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++ Here is my review for Santa Barbara’s arts weekly VOICE Magazine of State Street Ballet’s production of Rodney Gustafson’s choreography to The Nutcracker on December 21 and 22 2019:

Rodney Gustafson’s magical choreography for The Nutcracker

Santa Barbara’s internationally acclaimed State Street Ballet was back in town last weekend after touring the west presenting artistic director Rodney Gustafson’s choreographic take on The Nutcracker. The company gave the home audience opportunity to see its finely tuned performances last weekend (December 21-22) at the Granada Theatre.
Gustafson’s endearing and visually beautiful original choreography and staging of Tchaikovsky’s poignant masterpiece enchanted Saturday night’s audience and reminded this witness to more than a few productions that The Nutcracker in its various choreographic iterations over the past 120 years continues to hit home, delighting as well as moving audiences as readily in 2019 as it did at its premiere in 1892, just one year before the composer’s tragic death.
Gustafson’s Nutcracker is, well, innocently curvaceous, its choreographic narrative clean and clear to the eye. E. T. A. Hoffmann’s creepy-good tale about young Clara’s dream-state adventures with the Nutcracker Prince in a not altogether friendly Land of Sweets remains sacrosanct, yet Gustafson also brings fresh insight and new ideas to his interpretation of the iconic story. Characters in Hoffmann’s narrative that take Gustafson’s eye are highlighted with focused choreographic attention.
Two roles in particular, Drosselmeyer the magician and Mother Ginger, have been given more significant choreographic and acting tasks by Gustafson. SSB principal Sergei Domrachev who has been with the company since 1997, stole the show last Saturday night, as he no doubt does whenever he dances these two disparate characters. His stunning professionalism, masterful sense of timing and humor, disciplined and artful acting exaggerations and incredible footwork, made both roles uniquely his. Nothing cheaply comedic about Domrachev’s interpretations. Rather, a Marcel Marceau-like perfection of disciplined body movement and mimed expression. Bravo, maestro Domrachev!
Tchaikovsky’s music for The Nutcracker stretches two and a half hours plus when performed, which is seldom, in its totality. As the ballet has been tweaked by various choreographers over the years beginning with Petipa/Ivanov, the score has also been sliced and diced to satisfy need, taste and time. Gustafson’s Nutcracker is in the neighborhood of an hour and a half with one intermission, yet he has chosen to keep one or two dances that are not ordinarily heard or seen in the de rigueur realization of the work performed this time of year throughout the world since the 1940s. What a thrill to hear music and see dance sequences that are not familiar.
As Santa Barbara’s resident professional dance company, it is always a delight to see familiar artists perform their accustomed roles in this annual rite of holiday passage. Francois Llorente is a relative newcomer to the company and his pairing on Saturday night with another newcomer Saori Yamashita in Arabian made for a stunningly beautiful duo. The Grand Pas de Deux in the second act was performed on Saturday night with style and familiarity by Deise Mendonça and Jack Stewart.

In an imaginative twist by Gustafson, the traditional role of Rat King is replaced by a Rat Queen and on Saturday night Anna Carnes turned in a charmingly dastardly performance. Jack Stewart nailed Cavalier on Saturday, kudos as well for Deise Mendonça’s Sugar Plum Fairy. Hoffmann’s dream weaver Clara was realized with elegant form and poise on Saturday night by Ella Rotondo, her Nutcracker Prince, Noam Tsivkin.
Bennett Ruehlman (Soldier Doll); Alvaro Oquita (Grandmother); Tanner Blee (Snow King); Arianna Hartanov and Chloe Kelley (Spanish); Marika Kobayashi and Oscar Bravo Ly (Chinese); Amara Galloway, Tanner Blee and John Christopher Piel (Russian); Emma Lawrence (Maid); and multiple additional roles danced by several of the above, brought Gustafson’s sweet Nutcracker vision to vibrant life.
Angels, snowflakes, bon-bons and assorted dewdrops courtesy of Gustafson Dance; imaginative costume design by A. Christina Giannini and colleagues; the Opera San Luis Obispo Grand Orchestra in the pit under the baton of Brian Asher Alhadeff with the added magic of the Matilija Junior High Chamber Choir, Thomas Frederickson director, as Tchaikovsky’s angelic voices, made for a splendid evening.

Daniel Kepl | Performing Arts Review