A Gay Man’s Guide to The Nutcracker – outsmartmagazine.com
How have things changed at Houston Ballet when it comes to The Nutcracker?
When I first joined Houston Ballet, we had Ben Stevenson’s version, which is a real classic. It’s really traditional. And when the Stanton Welch production debuted, they really turned up the glam. They really turned up the effects and the drama and the production values.
Just like the dancers, audiences return to The Nutcracker year after year. Why do you think that is?
I feel like The Nutcracker is the Disney classic of the ballet world. It’s like The Lion King. It’s like The Little Mermaid. It’s the magic. People have a connection to it being on a holiday. It’s a tradition. I think it’s really nostalgic, as well.
How do you keep that magic going year after year, and show after show?
It’s really about hearing stories of audience members and the children, and seeing how they respond to it. Ninety percent of the time, it’s someone’s first time ever coming to the ballet. Knowing that is what motivates me to keep up the magic and to not just go into autopilot. Also, these young girls and boys are really going for it! Knowing that they are makes it so that we want to, as well.
Many of the dancers, including you, dance numerous roles in a single performance of the show. How on earth do you do that?
I feel like the skill of memorization and repetition is really important. And it just starts from how we start our day. If you’ve ever watched a ballet class, you see the teacher just kind of giving the combination [of dance moves], and you have about 30 seconds to pick it up. It’s really built into our daily lives to just start memorizing—to have this repetition. Nutcracker is extremely iconic, and Stanton has made these moves that are so musical that you can turn the music on and it just happens.
Are there any comical moments in this particular production?
Instead of the traditional Mother Ginger, Stanton has interpreted it in a new way [with a character] called “French”—a French man who is coming to eat, and all the Houston Ballet School students are chefs who frantically prepare his meal for him. [The comedy] begins when they present him with escargot and it’s just not to his liking. And it ends with the man frantically chasing after the ambassador frog with a fork and knife. So it’s a really comical number!
To those who say ballet in general, and perhaps The Nutcracker in particular, is not for them, what do you say?
I feel like ballet is “the minority” of the arts world. It’s the underrepresented, underappreciated one. But it is thought-provoking, and it is art. And I would encourage people to come and enjoy it and support it and be open-minded to it. It’s like a warm hug. I would be hard-pressed to believe they wouldn’t enjoy it, or at least enjoy parts of it, because Houston Ballet is just that good.
What: Houston Ballet’s The Nutcracker
When: November 25 to December 27
Where: Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas Ave.