The Good Nut

Curio Theatre's current production of The Nutcracker features considerably less saccharine, and much more mystery, than Balanchine's ballet.

by Mark Cofta

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Published: Dec 11, 2007

Curio Theatre's current production of The Nutcracker is so often given the qualifier "not the ballet" that adapters Timothy Martin and Drew Petersen should consider adopting it as a subtitle.

Like composer Tchaikovsky in 1892, these playwrights and director Jared Reed work from E.T.A. Hoffman's convoluted, creepy, un-Christmasy tale of monsters, curses, time travel and romance. Their more faithful version features considerably less saccharine, and much more mystery, suspense and magic, than George Balanchine's 1954 ballet.

Lovely Chelsea Bulack plays Marie, whose mischievous godfather, Drosselmeier (Liam Castellan), gifts the famous Nutcracker. "Most toys are one-dimensional," he tells Marie. "They are what they seem to be." Not his, though: He shows her a dollhouse-like diorama — a pre-electricity television — to illustrate the story of Princess Pirlipat and her royal parents' struggles against the seven-headed Mouse Queen (Aetna Gallagher) and her minions. The stories intertwine, Marie's Nutcracker comes to life (through stalwart Delante Keys), and the adventure soars — especially in its second act (unlike the ballet, which meanders listlessly after intermission), traveling to Toyland, young Drosselmeier's clock shop and further.

West Philly's little-theater-that-could celebrates its final show in the Calvary Center's small, round chapel (February's The Odyssey christens the larger sanctuary space) with considerable onstage magic. Gallagher's fabulous costumes, from the scary mouse heads to the witty parrot, are matched by her many clever puppets, Elizabeth Gallagher's colorful cartoony projections, and an assortment of versatile set pieces gliding on and off designer Paul Kuhn's handsomely framed stage.

Curio's is a rough magic, with puppeteers in clear view and pieces not always fitting together neatly. Cynics may find it unpolished, but the hand-crafted, hands-on love evident onstage beats all the high-tech finery money can buy.

Not every idea succeeds — human hands poking out from a cutout king flail distractingly — but every scene boasts inventive surprises, all serving a charmingly realized story that, at 90 minutes including intermission, should mesmerize kids 5 and up as well as anyone who can ponder Drosselmeier's question to brave Marie, "Haven't you ever felt you were part of a larger story?"

(m_cofta@citypaper.net)

The Nutcracker

Through Dec. 29

Curio Theatre Co.Calvary Church, 4740 Baltimore Ave.215-525-1350, curiotheatre.org

 

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