For once the snowflakes were bigger and falling faster outside the DECC's Symphony Hall than they were during the enchanting Central Park scene in the Minnesota Ballet's production of "The Nutcracker" on Friday night. Otherwise the festive crowd eagerly checked off all of the elements that make Tchaikovsky's masterpiece a great Northland holiday tradition.
The Currier and Ives-inspired curtain. Check. Little girls in their best holiday dresses running down front to peer at the live musicians warming up. Check. Carolers and urchins finding it difficult to catch little bags when you are wearing mittens. Check.
You have to love a show where one of the first crowd-pleasing turns is turned in by a young dancer (Julia Heytens) doing fouetté turns in a giant teddy bear costume. Grace Flanagan's Madeleine has Pippi Longstocking pigtails that can pick up radio stations from Fargo. Eventually the adults abandon the party, young Clara (Tiara Williams) gets a nutcracker for Christmas and the magic starts to happen.
A Christmas tree growing right before your very eyes. Check. Thrilling battle scene between soldiers and giant mice. Check. The Nutcracker transformed into the Prince. Check.
As Ryo Munakata's Prince spins Emma Stratton's adult Clara, her skirt appears to shimmer as it whips around her. Their dance is particularly sweet this year and is the loveliest moment in the show. Befitting her character's name, Brigid Duffin's Ice Fairy has these little strike-a-pose moments, eventually launching into a series of spins that actually outlasted the audience's applause.
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The Lake Superior Youth Chorus capping off Act I. Check. Catching glimpses through the curtain of all the dancers practicing on stage during intermission. Check.
After intermission it is time to dance. Dancing geishas with frozen faces and graceful limbs while a mustachioed Sam Neale works wonders with a long stick of bamboo. The deliciously slow elegance of Arabian princess Natasha Bryant and her maidens. Sarah White's big smile as the sashaying Doncella and her Spanish maidens.
This is Robert Gardner's 25th season playing the eccentric Uncle Drosselmeyer, but I am more of a Mother Ginger fan (She has the best entrance in the show and she always lets her gingerbread cookies upstage her and steal the show). Alec Roth and Dan Westfield's tag-team of Russian dancers are a big hit as well.
Emily Reed's Sugar Plum Fairy is a music box ballerina brought to life. Her ability to hold a pose during the grand pas de deux, especially when her Cavalier, Nikolaus Wourms, is turning her, is always beautiful to watch, as is his grace when executing his leaps across the stage. Check.
The Waltz of the Flowers, with Naomi Doty's Dew Drop Fairy leading a line of twinkletoe flowers, is another highlight of the evening and the big corps de ballet moment of the season. Check.
By the time we get to the finale, the happy audience is eager to applaud each and every dancer as soon as they return to the stage, and then explode during the actual curtain call. Check.
If you go
• What: Minnesota Ballet's "The Nutcracker"
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• Where: Symphony Hall at the DECC
• When: 7 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday.
• Tickets: Start at $15. Available at www.mnballet.org and at Ticketmaster outlets including the DECC box office and www.ticketmaster.com