“The Nutcracker” immersive reviewed by Frank Meccia

[rating=4]Every December since I was a kid, the holiday season included the Ballet the NUTCRACKER. At the time it was performed at the Arie Crown Theatre at McCormick Place till 1990, then moved to the Auditorium Theatre. Growing up, this always meant time with the family and dinner afterwards at the Italian Village. But last night I got to see a performance that brought back those early feelings growing up.

Ballet Chicago a powerful Ballet School in Chicago since 1987 presented a wonderful performance of this great Ballet. The mission of this school is so pure Chicago. “It is a place where the beauty of one’s character is as important as the beauty of one’s tendu, a place where diversity is intentional – where inner city, foster children, middle-class and those of great fortune stand side-by-side, although we will never tell you which is which.

It is a place where young people learn to celebrate their triumphs and weather their disappointments with equal grace, where high achievement is the norm, and where delivering moments of truth becomes a way of life.”

This motto was never so true as with last nights performance. With over 75 dancers and ballerinas every movement showed the hard work that went into this production. Trust me, this is not your typical school performance, this is worthy of the main stage of Chicago. And the main stage was the historic Athenaeum Theatre in Lakeview. This two-act ballet is about 2 hours long with intermission. And the Director acclaimed dancer and choreographer Daniel Duell showed what a great school he has. The first act was perfect in every way, I was impressed with the final scene with the snow queens, there was so much snow coming down it was almost a blizzard at one point, the entire stage floor was white, for a moment I was worried that one of the dancers would slip, but that never happened. That scene was better than anything I have seen before. The second act brings out the older more seasoned dancers and ballerinas, and it was pure magic watching them.

My only complaint was with the second act. I miss the scene with  “Mother Goose”,  where all the kids come out from under her dress. According to the director, they wanted it to be the way it was performed back in 1892. It was a great performance, the music was perfect, the nice thing about this historic theatre there are no bad seats. The final performance will be Dec 22. To see a production preformed by local talent, this is the one. A true Chicago treasure. The Athenaeum Center for Thought & Culture/Theatre is located at 2936 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL

To purchase tickets visit www.athenaeumcenter.org or call 312-820-6250

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