There are two touchstone seasonal traditions in the fine arts world…in Milwaukee they are the Milwaukee Rep’s A Christmas Carol and the Milwaukee Ballet’s The Nutcracker. In both instances the Milwaukee presentations are based solidly on the legacy literature but personally molded and directed by the local artistic directors to great effect!
I don’t remember the last time that I saw The Nutcracker…certainly this century but maybe not during the Michael Pink era. Much to my dismay. So my wife and I decided to revisit the Marcus Performing Arts Center and catch up with the Milwaukee Ballet as part of our 20th Anniversary celebration. Yes, the music is always memorable and rewarding and the dance a whirling giddy spectacle, but what I hadn’t remembered was the magic. Not the magic in the story, but the magic in the storytelling. I wasn’t prepared to choke up at times or have a tear come to my eye as the dance and the music and the sets spoke to my heart…and my soul.
The set was simply amazing. Designs and painted surfaces were readily influenced by Art Deco, Art Noveau, and fairy tale design from everywhere. And the colors went from muted to brilliant depending on how the lighting director focused on them at each phase in a dance sequence. Plus buildings flew, trees grew great, and secret entrances and exits appeared to admit to or remove characters from the stage at will. And the costuming was gorgeous and over the top just as you’d expect from grand ballet. I was simply in awe throughout the performance. Milwaukee gets a fair share of credit across the board for the talent in their acting, dancing. performing, and directing. But I don’t think we give enough credit the lighting and set designers at any level of the arts nor to the costumers without whom the others couldn’t as effectively tell their stories. So props to Lighting Designer David Grill, Scenic Designer Todd Edward Ivins, and Costume Designer Gregory A. Poplyk.
Of course there is no storytelling in ballet without the dancers. Pink’s ensemble is simply as artistic and coherent as any dance troupe I have ever experienced. There is grand storytelling here and this is what I felt throughout..a simple but profound sense of awe that stayed with me the rest of the evening. Most amazing of course is the dream sequence but we weren’t just watching them perform the dream dances…we were totally assumed into the dance and became the dreamers too. I had a hard time going to sleep that night when we returned to our room at the St. Kate’s Hotel.
The cast varied depending on the night of performance, but given the talent and skills displayed the evening we attended, I doubt that any other evening would have felt any different. But I do want to mention one dancer: Garrett Glassman who danced Drosselmeyer. He was so limber and fluid it appeared that he didn’t have a bone in his body (and I coveted his purple velvet coat).
AND: the live orchestra right down in front, was simply sublime!
I promise that I won’t repeat my great mistake here and put off seeing The Nutcracker again in the future. And I resolve to visit the Milwaukee Ballet for some of their other performances in 2026.
Extra Credit Reading: The Nutcracker Audience Guide