By Paul Horsley

When traditional holiday performances continue to meet public and critical success year after year, presenters may show understandable resistance to tinkering with them. The “if-it-ain’t-broke” cycle is of course partly about revenue stream, so one always moves forward with stealth. The Kansas City Ballet’s durable production of The Nutcracker has stood up to injections of fresh energy through the years, and this year’s version displays just enough innovation to keep things interesting for veteran balletomanes while remaining essentially the same “Todd Bolender’s Nutcracker” it has been since it was introduced in 1981. Some might object to the most jarring alteration wrought by the KC Ballet’s new artistic director, Devon Carney, namely the elimination of the character of the Nephew, but I found the change brought clarity and logic to the story. If it did present new problems (as well as rob the more gifted boys of the Ballet School a chance to shine), it gave new energy to the Nutcracker-Mouse King battle and it allowed us to see the Act 2 Pantomime scene danced with the full vigor and finesse of a professional dancer.

Todd’s Nutcracker was always a concatenation of original choreography and elements from the version of the late KCB director’s mentor, George Balanchine. The extent to which the more mundane/repetitive aspects of the Act 1 Party were Balanchine’s is unclear, but Devon is to be commended for slimming this down to something swifter and more natural in its unfolding. Does Clara’s brother Fritz really need to interrupt the party three times with his rude trumpet parade? Once, as it turns out, is quite enough. And the lugubrious violin solo that Balanchine and Todd stole from Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty to accompany Drosselmeier as he repairs the Nutcracker doll next to the sleeping Clara is not missed at all. The result is a smoother and more organic Party, to the extent that when the guests are leaving at the end we think, “Well, that was a short party, but it is Christmas so we’d just as soon get home anyway.”

The story of The Nutcracker as told in ballets dating from 19th-century Russia is that of Clara, or Marie in some versions, receiving a sort of enchanted Nutcracker toy for Christmas which, when she falls asleep, turns into a full-grown “thing” which turns out to be a Prince. The Nutcracker has his creepy doll’s head on when he first battles the Mouse King (in one of three fantasy-lands Clara inhabits), which in this new version he sheds to reveal that he’s really just a good-looking dude. (And a professional ballet dancer at that!) But instead of having to change his soldier-like Nutcracker costume for a glittery Prince costume, this time his duds have been designed so as to serve both purposes. Costume supervisor Jennifer Carroll deserves credit for overseeing this and other costume tweaks, including mouse-heads that now allow us to see the faces of the young “mice” in their costumes. (To be honest I always found the Nephew character confusing: After the battle he wore a costume similar to the Prince’s, suggesting he was some sort of youthful doppelgänger, so it wasn’t clear whether he was also the Nutcracker, or whether he had gone through some sort of Nephew-Boy Nutcracker-Adult Nutcracker-Boy Prince-Adult Prince transformation. Todd and George might lament the loss of the Nephew, but I didn’t much.)

The company dancers are of course what make this production worthwhile each year, and at December 7th’s opening evening at the Kauffman Center Molly Wagner and Tyler Savoie drew us into the show with limpid performances as Snow Queen and King, with some jitters from the Snowflakes. (Casts vary for each performance, with two company casts and three sets of students.) Ryan Jolicoeur-Nye was a witty, hyperactive Drosselmeier, bringing spice to the party with magic tricks and brilliant mechanical dolls (Nadia Iozzo and Charles Martin). Travis Guerin “cut the rug” as a swinging Grandpa in his little dance, somewhat abridged this year, and young Gabby Hendren as Clara danced with airy, tender-hearted confidence. (Grace Anne Reed is this season’s other Clara.) In the Battle Scene, Josh Spell was a tough and regal Nutcracker/Prince, making his fight with Ian Poulis’ high-strung Mouse King genuinely “balletic” for the first time here, and bringing detail and sensitivity to his Act 2 machinations. Kirk Bookman’s lighting was excellent as always, and on the whole “brighter” than ever, though one of my reservations in Act 1 was the overlighting of Clara and Drosselmeyer downstage during the “tree-growing” scene, which detracted from one of the production’s most effective coups-de-théâtre.

The most noticeable difference in Act 2 was the shifting of the Sugar Plum Fairy’s dance to very near the end, as if to build suspense. Thus the act began with the traditional set of Russian “national-stereotypes-set-to-dance” variations. Arielle Espie brought sparkle and pizzazz to Spanish, nicely supported by the always-solid Logan Pachciarz. Rachel Coats was fragrant and amazingly rubbery in the Arabian duet, and Yoshiya Sakurai’s Chinese highlighted his compact quickness. Taryn Mejia was delightful as the lead Mirliton, concentrating with poise on subtle, almost inward moments; she was well-accompanied by four young Reed Pipes. Ryan was alert if not exactly tightly wound in Russian, and the Buffoon-and-Ginger scene was, as usual, my least favorite part of the show. (I used to think it was the costumes and choreography that put me off, but on Saturday I realized that I hate the music, too.) Ian as the vampy Mother Ginger perhaps unwittingly pumped the audience into rhythmic clapping, which didn’t help.

The show ended with a dazzling race to the finish, a refreshing change from the usual “Is it over yet?” Angelina Sansone’s Dew Drop was sensational, imbued with pluck and personality and accompanied by an accomplished group of Flowers drawn from company members and students from the Ballet School and the UMKC Conservatory. (The Waltz of the Flowers was the highlight for my companion, who was seeing his first Nutcracker ever and responded immediately to its perfect blend of balletic expertise, musical brilliance and Robert Fletcher’s lovely floral costumes – six hues for six groups of corps dancers!)

Tempe Ostergren and Michael Davis were an ideal couple as Sugar Plum Fairy and Cavalier, making the Grand Pas into a triumph and her dance into an unequivocally spicy delight. (On opening night the celesta player’s music sounded as if it had fallen off the stand, so that the opening bars were a comical jumble. The orchestra’s playing was in fact below par throughout.) As the lights went up for the final assemblage one was reminded of just how hoary these sets are beginning to look, making one eager to see the new Nutcracker the KCB has promised. Meanwhile the KC Ballet’s remains one of the loveliest Nutcrackers around, and each year I wouldn’t miss it for anything even if I didn’t have to go for my job.

The Nutcracker runs through December 24th at the Kauffman Center (816-931-2232 or kcballet.org).

To reach Paul Horsley email phorsley@sbcglobal.net or hunt him down on Facebook (paul.horsley.501).

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