Ballet Repertory’s ‘Nutcracker’ is a treasure

Tom Titus

The sheer logistics would make most theater folk shudder, but the

Ballet Repertory Company of Huntington Beach has been making it work for

a quarter of a century.

This Christmas season, some 250 dancers are populating the Mainstage

Theater at Golden West College for a splashy, colorful and wondrously

magical production of “The Nutcracker,” the traditional holiday ballet

set to the classical music of Tchaikovsky.

And, as it has for all these 25 years, “The Nutcracker” has been

lovingly crafted by Ballet Repertory Theater’s choreographer Anthony

Sellars and his wife and ballet mistress, Terri Sellars. For those

uninitiated in this celebratory art, it’s a real eye-opener.

The company is so huge -- and “The Nutcracker” so popular -- that most

of the principal roles are double, triple and even quadruple cast. For

instance, the central role of Clara, the little girl who receives the

Nutcracker as a Christmas gift, may be danced by Brittany Barney,

Alexandra Hall, Megan Loo or Stephanie Stellrecht, and her young

tormenter by Gawain Anderson, Kevin Baumann or James Neil.

But there’s only one Sugar Plum Fairy, and only one Cavalier. These

roles -- beautifully interpreted by Megan Elliot and Michael Houston --

late in the second act are the highlight of the show, and even listed in

the program in bold-face type lest you overlook them.

Equally deserving of featured billing are the Arabian dancers, who may

be Lindsay Blackett and Ian McCall, Randi Galbraith and McCall, Stacey

Hill and Sate Falley or Crystal Matsuyama and Chris Sellars. Their

whirling dervish of a number stands out for its poetic athleticism.

The latter Sellars, the teenage son of the show’s creators, returns to

highlight the Russian dance with Kameron Ghassemieh and McCall, and also

shares cavalier duty with Falley and Ian McCall in the “Waltz of the

Flowers,” where either Lindsay Blackett, Randi Galbraith, Ashley Jones,

Tamra Lockhart or Rachel Rylander dances the Dewdrop Fairy.

If you’ve watched hordes of clowns emerging from a tiny circus car,

you can relate to the “Mother Ginger” number where the lead dancer (Carol

Bills) lifts her hoop skirt and what seems like dozens of tiny dancers

emerge. One in particular (alas, uncredited) displays exceptional

athleticism in a series of gymnastic moves.

Dancers may start performing in “The Nutcracker” at the age of 4, and

several of these youngsters are adorably on view as baby mice in the

opening act. Altogether, there are 41 baby mice, grouped into four

mini-companies, and their appearance is calculated to draw audible “oohs”

and “aahs” from the audience.

Choreographer Sellars employs a good deal of theatrical elements to

ensure audience entertainment, in a bit of a departure from the

traditional balletic form. And entertain “The Nutcracker” does, enriching

its viewers with the Christmas spirit.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Independent. F.Y.I.

WHAT: “The Nutcracker”

WHO: Ballet Repertory Theater of Huntington Beach

WHERE: Golden West College Mainstage Theater

WHEN: Closing performances Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 7 p.m.,

matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. and a special Christmas Eve

performance Monday at 1 p.m.

COST: $10.50 & $12.50

PHONE: (714) 895-9150