Grand Rapids Ballet’s “A Christmas Carol” a winning bet
The new holiday production—complete with limited set design and on-stage musicians to support lively, fabulous dancing—may be choreographer Brian Enos’ best effort yet for the company.
On the heels of another successful run of their acclaimed “The Nutcracker” production at DeVos Performance Hall, Grand Rapids Ballet (GRB) this Friday night, December 22, did something unheard of for most ballet companies: it world-premiered another holiday production, almost immediately afterward. For GRB, they pulled off this feat with a production of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”
The idea to have two Christmas-themed ballet productions back-to-back was a bit of a gamble, but GRB artistic director Patricia Barker was betting Grand Rapids audiences would welcome a second theatrical option to complement GRB’s “The Nutcracker.” That bet paid off handsomely with a production worthy of its advanced sell-out ticket sales.
Choreographed by St. Louis-based Brian Enos, who has created several ballets for GRB including last spring’s “Alice in Wonderland,” “A Christmas Carol” may be Enos’ best effort yet for the company.
Based on Dickens’ 1843 novella, Enos wonderfully encapsulated Dickens’ story into a well-crafted, briskly-paced ballet dense with lively and interesting dancing.
The ballet is set to an all-Tchaikovsky score compiled and arranged by Brendan Hollins and performed live by him at piano and a string quartet. Set in mid-Victorian era England, it begins with a playful and celebratory group dance for four male-female couples that set the tone for fabulous dancing to follow throughout the ballet. Enos brought to that opening scene his signature blend of contemporary dance movement infused with a working-class/peasant folk dance spirit that GRB’s dancers reveled in. The choreography was full of big, breathy movement that leaped and bounded about the stage.
Enos for the most part remained faithful to Dickens’ storyline, glossing over some details to keep the ballet at a solid 75-minutes while adding some additional dancing roles. The universally familiar tale was easy to follow and hit all its landmarks in some uniquely pleasing ways.
One of those ways came in introductory scenes as to the character of the ballet’s protagonist Ebenezer Scrooge. Scrooge is portrayed with a mix of bumbling humor by dancer Steven Houser, who wore a semi-permanent “bah humbug” face for most of the ballet. Vignettes of his sour treatment of his employee Bob Cratchit (Nicholas Schultz) and a trio of beggars (Kelsey Minzenmayer, Mari Beer and Lauren Yordanich) were balanced by Scrooge being taunted and teased by the townsfolk. The contrast highlighted that cruelty in the world is not confined to people like Scrooge, whose love of money trumped their caring for humanity.
Unlike the lavish production design and illustrations of Chris Van Allsburg, The Caldecott Award-winning illustrator and author of “The Polar Express” and “Jumanji” and the set design by Tony Award-winning stage designer Eugene Lee for GRB’s “The Nutcracker,” “A Christmas Carol’s” sets and video projections are minimal. The set and video, along with the beautiful playing of musicians onstage, did what most do in a ballet where the dancing is this good: blended into the background in support of that dancing.
The haunting of Scrooge in his bedroom by his long-dead former business partner Jacob Marley (Isaac Aoki) set into motion the meat of the story: Scrooge’s path to redemption via visits from three Christmas Ghosts. Accompanying Marley were an additional quartet of bride-like female specters including dancer Caroline Wiley, who along with longtime GRB power couple Nicholas and Laura Schultz will retire from GRB after this weekend’s performances to join Barker at the Royal New Zealand Ballet.
Like the opening townsfolk dance scene, the ghostly quartet’s dancing illustrated the mood of the scene and was performed marvelously.
Another unique and wonderfully surprising aspect to Enos’ version of Dickens’ tale were the personalities given to the Christmas Ghosts, beginning with the Ghost of Christmas Past. Taking a page from the Swanilda character in the comic ballet Coppélia, dancer Cassidy Isaacson as the Ghost of Christmas Past turned what was meant to be a terrifying moment for Scrooge into a delightfully slapstick and funny one for the audience. Her mixing of floppy embraces and comically-timed rebuffs of Houser as Scrooge — and his reactions to them — were priceless. The scene-stealing Isaacson also managed to draw focus away from the vision of Scrooge in his youth with his boss Mr. Fezzywig, portrayed by Levi Teachout and Nigel Tau respectively, that she was sent there to show him. Her fidgeting with her costume, playing with a candle’s flame, and other comedic detail had one’s eyes darting back and forth from her to the main action of the scene and back as not to miss any delicious moments. Also demanding focus later in the scene was the performance of Yuka Oba as Scrooge’s former love interest Belle, who he let slip away in favor of his love of money.
Rather than having Scrooge and the Christmas Ghosts move to different locales for each vision, they all took place in Scrooge’s bedroom, usually with him cowering on his bed.
Equally mischievous was the Ghost of Christmas Present danced with spunk by Ednis Gomez in a long Father Christmas-like red robe. The scene nicely illustrated the Cratchit family’s love for one another despite their poverty, and relayed to Scrooge the dire health situation of the Cratchits’ son Tiny Tim (Serafina Wagenveld). Included in the scene was a tender pas de deux for the Schultzes that captured their real-life love for one another and acted as a cherry on top of their brilliant GRB careers.
Perhaps the only scene in the ballet where Enos traded story detail and faithfulness for added dancing was that with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. In it dancer Matt Wenckowski, as an eerie apparition of the grim reaper in silver lamé, menaced about the stage in off-kilter contemporary choreography that was at times chilling. A tombstone with Scrooge’s name on it was brought in to replace the headboard of his bed, alluding to Scrooge’s grim future. Instead of showing the usual disdain of his fellow townsfolk in their remembrances of him and his grave in disrepair, Enos added another dance number for the ghostly female quartet.
The ballet concluded, as most do, with an uplifting scene of a redeemed Scrooge sans his scowl and sporting a broad smile, darting about with newfound cheer and life as he handed out gifts to all in the Christmas spirit.
With “A Christmas Carol,” GRB has another hit on its hand and perhaps another holiday tradition to add to its “The Nutcracker.” Although a ticket for the remaining performances today may be impossible to come by, if you can get one it will be well worth the effort.
Grand Rapids Ballet’s “A Christmas Carol” continues today, December 23 at 2 p.m. & 7:30 p.m. at the Peter Martin Wege Theatre, 341 Ellsworth SW, Grand Rapids. Tickets: $49. (616) 454–4771, grballet.com or Ticketmaster.
