Last night was the opening night for The Nutcracker 2009 here in Cincinnati. I not only had the pleasure of seeing this performance for the first time live, I also had the opportunity to see it with my Mother. She has never been to the ballet so I thought it would be a wonderful Christmas present for the both of us to see it together. And, as expected, the choreography and the dancers hard work  did not disappoint.

Victoria looked beautiful and very proud to speak last night not only about the wonderful presentation of the Nutcracker that is always so well received and greatly anticipated but about some wonderful news that was announced a few days earlier. The orchestra is always a wonderful addition to each production and adds that much more without taking away from the beauty of the dancing. They have been trying to raise funds to keep their involvement with the ballet. On December 11th, it was reported that 98 year old Louis Nippert donated $85 million to the Arts, including the ballet and their orchestra. Thank you to this most gracious donor and fellow arts lover.

In last nights performance, the leads of Marie and The Nutcracker were played by Janessa Touchet and Cervilio Amador respectively. I, like my Mom have never actually seen the entire ballet and therefor honestly did not know exactly what was going on and yet the story pretty much told itself. We agreed that it was very well choreographed and that Mr. Devon Carney helped tell the story with his emotion and arm movements.

Mom and I  sat on the third floor balcony, where I admit that I was a bit afraid to walk down to my seat. Funny thing is that I am a flight attendant and yet terrified of heights! I found out though that it brings a whole new view that was quite exciting. The only thing that I was sad about is that I could not completely tell the faces of who was dancing that far away. What we were able to see is the formations of the dancers and the entire stage along with the orchestra, which was really nice. I enjoyed being able to see which instrument was making the more unusual sounds, which would drive me crazy more than leave something to the imagination. The other thing that I could see from that high unfortunately was the fact that it appeared that some of the dancers were not placed well. What I mean by that for example is when there were four dancer on stage, dancing in a circle , each dancer was not the same distance apart. Or, one dancer would be too far forward or back from the others and the timing was not always in synch. First of all, I wonder if I am being too overly critical, can the patrons on lower levels tell the difference and is this even something that matters. No matter where the dancers were on stage they looked amazing.

The set in the first scene was a little disappointing for me. The reason that I say this is because the colors were so muted and dull compared to last months production of Swan Lake. The curtain staged as a home in scene one with views through the windows was quite creative however, I suppose I just expected more of a pop of color like last month. Of course, speaking of a pop, the ingenious use of fireworks to show the magic used by Herr Drosselmeier certainly caught the audiences attention. With a surprised gasp, the excitement didn’t stop with just one bang yet the next was just as exciting as the first. I am still thinking about the items on stage like the bed that both flew through the air and floated effortlessly across the stage by itself.

It’s possible that some of the children  found the fight with the mice and their Mouse King to be the funniest as told by the laughter coming from the audience. It wasn’t until Act 2 when the color I was looking for danced onto the stage in the form of flowers and world dancers. Lovely shades of blue, yellow, orange and purple twirled so beautifully and enter the brilliant red rose. Yellow and black in the Spanish dancers. Sensuous elegance in the Arabian dancers. Some other things that the children loved were the Chinese Trainer and his dragon and Mother Ginger standing very tall with 8 little children all under “her” dress that come out one by one then two by two.

Overall, I am so glad that I was able to see this production and look forward to many years of working with the ballet. Don’t miss out on your chance to see this wonderful group of dancers. I for one cannot wait to go back on the 23rd to see my friend Jill dance her first season as the lead of Marie after all of her work of learning the part.