‘Nutcracker’ offers hours of quality, grace

A fine version of the age-old classic, the Nevada Ballet Theatre's "The Nutcracker," is complete with all the important lovely images: the perfect Flowers, the jewel-box Sugar Plum fairy, the show-stopping Russian doll and more.

It's not quite the holiday season without it.

Choreographed by former artistic director Bruce Steivel during his tenure in Las Vegas and staged by ballet mistress and former principal dancer Clarice Geissel-Rathers, "The Nutcracker" is being performed by the Nevada Ballet Theatre, on the campus of the University of Nevada Las Vegas through Dec. 28.

Because there are so many performances, the roles are multiple-cast.

Highlights included a dramatic Nutcracker and, later, a bold, strong Cavalier (with principal Zeb Nole in both parts on Thursday) as well as a winsome Sugar Plum fairy (here principal Racheal Hummel-Nole.) Soloist David Van Ligon had a great turn -- literally and figuratively -- as the powerful Russian dancer.

In the story as told here, young Clara and her brother Fritz (Kelly Callahan and Ernest Constantine Reynolds at this performance) are attending their parents' elaborate Christmas party. There is merriment and dancing, and the grand Christmas tree grows to dominate the room. Clara receives a special gift of a Nutcracker from the mysterious magician Drosslemeyer (John Surdick, who has played the role with appropriate malevolence and grace regularly over the years.)

The siblings later have a dream, including a battle between Clara's brave Nutcracker and some aggressive mice. After a stop in the Land of Snow, they arrive in the land of the Sugar Plum Fairy, where they see dances by several sets of performers before returning home and awakening.

On Thursday, a member of the corps de ballet, Jeremy Bannon-Neches, was a solid Toy Soldier. Soloists Kara Hamburg and Jared Hunt welcomed the youngsters as a picturesque and graceful Snow Queen and King couple, accompanied by a dozen members of the corps, apprentices and trainees as Snowflakes, with elegant moves and ethereal looks in their classic white gowns.

Numerous children from the Academy of Nevada Ballet Theatre had their onstage debut as party guests, mice, soldiers and in other roles. They generally moved, bowed and smiled right on cue and executed their moves with a minimum of concern.

Corps member Alexandra Christian and soloists Alissa Verbena Dale and Kara Hamburg were graceful, bright mirlitons, attired as shepherdesses (though their wigs were not the most flattering.)

While "The Nutcracker" has become an expected holiday classic, it still adds a fine fillip to any ballet company's typical season. Here, the dance offered quality, grace and two hours or so in a captivating setting during a hectic time of year.