Ballet Northwest to create a ‘Nutcracker’ film

EDITOR’S NOTE: The information on viewing options and dates has been updated since the governor instituted new COVID-19 restrictions in mid November.

Ballet Northwest’s “Nutcracker” is returning for the holidays, but the 2020 edition will be a little bit different.

This “Nutcracker” will not be a live performance but a movie filmed on the center’s stage Nov. 13-15 and screened for the Skyline drive-in theater in Shelton and, if possible, in small, physically distanced audiences at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts.

The Washington Center is able to show films under the same reopening guidelines the state issued for movie theaters, said executive director Jill Barnes. The center’s main theater seats about 180 people in socially distanced groups for films, compared to 983 for a full house before COVID-19.

“There are so many things that aren’t happening right now, and the arts in particular have been really hard hit,” said Ken Johnson, Ballet Northwest’s co–artistic director. “We’re excited to offer a festive opportunity for people to do something in a socially distanced manner.”

Barnes is excited, too, and she’s promising that snow will be falling outside the center before performances.

“I love the holiday season,” she told The Olympian. “I love the nostalgia and the feelings that it conjures up, and we need it now more than ever.”

The Tchaikovsky classic, about a girl who finds herself transported to magical lands inhabited by fairy princesses and dancing candies, has long been a seasonal tradition in South Sound and worldwide.

The filmed “Nutcracker,” Ballet Northwest’s 36th production of the Tchaikovsky classic, also will be available to rent for streaming and to purchase on DVD.

The production, featuring 125 dancers compared to 200 or so for the live ballet, has much in common with the live productions audiences have been watching.

There’ll be the same elaborate sets and costumes the company has been using in recent years, and some scenes might look eerily familiar: The film will include the party scene and fight scene from the 2019 production, because those large scenes, involving 50 or so dancers, could not be performed with physical distancing.

The new scenes, including the snow scene and the dances in the Land of the Sweets, will feature small groups of physically distanced dancers and some modifications to the traditional choreography.

For one thing, there won’t be a pas de deux between the Sugar Plum Fairy (danced by Elina Brein of Chehalis and Megan Meier of Olympia) and the Cavalier (played by Bina Anvari, a senior at Olympia High School, and Jacob Brein of Chehalis, who is Elina Brein’s brother and dances with Meier).

“They will do their solos and then they will dance together side by side,” Johnson told The Olympian. “It’s a celebration of their relationship.”

Clara’s duet with the Nutcracker will be included, but it, like the fight scene that precedes it, will be the one filmed last year.

The Mother Ginger scene, which traditionally features young dancers emerging from beneath Ginger’s giant skirt, will now feature a baker dancing with gingerbread cookies, who’ll be played by 8- and 9-year-olds, the youngest dancers in this year’s ballet.

As in years past, there’ll be not one but two casts for the production — meaning that there are two different versions of the film at alternate screenings and two versions available to buy or stream.

Ballet Northwest’s ‘Nutcracker’

• What: The holiday ballet is happening despite COVID-19, in the form of a film, which will be available for streaming and on DVD as well as at the Skyline Drive-In.
• At the Skyline Drive-In Theater, 182 SE Brewer Road, Shelton: 7 p.m. Dec. 3 and 17, with gates opening at 6. $30 per car.

• At home: The film is available to stream on Vimeo for $30 and on DVD for $40.

• More information: http://balletnorthwest.org

This story was originally published November 7, 2020 at 5:45 AM.