Milwaukee’s New Nutcracker for a New Generation?

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Photo via Milwaukee Ballet

Milwaukee Ballet - The Nutcracker: Drosselmeyer’s Imaginarium

Milwaukee Ballet - The Nutcracker: Drosselmeyer’s Imaginarium

The Nutcracker: Drosselmeyer’s Imaginarium should lift Milwaukee’s reputation as a significant center for the arts in America to new heights. The scenery, costumes, lighting and props are entirely new, as are whole swaths of choreography. The dancing is rooted in classical style but propelled by Pink’s genius for storytelling. The concept looks forward, not back.

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Photo via Milwaukee Ballet

The Nutcracker: Drosselmeyer’s Imaginarium - King von Rat

Milwaukee Ballet's The Nutcracker: Drosselmeyer’s Imaginarium - King von Rat

It’s no exaggeration to say that Pink has been working toward this production for 20 years, and the show we’ll see at the Marcus PAC from Dec. 8-26, in nine evening performances and four matinees, is meant to last for at least twenty more.

These comments are based on my visit to Milwaukee Ballet’s headquarters last week where members of the media were invited to interview dancers and hear from Pink, costume designer Gregory Poplyk, Ballet School director Kristin Dimmer, Community Engagement Manager Rachel Howell, and Jon Biorkman from BMO Harris Bank. BMO’s extensive financial commitment made this new production possible. 

I also spent several hours in the rehearsal room while Pink tuned staging and dancers worked with new set pieces, props and puppets. Pink is brilliant at drawing focus to the story line in a stage filled with action. 

Real Roles for Kids

There are 73 children dancing in the new Nutcracker. These are real roles, not cute appearances. Dimmer explained that, through auditions, 140 of the 600 students in the Ballet School and Academy will dance at alternate performances, a dream come true for them. They’ve been rehearsing since September. 

Howell described the company’s commitment to the whole community through student matinees, summer camps and sensory friendly performances. 

When Pink staged his first Nutcracker in 2003 as new artistic director, he inherited his predecessor’s concept and designs. Those costumes were already five years old. Add the fact that each year’s long run required costume adjustments for multiple casts, and you have to wonder what miracles the Ballet’s wardrobe shop has worked to keep them usable through 2022.

Poplyk designed 175 new costumes. Over 200 dancers will wear them during the run. “The shop here is amazing,” he says. “But it’s a real climb to build that many costumes. We’ve been shopping fabrics everywhere. We’re getting costumes made on three continents.”

“One big choreographic challenge,” Pink says, “was to convey the sense of a journey.” He’s lengthened the opening scene in the workshop where toymaker Drosselmeyer is “creating elements he hopes will inspire,” says Pink, no doubt identifying. “Then it’s a journey to the family party and into the imagination of the children. They’re supposedly in bed, but the clock starts striking and all is not what it seems.”

Magical Journey

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Image via Milwaukee Ballet

Milwaukee Ballet's The Nutcracker: Drosselmeyer’s Imaginarium - The Snow Queen

Milwaukee Ballet's The Nutcracker: Drosselmeyer’s Imaginarium - The Snow Queen

He credits Tchaikovsky’s musical composition for keeping the Act One story moving. “Then we get to Act Two and it’s a 19th century ballet,” he says. “The story stops. We watch a series of dances from around the world. It’s a different show.”

“My goal was to continue the magical journey; hence, the Imaginarium, that place you drift into on your way to sleep. It’s totally childlike, a place where there are stars, and all the things that make you smile, where for two hours you can escape the noise and come inside your own imagination.”

He’s reconceived Act Two. In story terms, it’s a journey through the imaginations of the young Clara and Fritz. In real terms, it’s meant to spark each audience member’s imagination.

The Christmas tree still grows in Act One, but in a new conservatory setting in the family’s home. And when the Rat King is defeated, a huge hot air balloon descends and carries the young folks to the Land of Snow. Then it’s on to a new Capital City and its Balloon Meadow, to a Trumpet Land, to a cosmic Oasis with asteroids, a Fun Town of clowns, and a Land of Confections where hilarious Madame Bonbon and her little bonbons dance. We meet a giant phoenix bird, a stunning lion, and of course a Sugar Plum Fairy on the road to the Land of Flowers. 

The climactic dance for the lovers Marie and Karl is re-choreographed and extremely challenging for the dancers. Lizzie Tripp-Molina and Josiah Cook will dance those and other roles during the run. Such challenges make them feel alive, they say.

“The sets and costumes make the biggest difference,” Tripp-Molina says. “Even where the choreography is unchanged, it looks completely different. The wigs and costume changes mean new techniques to learn to do in prep.”

For Cook, “The music is paramount. It tells Michael what the steps should be and the dancers where you’re going next. You’d think after so many years we’d be sick of that music, but no. The music for that final dance is the most exceptional. With the live orchestra, you can’t beat it.”

The Milwaukee Ballet’s The Nutcracker: Drosselmeyer’s Imaginarium, Dec. 8-26 at the Marcus Performing Arts Center’s Uihlein Hall. For tickets, visit milwaukeeballet.org or call (414) 902-2103.