Segerstrom Center for the Arts 13 December 2019 - The Nutcracker. Performed by American Ballet Theatre | GoComGo.com

The Nutcracker. Performed by American Ballet Theatre

Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Segerstrom Hall, Costa Mesa, USA
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Friday 13 December 2019
7 PM
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Important Info
Type: Ballet
City: Costa Mesa, USA
Starts at: 19:00
Duration:

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Overview

“This Nutcracker is cracking good!” raved the New York Post when American Ballet Theatre premiered this delectable holiday favorite. As the lights dim and Tchaikovsky’s beautiful score fills the air, your entire family will join the young, beautiful Clara for a dreamlike journey amid colorful, larger-than-life scenery, magical toy soldiers, mischievous mice, sparkling snowflakes, and a glittering Christmas tree! With an impressive cast of over 100 performers, The Nutcracker is bound to be a treasured memory whether you’re four or ninety-four! The Orange County Register praised it as a “… colorful, cinematic creation filled with spectacle, humor and eye-popping costumes.”

History
Premiere of this production: 06 December 1892, Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg

The Nutcracker (Balet-feyeriya) is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Op. 71). The libretto is adapted from E. T. A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King".

Synopsis

Plot 

Below is a synopsis based on the original 1892 libretto by Marius Petipa. The story varies from production to production, though most follow the basic outline. The names of the characters also vary. In the original E. T. A. Hoffmann story, the young heroine is called Marie Stahlbaum and Clara (Klärchen) is her doll's name. In the adaptation by Dumas on which Petipa based his libretto, her name is Marie Silberhaus. In still other productions, such as Baryshnikov's, Clara is Clara Stahlbaum rather than Clara Silberhaus.

Act I

Scene 1: The Stahlbaum Home

It is Christmas Eve. Family and friends have gathered in the parlor to decorate the beautiful Christmas tree in preparation for the party. Once the tree is finished, the children are sent for. They stand in awe of the tree sparkling with candles and decorations.

The party begins. A march is played. Presents are given out to the children. Suddenly, as the owl-topped grandmother clock strikes eight, a mysterious figure enters the room. It is Drosselmeyer, a local councilman, magician, and Clara's godfather. He is also a talented toymaker who has brought with him gifts for the children, including four lifelike dolls who dance to the delight of all. He then has them put away for safekeeping.

Clara and Fritz are sad to see the dolls being taken away, but Drosselmeyer has yet another toy for them: a wooden nutcracker carved in the shape of a little man. The other children ignore it, but Clara immediately takes a liking to it. Fritz, however, breaks it, and Clara is heartbroken.

During the night, after everyone else has gone to bed, Clara returns to the parlor to check on her beloved nutcracker. As she reaches the little bed, the clock strikes midnight and she looks up to see Drosselmeyer perched atop it. Suddenly, mice begin to fill the room and the Christmas tree begins to grow to dizzying heights. The nutcracker also grows to life size. Clara finds herself in the midst of a battle between an army of gingerbread soldiers and the mice, led by their king. They begin to eat the soldiers.

The nutcracker appears to lead the soldiers, who are joined by tin soldiers, and by dolls who serve as doctors to carry away the wounded. As the Mouse King advances on the still-wounded nutcracker, Clara throws her slipper at him, distracting him long enough for the nutcracker to stab him.

Scene 2: A Pine Forest

The mice retreat and the nutcracker is transformed into a handsome Prince. He leads Clara through the moonlit night to a pine forest in which the snowflakes dance around them, beckoning them on to his kingdom as the first act ends.

Act II

Scene 1: The Land of Sweets

Clara and the Prince travel to the beautiful Land of Sweets, ruled by the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Prince's place until his return. He recounts for her how he had been saved from the Mouse King by Clara and transformed back into himself. In honor of the young heroine, a celebration of sweets from around the world is produced: chocolate from Spain, coffee from Arabia, tea from China, and candy canes from Russia all dance for their amusement; Danish shepherdesses perform on their flutes; Mother Ginger has her children, the Polichinelles, emerge from under her enormous hoop skirt to dance; a string of beautiful flowers perform a waltz. To conclude the night, the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier perform a dance.

A final waltz is performed by all the sweets, after which the Sugar Plum Fairy ushers Clara and the Prince down from their throne. He bows to her, she kisses Clara goodbye, and leads them to a reindeer drawn sleigh. It takes off as they wave goodbye to all the subjects who wave back.

In the original libretto, the ballet's apotheosis "represents a large beehive with flying bees, closely guarding their riches". Just like Swan Lake, there have been various alternative endings created in productions subsequent to the original.

Venue Info

Segerstrom Center for the Arts - Costa Mesa
Location   600 Town Center Drive

Segerstrom Center for the Arts, originally called Orange County Performing Arts Center, is a performing arts complex located in Costa Mesa, California, United States, which opened in 1986. The Center's Segerstrom Hall and Judy Morr Theater were designed by Charles Lawrence and opened in 1986. The Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Samueli Theater and the Lawrence and Kristina Dodge Education Center opened in 2006, and were designed by Cesar Pelli, an architect who has received numerous awards and other honors for his work including the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 1995. It is the artistic home to three resident companies: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and Pacific Chorale.

In the late 1960s, a number of Orange County community leaders decided it was time to have world-class performing arts venues and a dedicated arts campus where local and regional performing arts organizations and esteemed guest artists and companies from all over the world could perform for this rapidly growing and culturally diverse region of Southern California. Businesses were headquartering here and major educational institutions were being established. Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, and Pacific Chorale needed a concert hall with seating and acoustics appropriate to their needs and the caliber of their performances. It should be a setting where those organizations, the new Orange County Performing Arts Center, and the community could grow and achieve greater prestige and recognition.
 
By the mid-‘70s, the Center had its site: a five-acre parcel of land donated by the local Segerstrom family along with lead financial gifts. Construction began in 1983.

The vision of the Center's founders became reality when the Orange County Performing Arts Center opened on September 29, 1986 with a concert in its new opera house-style Segerstrom Hall. It was one of the nation’s most innovative and technically advanced homes for the performing arts. To  the performances by  Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society, and Pacific Chorale, the Center’s leadership added celebrated international ballet companies, national tours of Broadway musicals, jazz greats, award-winning chamber ensembles, cabaret artists and children’s theater. The Center also established an ambitious education department dedicated to bringing young people to the new campus for live, professional performances and to providing meaningful arts programs to schools throughout the county.

The new  Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall opened on September 15, 2006, named for the Center’s founding chairman and his late wife. Samueli Theater, the intimate 500-seat multi-use venue included in the concert hall complex, was named for the Henry Samueli Family Foundation. And Leatherby’s Café Rouge, named for long-time Orange County philanthropist George Leatherby, added a taste of the culinary arts to the Center’s campus. 

Richard Serra’s towering sculpture, “Connector,” commissioned by Elizabeth and Henry Segerstrom for the new plaza, was added to the Center’s public art collection that already included Richard Lippold’s “Fire Bird,” a gift of the Segerstrom family, and Henry Moore’s “Reclining Figure,” provided by the Center’s Angels of the Arts women’s support group. “Fire Bird,” appearing to soar through the Segerstrom Hall Grand Portal has become the Center’s signature icon and a local landmark.

On January 12, 2011, the Center changed its name from Orange County Performing Arts Center to Segerstrom Center for the Arts to honor the extraordinary contributions of the Segerstrom family. Their unwavering commitment and generosity have been at the core of the Center's success. Segerstrom Center for the Arts became both the institution that owns and operates the theaters and the Argyros Plaza, as well as the 14-acre multidisciplinary campus that also includes the Tony® Award-winning South Coast Repertory and the new site for the Orange County Museum of Art, schedule to begin construction in 2019.

 

Important Info
Type: Ballet
City: Costa Mesa, USA
Starts at: 19:00
Duration:
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