This year’s annual production of “The Nutcracker” by Olympic Performance Group is stepping into the future.
Or is it the past?
It’s hard to say, as the ballet was originally produced in 1890s Russia and this year’s OPG version is aiming to jazz things up by setting the story in the swinging America of the 1920s.
Past or future, it’s definitely a twist.
Directed by Bainbridge Ballet owner/lead instructor Sara Cramer, the show promises to continue the tradition of innovation that has marked the group’s previous productions.
“I try to come up with something a little bit new each year so we’re not doing exactly the same thing,” Cramer said.
The cast and crew work very hard, including the creation of new costumes and choreography, to give the audience a fresh take on the holiday classic every year, she added.
Past shows have given audiences surprise themes like masquerade balls, dancers from around the world and a dramatic late 1700s French motif.
OPG last produced a 1920s-style Nutcracker show in 2008, Cramer said, and the show’s wardrobe and choreography have all been reworked and updated for this year’s performance.
The ’20s are an especially iconic time in our nation’s history which continually draws our fascination, even today. This fascination manifests itself in the return of certain fashion trends from the era, a resurgence in jazz and Big Band-style musical accompaniment in today’s pop tunes and the wild popularity of such recent period pieces as “The Wild Party” and the latest Hollywood version of “The Great Gatsby.”
“It’s also kind of the heyday of entertainment for the stage, and then films started to come into being,” Cramer said of the decade. “So we have that sense that that’s sort of where it began.”
Adding a bittersweet note to the rampant revelry of the time, of course, is our collective knowledge of the hard days that would come next in the form of the Depression and World War II.
“I think we kind of reminisce about that time,” Cramer said.
The spirit of the decade is front and center in this year’s re-imagined version of “The Nutcracker,” the internationally known staple Christmas-time tale of young Clara (played by Ellie Weber) and her most magical Christmas present (played in both Nutcracker and hero prince forms by Ira Hardy).
In this version of the story, Clara’s family is trying to keep Uncle Drosselmeyer’s magical theater a secret from the city’s mayor, who has banned all forms of performing.
A variety of dance styles are featured throughout the show including classical ballet, tap, jazz and hip hop.
The cast features approximately 60 dancers ranging in age from as young as 7 to adult including Dawn Weber, Tracy Powell, Anna Boden, Scott Cole, Wyatt Skelley, Natasha Stearns-Clemmons, Katherine Yoson, Tanya Stragier, Annabel Nemeth, Brian Dalessi, Maddie Cole, Oksana Sherbina, Ian Brooks and many more.
The ballet was adapted by Alexandre Dumas Père from a story by E.T.A. Hoffmann, and first set to music by the composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Originally premiered in December 1892 at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, the music of the eight most popular pieces (known today as the Nutcracker Suite) was very well received, but the ballet itself did not become popular until it came west in the early 1940s.
This year’s production will run for five shows only: 7 p.m. Friday Dec. 19 and Saturday, Dec. 20 as well as 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 19, Sunday, Dec. 21 and Monday, Dec. 22.
Whereas the past few year’s productions were done at The Island School, this year’s show returns the ballet to it’s original venue — and a larger stage — at the North Kitsap Auditorium in Poulsbo (1881 NE Hostmark St.), explained co-producer Amy Houmes.
“We’ve had an amazing response from the community,” she said. “It really reminds you why we live here.”
The show is primarily sponsored by Nicholas Thompson, DMD and Harrison Medical Center.
Many other groups and island residents have supported the production as well, Houmes said.
“KiDiMu put on a snowflake making event with our dancing snowflakes,” she said. “The downtown association invited us to dance at the tree lighting; T&C donated ingredients to make our concession cookies; Sound Reprographics has been amazing in their help of putting together our materials; St. Cecilia’s is loaning us all of their 1920s décor from their fashion show years back.”
Bainbridge High School student Stefan Collier designed the show’s poster, she added, and the island Starbucks is donating coffee for the production’s concession stand.
Olympic Performance Group is a nonprofit organization formed with the purpose of increasing dance appreciation, education, and providing semi-professional productions for the local community in the form of stage productions, workshops and summer programs in Poulsbo, Seattle and Bainbridge Island.
Bainbridge Ballet has been offering dance classes for students ages three and up since it first opened in 2002. Classes range in difficulty and dance style, including ballet, jazz, lyrical, modern, hip hop and tap.
For more information visit www.bainbridgeballet.com, call 206-842-1205, email info@bainbridgeballet.com or visit the studio at 9720 Coppertop Loop, Suite 201.
OPG’S ‘Nutcracker’
What: Olympic Performance Group’s annual production of ‘The Nutcracker.’
When: Friday, Dec. 19 to Monday, Dec. 22. Shows are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Where: North Kitsap Auditorium, Poulsbo (1881 NE Hostmark St.).
Admission: $13 for children and students, $18 for adults. Visit www.olympicperformancegroup.weebly.com or visit Winslow Drug (290 Winslow Way E.) to purchase.
