Big Nazo and new choreography add twists to Festival Ballet's 'Nutcracker'

PROVIDENCE — For more than a year, Kathleen Breen Combes, director of Festival Ballet Providence, and Yury Yanowsky, artistic curator, have been thinking all things “Nutcracker.”

Visions of a dancing bear, a gigantic Christmas tree and tiny snow fairies, new sets, new costumes and a new venue have filled their imaginations.

Meanwhile, creature creator Erminio Pinque, founder and artistic director of Providence’s Big Nazo Lab, researched mouse faces to inform his design for the evil Mouse King, who battles with the Nutcracker.

Their innovations will share center stage with tradition this year when Festival Ballet presents its annual production of “The Nutcracker.”

“It’s been a huge undertaking,” Breen Combes says, “but I’m really proud of it.”

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“The Nutcracker” tells the story of magical adventures that the mysterious Drosselmeyer creates for his goddaughter Clara on Christmas Eve. Things to look for in Festival Ballet’s production include a Christmas tree that grows 38 feet tall, a dancing polar bear that shows up in the party scene, and a dress for Mother Ginger that rises 12 feet off the stage, allowing young dancers, the Polichinelles, to escape.

Yanowsky has focused not only on new choreography but also on tweaking the storytelling — and working more than 100 children into the production.

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“I kept most of it traditional,” he says of his choreography, “but the battle scene with the mice is a little more contemporary, a little more fun.” There also is a new Chinese divertissement, choreographed with assistance from Chu Ling, a company faculty member.

As for the storytelling, “I’m centering on Drosselmeyer. He’s there from the beginning to the end. He often has an eye patch and gray hair; I’m making him a little younger. And there is a relationship with Clara … you can see right away he’s connecting with the kids.”

Those “kids” were chosen during an open casting call in September and come from schools and studios throughout Rhode Island and Southern New England. They appear in multiple scenes and dance multiple roles.

New Mouse King fierce, yet regal

“I wanted to make a fun show, for the family, more magical,” Yanowsky continues, “but this is not a school show. It’s attached to a professional company. I want the kids who are dancing to have this beautiful experience.”

Pinque, who created a Nutcracker head for last year’s virtual production, was called on this year to design a face for the Mouse King.

“A dream job, if you’re in my business,” he says with a laugh. “Some texts describe [the Mouse King] as monstrous,” he learned, but he didn’t go for “a wild warthog with crazy eyes. There is a little fierceness, but he’s also a regal character.”

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No matter what the look, the costume "has to work, so the dancer can function,” he says, something he knows from experience. “My group, we’re not just fabricators; we’re performers. We don’t just make the thing, hand it over and say, ‘Good luck.’” He considers comfort, visibility and even how the piece will be stored.

A new home at The VETS

The new aspects came, in part, when scheduling issues at the Providence Performing Arts Center, the ballet’s previous home, meant relocating to Veterans Memorial Auditorium. There already had been long-term consideration that The VETS is better suited to Festival Ballet’s scheduling, Breen Combes noted.

The new venue, however, has a smaller backstage, and an acoustic shell hung over the stage by the resident Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, which got in the way of hanging sets for “The Nutcracker.”

Festival reached out to the professional dance community and bought sets and costumes from Atlanta Ballet. Then, working with Mystic Scenery of Norwood, Massachusetts, the company rented The VETS for one day last summer to see how everything fit, retro-fitting what didn’t and refreshing the paint.

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“Offering a new production of ‘The Nutcracker’ for audiences to discover is extremely special, especially in this moment as we are returning to the holiday traditions we know and love,” Breen Combes says. “This new production offers something for audiences of all ages.”

Where and when

Festival Ballet Providence presents “The Nutcracker”

Dec. 17-24 at The VETS, 1 Avenue of the Arts, Providence

Tickets

$20-$85, available at thevetsri.com or by calling (401) 421-ARTS (2787)

COVID safety

Patrons must show government issued ID and proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test. Masks must be worn at all times regardless of vaccination status. For details on tests and for patrons age 12 and younger, visit festivalballetprovidence.org/tickets-performances/covid-19-ticketholder-information/

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Festival Ballet Providence's Christmas 'Nutcracker' has new Mouse King