By Steve Sucato
December 8, 2023
’Tis the season for Nutcracker, and that includes new productions. This month, Milwaukee Ballet and Orlando Ballet each present world premieres that reimagine the holiday ballet’s magical journey with a mix of tradition, cultural sensitivity, and imagination.
Milwaukee Ballet
Milwaukee Ballet artistic director Michael Pink reconceptualizes his 2003 The Nutcracker with his new The Nutcracker: Drosselmeyer’s Imaginarium. With his new production, Pink set out to solve an issue he’s long had with Tchaikovsky’s music for the ballet: its second act.
“In Act I, you are given a very clear narrative in the music,” says Pink. “By the first divertissement of Act II, we are now in a different show.”
Pink saw a discontinuity in the ballet’s two acts that affected its pacing and the central characters’ journey. He sought to address that by creating the motif of a door into one’s imagination that Drosselmeyer opens with his magic.
“We want to stimulate the audience’s imagination so they become a part of this journey with us,” says Pink.
The ballet’s first act, including its main characters, is taken from the 2003 production, with the party scene now set in a glass atrium. The new production continues the journey begun there by central characters Clara, Fritz, elder sister Marie, and Drosselmeyer’s nephew Karl throughout the two-hour ballet.
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