MUSKEGON — Around the country, numerous dance companies are trying to infuse the 119-year-old “Nutcracker” ballet with something new. West Michigan is no exception. On Sunday, in the main auditorium of Muskegon High School, two performances of “Nutcracker, All Jazzed Up” will introduce audiences to a “Nutcracker” they’ve never seen before. A central character, a little girl named Clara, will be decked out in bling (excessive jewelry). Beyond ballet, dance disciplines will include tap, jazz and hip-hop.
So, said Tracey O’Neal-McQueen, whose Spotlight Dance Academy is mounting this “Nutcracker” jointly with the Cassell Dance & Gymnastics studio, “It’s not just a ballet.”Dancing and costuming won’t be the only differences from a regular “Nutcracker.”Recorded music will not be the famous “The Nutcracker” score of Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, which was first performed in 1892. Instead, the music will be variations on Tchaikovsky, said O’Neal-McQueen, “instrumental music that has just been kind of jazzed up.”
And one of the dances, performed by children tapping about as mice, will be done a cappella (no music).
“It’s our version of ‘The Nutcracker,’ “ O’Neal-McQueen said. “(Clara) is at a party and she’s all dressed up for the party. It’s not going to be a traditional ‘Nutcracker.’ “All of which puts Spotlight and Cassell’s “Nutcracker” in good company. As reported Dec. 2 in The Wall Street Journal, many professional “Nutcrackers” are straying from the norm. Last year in Chicago, a “Nutcracker” was performed completely with dogs. This year, an Orlando, Fla., production will be danced as a rock musical. A “Nutcracker” set in Albuquerque, N.M., will be seasoned with chili peppers, spicing the show’s Southwestern flavor.
The goal is to keep “The Nutcracker” fresh; and, in doing so, ensures that audiences won’t get burned out on — and stop attending — what promises to be pretty much the same thing they’ve seen before.
With performances running 1 hour, 15 minutes — shorter than an entire, traditional “Nutcracker” — “Nutcracker, All Jazzed Up” will be anything but a rubber-stamp “Nutcracker.” It is, in fact, an event.
A half hour before each of the two performances, children will be able to make Christmas ornaments, decorations that members of teacher Carly Baldus’ Muskegon High theater program will take to pediatric wards of two Muskegon hospitals.
Children will also be able to write a letter to Santa Claus, and Santa Claus will be in attendance.
In addition, patrons are being asked to bring at least one nonperishable food item for a collection that will be donated to some area food pantries, many of which have had their inventories exhausted by overwhelming need.
For all its diversions, “Nutcracker, All Jazzed Up” also incorporates traditional elements of “The Nutcracker” — the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, the Waltz of the Flowers, and the character Mother Ginger.
Dancers from Spotlight and Cassell will range in age from 5 to 18. Straying from pure ballet was done, O’Neal-McQueen said, to make the show accessible to dancers who do not do ballet. Some of “Nutcracker” will feature double casting, with roles alternately performed by dancers from Spotlight and Cassell.
Clara will be danced by Natalie Mulder and Megan Boerema. The title role will be danced by Carlin Rollenhagen and Karie Grenan. Dancing the Mouse Queen (instead of the usual Mouse King) will be Katie DeBruin and Rae Helsing.
The production is being choreographed by McQueen, Miya Rollenhagen of Cassell, Anna Alpert, Carla Horton-Davis, Kristi Cook, Tobi Nobile, Patti Winsemius and Maria Petersen. O’Neal-McQueen said she and Rollenhagen intend to make “Nutcracker, All Jazzed Up” an annual addition to the West Michigan holiday entertainment lineup. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Child Abuse Council of Muskegon.