True, there was nothing civilized about the tantrum thrown by Culkin’s father and manager, Kit Culkin, during post-production. He demanded that scenes be reshot, that Kevin Kline’s brief narration be eliminated, even that changes be made in the music. Otherwise, he threatened, the boy would not promote the movie: no interviews, no talk shows, none of the star appearances that help sell tickets. “The Nutcracker” is a cash cow for most ballet companies–that’s why American Ballet Theatre, fighting its way back from what had been a $5.9 million debt, is working on a new production–but nobody knows whether movie audiences will respond the way ballet audiences do. “It hurts the movie a lot, but we did not give in to the blackmail,” says executive producer Arnon Milchan.
In the end, everybody lost, including Culkin. Despite the two years he spent at the School of American Ballet, the NYCB’s training ground, Culkin is out of his depth. He looks uncomfortable and moves stiffly, and the fatuous smile that appears and disappears at random is unnerving. In the prince’s one great moment–the mime scene in which be reenacts his battle with the Mouse King–he is accurate but charmless. Fortunately his small part remains small–no inflation for stardom.
In fact, this movie makes almost no concessions to commercialism at all. Clearly, director Emile Ardolino (“Dirty Dancing”) wanted a faithful re-creation of the stage production. The result is exhilarating: watching it is like having the best seats anyone ever had for “The Nutcracker.” In the opening party scene, Marie (Jessica Lynn Cohen) is given a nutcracker by her godfather, Drosselmeier (Bart Robinson Cook). Later Marie and the Nutcracker-turned-Prince travel to the Land of Sweets, where they meet the Sugarplum Fairy (Darci Kistler) and an array of festive treats, notably Kyra Nichols as Dewdrop. What’s really important in this part isn’t dreams or candy, of course, but wonderful dancing; and that’s just what Ardolino shows us.
The kids from SAB manage to outshine even the company stars. Cohen is a wonderful Marie, simple and convincing and not a bit saccharine; and Peter Reznick is terrific as her little brother Fritz, perfectly combining charm and mischief. There’s only one truly jarring moment in the whole production: when Culkin and Cohen sail over rooftops through the night sky, The trick photography isn’t quite tricky enough. This trip looks like the kind of thing the Mouseketeers used to do on Anything-Can-Happen Day.
As for ABT’s “Nutcracker,” still in rehearsal, it’s already arousing great curiosity. Choreographed by Kevin McKenzie, the company’s new artistic director, the ballet has a libretto by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein, author of “The Heidi Chronicles.” “My goal for the company is to put the accent back on theater,” says McKenzie. “That’s where Wendy comes in.” He and Wasserstein have conceived a fairly traditional “Nutcracker”–with a few important differences. “I’ve always loved ‘The Nutcracker’ but I did think that the little girl was a drip,” says Wasserstein. “She wears a headband and turns into a candy cane. I wanted a girl who has an imagination. She’s an outsider, she has an artistic side. She’s not interested in being perfect, like Greta. I gave her a perfect cousin Greta.”
ABT’s new “Nutcracker” also boasts gender equity in the “Waltz of the Flowers” and no candy (though McKenzie promises “a great love duet”). It opens Dec. 3 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, Calif If most “Nutcrackers” make your teeth ache, go West.
