The lights over the audience dim. The sound of the orchestra rises from the pit. As the curtain begins to rise, the Musical Arts Center is taken into a magical world, the world of “The Nutcracker.”
Though Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” has been a holiday staple for most families for generations, Jacobs School of Music brings fans an updated version of this classic tale. Choreographed by Jacobs faculty choreographer Sasha Janes, this version of the ballet tells the original story from the new perspective of the young Marie as she and the Nutcracker Prince make their journey through an extraordinary world.
Unlike previous versions of this ballet which took place at a holiday party in the Victorian era, this updated version starts out at an embassy party in the mid-20th century. For Linda Pisano this meant designing costumes that stay as true to the time and the characters as possible without appropriating the cultures being represented.
“I wanted to find a way that took the flavor, the color, the texture, the pattern of these cultures without compromising the integrity of their culture and their nationality,” Pisano said.
One of the most noticeable changes audience members will see is in the Rat King and his mice. As opposed to the menacing rodent characters seen in many performances of “The Nutcracker,” which battle with the Nutcracker Prince and try to torment Clara Stahlbaum, the original main character of the ballet, these updated mice are more stuffed animal-like than threatening.
“We just wanted to explore the quirkiness and the sweetness and the movements of the round, fluffy rodent body,” Pisano said. “So, they are in a battle with the soldiers but it's more looking at how a child sees a mouse which is as this cute little thing.”
The costumes aren’t the only thing that’s been updated. The set, which was designed by Thaddeus Strassberg, a stage director and production designer, has also undergone a huge update in this new version of “The Nutcracker.”
As opposed to other versions of the ballet, the set works largely in tandem with technological elements, such as the lighting and projections that play on the wall throughout the performance. Though the entire show is set within the confines of the embassy party room, Strassberg and the rest of the design team went to great lengths to transport the ballet characters and the audience members into this magical world.
“I worked closely with the whole design team including lighting and video and costumes and props to create a world that is seamless,” Strassberg said. “In the second act when the mood and imagery changes almost instantly from one scene to the next, you get a feeling of going on a journey to different times and places without having to really move a lot of scenery which keeps a dreamy, magical feeling alive.”
The idea of the set as one closed-off room brought the challenge of entrances and exits within the ballet. Many versions of this show take place in a much more open space, which allows for what might be considered better flowing or easier entrances and exits from the dancers. The set for this updated version eliminates the more classical entrances and exits for the show, replacing those open spaces with doors.
“Normally, dancers have wings that are more abstract to run in from, but we felt strongly that this world where Marie’s fantasy plays out is a kind of box that is closed off from the outside world,” Strassberg said. “So, Sasha had to choreograph all of the entrances and exits through architectural doorways that allow for rather unconventional movements.”
Both Strassberg and Pisano considered this idea of tradition while creating the set and costumes. With a show like “The Nutcracker,” Strassberg and Pisano answer the question of how to update the show without completely changing the performance that fans have come to expect.
“Every time you enter a project where so many people have this one expectation you want to honor that tradition but also you want to introduce a new point of view,” Pisano said. “There will always be the importance of tradition but at the same time we also value the importance of disrupting expectations.”
And disrupting expectations is exactly what they did. It’s hard to take such a well-known story and breathe new life into it and yet Jacobs School of Music found a way to do just that. Whether you are a long-time supporter of the show or you’re just looking for a new holiday tradition, “The Nutcracker” at Jacob’s School of Music is worth watching. And while according to the Jacob’s School of Music event website all in-person performance tickets are sold out, a livestream of the remaining performances will be shown on the IU Music Live website.
