Photo: Milwaukee Ballet - milwaukeeballet.org
Milwaukee Ballet - The Nutcracker
Michael Rinderle remembers seeing Milwaukee Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker as a child of six. Seeing the kids in the cast on the Marcus Center stage is what drew him to ballet.
“I just knew I wanted to be up there so badly, no matter what role,” he tells me. “I was so young that the only thing I could play, especially as I was super-short as a child, was an Angel. But I thought that would be the coolest thing. So I begged my parents, and they enrolled me in the Milwaukee Ballet School and we somehow managed to get me to be an Angel.”
He went on to play one of the Shepherdess’ three Geese and a Mother Ginger Child. When his family moved to Toronto, he continued to train at Canada’s National Ballet School and performed for a year with the National Ballet of Canada. In 2019, he returned to Milwaukee and was awarded a contract with Milwaukee Ballet II, the company’s “second company.” In 2020, he was hired to the main company. COVID prevented a production of The Nutcracker that year, but Rinderle created the animated scenery for The Nutcracker: Short and Sweet, a small cast, edited version staged in the company’s studio theater.
“So this is my first year in the big costumes as a company member,” he says of the show opening live at the Marcus PAC on Dec. 10. “I’m considering this the real one.” He’ll play the Rat King, a Jack-in-the-Box, and a Parent in party scene that graces much of Act One.
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Genuine Story
What does he love about the current show? “I love how genuine the story feels,” he says. “Everyone in the company is a terrific theatrical performer as well as dancer. The quality of acting and the theatrical elements Michael Pink brings to the production make it something really special here in Milwaukee.”
Rinderle’s first real one will also be this version’s next-to-last one. Michael Pink and his design team have been working on a new Nutcracker, set to open in December 2023. When Pink choreographed the current production in 2003, its scenery and costumes were five years old. At a quarter of a century, they need replacing.
If like me you’ve come to love his interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece, don’t fret. His storyline, one that’s unique among the world’s productions, won’t change. All three siblings—Clara, Fritz, and Marie, along with Marie’s friend Karl—will still travel to that magical land of sweets and self-discovery. “It’s still our traditional production,” Pink assures me. “It will only add to people’s memories.”
As for the choreography, “There are large elements of it that I’m keeping,” he says. “The party scene will be virtually intact but in a new home. I’m not rewriting Tchaikovsky’s music and I think the party scene has evolved into one of the best there is anywhere. It’s human, it’s real, it’s fun and it tells the story well.”
Tight and Moving
Other cherished passages won’t change, including the Act One “Snow Pas de Deux” for Marie and Karl, and the acrobatic Jack-in-the-Box showpieces. Pink plans to restructure the heart-stopping climactic Sugar Plum Fairy variations a bit, so as to make the ending tighter and more moving.
“In spite of covid, our creative team continues to be inspired,” he says. “And we’re staying with the world of imagination as opposed to the world of technology. We’re not going into big costly stuff that everybody else has done.”
We’ll get a hint of what’s to come this year. The Chinese Dance has new costuming and choreography to heighten its athleticism. For covid safety, the Milwaukee Children’s Choir won’t perform. But the Milwaukee Ballet Symphony will play their hearts out live in the Marcus Center’s generously renovated Uihlein Hall.
“This is the production that people have loved and missed for two years, back at full steam with lots of new faces because the company is always evolving,” Pink says. “Interestingly, 50% of the company dancers are former MBII’s. That’s the highest ratio we’ve ever had. It’s not that we didn’t have a choice. It’s that they’re the best. We’re still producing the kind of dancers that work in this company, including the younger ones like Michael Rinderle.”
The Nutcracker runs Dec. 10-26 at the Marcus Performing Arts Center, 929 N. Water St. For tickets and covid safety protocols, visit milwaukeeballet.org/performance/thenutcracker-2122 or call the company’s box office at 414-902-2103.
