne fill the entire Fox stage. The corps de ballet is dressed in beautifully color-coordinated costumes by Francois Barbeau and the entire production is artfully lit by Nicholas Cernovitch and John Munro. The result is a kind of animated Victorian story-book, very appropriate to the light and often humorous tone of the scenario.

There were some minor changes and enhancements in choreographer Fernaud Nault's version of Nutcracker. Magical uncle Drosselmeyer, for example, is a lot more magical this time around, with some elaborate stage illusions for the party guests. Mother Gigogne and the buffoons have been replaced by a shepherd, three obedient white sheep, and one comically independent black one. And Nault has added some characters, including the King of Candyland, who provides low-comedy hijinks between the various characteristic dances of the second act.

It all adds up to a big, bright, entertaining confection of a ballet with solid work by the corps and some spectacular dancing by the soloists. When we saw it on Thursday night, some of the standouts were Craig Sanok as the Nutcracker Prince, Anik Bisonnette as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Stephanie Dalphond as the Oriental dancer, and Ramon Flowers as the lead in the Trepak. The lead roles varied from one performance to the next, but I doubt that any member of this company disappointed the audience.

The St. Louis Symphony under Jacques Lacombe had a few rough moments on Thursday, but nothing noticeable enough to detract from the overall joy of the ballet. In fact, my only real complaint was not with the performers but rather with those members of the audience who insisted on bringing children far too young to sit through a two and one-half hour ballet. A bored, caterwauling child is not an ideal accompaniment to the Sugar Plum Fairy's delicate celesta.

Les Grands Ballet Canadiens' delightful production of The Nutcracker bodes well for what we might expect from this company in future appearances here in St. Louis.