New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
‘Nutcracker’ inspired by historic New London
“This area is so rich in maritime history. We wanted to both animate that history and celebrate it.”
Lise Reardon, executive director, Eastern Connecticut Ballet
A Greek Revival mansion on Whale Oil Row built around 1840 to showcase the wealth and taste of New London’s whalingfunded upper class. The New London lighthouse beaming light out to sea. Victorian-era sailing vessels in New London’s port.
In their 2018 guises, those are sites familiar to New London schoolchildren, according to Eastern Connecticut Ballet Executive Director Lise Reardon.
When the curtains part on “The Nutcracker” at the majestic Garde Arts Center this weekend, members of the audience will see their city as it was during the height of New London’s seafaring age during a holiday season in the 1850s.
“This area is so rich in maritime history,” Reardon said. “We wanted to both animate that history and celebrate it. We wanted to cast a festive spell.”
Adding to the aura is a recreation of the Arctic ice fields, where the city’s whale ships once ventured on harrowing voyages, and special effects like a fullblown stormstorm onstage, rolling waves, and a flying Christmas tree. They’re the brainchild of Yale School of Drama’s Fufan Zhang, an accomplished set designer whose cinematic creations have graced some of the Northeast’s leading theater companies.
That’s barely scratching the surface on ECB’s unique take on the timehonored story of a young girl whose Christmas present, the nutcracker, comes alive in a dream, launching her on a magical voyage around the world.
There’s the rare appearance of Sara Mearns, the New York City Ballet principal dancer, who the New York Times called “the great American ballerina of our time,” playing the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy. And Jared Angle, another NYCB principal dancer, known for his explosive power and athleticism, and the grace and purity of his classical technique, according to Reardon.
There’s also Gloria
Govrin, ECB’s artistic director and formerly a ballet luminary under the legendary choreographer George Balanchine. The 76-year-old “has never known a holiday without ‘The Nutcracker’,” said Reardon, either performing or directing a production each year since she was 14.
No wonder. It was Balanchine, with whom she worked from 1959 to 1974, who first brought “The Nutcracker” to the American stage from his native Russia, making the ballet not only the most widely performed in the world but also synonymous with the holiday season. It was Balanchine, too, who created specifically for the 5foot-10 Govrin the role of Coffee, the Arabian dancer who slinks into Act 2 with “sinuous movements... designed to suit her statuesque frame,” as dance critic Sarah Gold put it.
“You can see what Balanchine passed down to Gloria in the 100 ECB dancers under her tutelage that will share the spotlight,” Reardon said. “It’s in the standard of excellence. It’s in the energy and musicality and flow that she draws out of them.” And with Govrin’s almost organic connection to the world’s most popular ballet, “there’s an excitement and there’s also the sense that they’re sustaining a tradition.”
For Govrin, and also for everyone at ECB, in short, “you can’t imagine a holiday without ‘The Nutcracker,’” Reardon said.
Which is why, in addition to the free tickets it provides to 2,700 schoolchildren from 40 area schools with funds from foundation grants and business sponsors, ECB also has a free ticket initiative that affords free seats to clients from social service agencies and discounts for active military personnel and their families for the public performances.
“We want to share its magic with those who wouldn’t otherwise be able to see it,” Reardon said.
Not least, it seems, in affording young people the opportunity to experience the breathtaking wonder of the production. “They’ve read the story in school,” she said. “They’ve listened to the music. They’re seeing kids their own age on stage. They’re living ‘The Nutcracker.’”
And, for many of them, in their own hometown.
1 Performances: Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Garde Arts Center is located on 325 State St. New London, 860-444-7373
1 For tickets, visit tickets.gardearts.org or call the Garde Box Office at 860444-7373, ext. 1. Active military personnel and their families get a 50 percent discount on regular ticket pices for the Saturday evening performance. Contact box office for details.
1 Eastern Connecticut Ballet is located at 435 Boston Post Road in East Lyme. For more information, visit easternctballet.com or call 860-739-7899.