“The Nutcracker” Remains Seminal for Miami City Ballet

Just about every ballet company performs a rendition of “The Nutcracker” ballet, and it is for good reason. Not only is it one of the most recognizable Christmas stories, drawing in crowds of the holiday and the craft at once, but it also heavily features dancers of all ages. Miami City Ballet’s version, the George Balanchine version that caught like wildfire after its New York City Ballet premiere, but with minor South Florida additions, is everything a viewer could want: happy kids, beautiful dancing, spectacular visual effects, and Christmas, of course.

Only at the Adrienne Arsht Center this 2024 season, Miami City Ballet has prepared a spectacle for the entire community to share together, and that is the power of love. There is love, both real and magical, that simply permeates through the movement and the story of this timeless work. Stories of ballets, often confusing, make more sense with multiple viewings. I, for one, have seen “The Nutcracker” around five times (not including the movie The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, which I have also regrettably seen), but I have never seen this company perform the work. The last time I did see a company perform this grand work was back in 2017 with Richmond Ballet, the state ballet of Virginia. They do not perform the Balanchine version, and I hadn’t realized how much I missed that master’s choreography.

To begin the performance, Miami City Ballet showed an animated clip of a wintery town and an estate covered in snow. The Stahlbaum family have all gathered on Christmas eve to celebrate the holiday with guests, presents, and dancing. The main protagonist, a young girl named Marie (Mei Lam-Castrillo), is gifted a nutcracker from her godfather Herr Drosselmeier (Renato Penteado), which sparks the fantastical journey to unfold in the second act. With a production as big as this one, which features over 100 dancers, I simply cannot name the entire cast, but I will name the rockstar performers worth mentioning. When Marie falls asleep with the nutcracker, she shrinks down to the size of a mouse, who also happens to populate her house with evil intent. In her tiny state, her nutcracker (Jacob Fuentes Reyes) comes to life and defends her from the Mouse King (Cameron Catazaro), a terrifying entity comprised of multiple mouse heads adorned with a crown.

After the battle, the Nutcracker is revealed to be Herr Drosselmeier’s nephew, and they enter the Kingdom of the Sugar Plum Fairy (Dawn Atkins). To end the first act, fake snow flurries in the Arsht Center as the Snowflakes dance to Tchaikovsky’s unforgettable score. In the second act, the adult performances occupy the choreography, giving the audience sections known as the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” with brilliant bells. Her Cavalier (Stanislav Olshanskyi) stood mighty tall among the Coffee & Tea, Marzipans, Candy Canes, Shepherdesses, and Mother Ginger (Harrison Monaco)’s Polichinelles, too; no small feat beside Miami City Ballet’s prominent Atkins. Special shout out to the Dew Drop (Ashley Knox) section, one I hadn’t remembered until this viewing, and it’s the one I most remember.

In terms of the company giving the productions of these classics a little twist to nod to the local culture of South Florida, I enjoy the attempt. In the second act, the Little Prince/Nutcracker/Nephew and Marie, the Little Princess, sit at a throne and watch the happenings of the Kingdom unfold, and they sit in front of a very centered pineapple, framed by two palm trees. While bold, I liked it because it made me think about this community as I glanced at it, often. What confuses rather than expands is the choice to remove the reindeer pulling the sleigh during the finale and replacing it with a hot air balloon and basket. This, I think could’ve stayed a sleigh, but this is just one man’s opinion.

Performances of Miami City Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” run through Christmas Eve, Tuesday December 24, currently on stage at the Arsht Center in Miami.