Dec. 24, 1944—More than a half century after Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky watched in dismay as a troubled production of his The Nutcracker opened in St. Petersburg, Russia, the ballet was performed
for the first time in its entirety in ration-restricted, wartime America,
paving the way to its current status as a holiday perennial.
If the Russian composer had to contend with a replacement
choreographer, a clumsy battle scene, lackluster costumes, the lack of an Act I
ballerina, and an overweight Sugar Plum Fairy, Willam Christensen of the San Francisco Ballet had to deal with
something more immediate, even existential, at the War Memorial Opera House:
With World War II raging overseas, he had to concoct his production virtually
from scratch.
Here’s how Christensen dealt with these problems,
according to a recent blog post from the San Francisco Ballet:
*No readily available score: Christensen had
to write to the Library of Congress to obtain it.
*No record of the original choreography:
Though The Nutcracker had been
performed in Russia after its 1892 premiere, Christensen had to come up with
his own version. He had been inspired to try his hand at the piece by two
members of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo company who had come to San
Francisco with an abridged version of the Tchaikovsky work, ballet master George Balanchine and principal
dancer Alexandra “Choura” Danilova. But, as Danilova gamely reenacted what she
recalled from playing, “Mr. B” stopped her: “No, no, Choura, don't show him the
steps. Let him create his own choreography." Christensen ended up doing
just that.
*Not enough slippers: With wartime rationing
in place, pointe shoes were obtained by asking retirees for unused “shoe
stamps” that could be redeemed.
*Not enough costumes: With only $1,000
available, Christensen bought fabric for 143 costumes. The company dancers doubled
as seamstresses—standing in long lines to buy the 10 yards each allowed by
rationing, then sewing them themselves. Soldiers’ uniforms were fashioned out
of a red velvet curtain salvaged from the demolished Cort Theater. (The material
from that was so abundant that it lasted with the company for 10 years, making
the $10 expenditure a real steal.)
*Not enough male dancers: Virtually every
able-bodied male of age was in the service, including Christensen’s brother Lew
(whose grim duty in Europe was to collect the bodies of the fallen). With the
male component of the San Francisco Ballet depleted, Christensen resorted to
perhaps his most unusual stratagem of all: “He went around to football teams in
high schools and conscripted anybody that liked to be with girls,” Joan
Vickers, who danced the role of a snowflake in the production, recalled years
later. He went one step further, even: taking on one of the roles himself.
The tense conditions of the time were all too
apparent not only during its premiere on Christmas Eve, but on its final
production at the War Memorial Opera House two days later, The building was
under a blackout order, with air raid wardens sitting in the audience, ready to
blow their whistles in case of an emergency.
The association of Balanchine and Christensen—who
are generally regarded as the most influential ballet masters on the East and
West Coasts, respectively—would continue for decades. Christensen, by now
artistic director emeritus of the San Francisco Ballet, would take the helm
again at the organization he founded in 1984 when his brother Lew died and
Lew’s replacement was dismissed. With a new season approaching, Christensen
stepped in to rehearse Nutcracker and
save the company.
Thirty-five years after playing the role of The
Prince in Russia, Balanchine put his indelible fingerprint on Nutcracker with the New York City Ballet.
“Mr. B’s” artistic choices—including changing a few characters and spending
$25,000 on a tree—helped turn the production into a holiday classic.
With a marvelous score (perhaps the only acclaimed
aspect of the original 1892 performance in St. Petersburg) and the initial
experience it provides stage-struck youngsters, Nutcracker has become a staple of ballet companies nationwide.
(The image accompanying this post shows Mikhail
Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland in a 1977 telecast of Nutcracker for the New York City Ballet.)
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