Festival Ballet Theatre’s The Nutcracker offered a friendly all-ages show for the entire family. Though in a smaller theatre; we found that it provided a more intimate seating, it was a theatre where every seat seemed like a good seat. With Salwa Rizkalla at the helm at Artistic Director, The Nutcracker from Festival Ballet Theatre showcased their annual production at the Irvine Barclay theatre at UC Irvine. The theatre was clean, the temperature was appropriate, and most importantly the seats were full of cushion; enough to sit through the entire 2 hour production.

We entered the non-decorated theatre, red curtains, no festive/themed decor. The music then started at around showtime, the curtain went up and we see the first scene: point of view in an attic looking out the window at the town. Then a few characters came out in their respective costumes and we were immediately immersed into a professional production of The Nutcracker despite the theatre not dressed up. We nearly forgot where we were and were completely focused on the storyline and the high quality sets and wardrobe. Since this is a holiday classic that plays over and over again, we won’t tell you how the story goes. Besides, anyone can just Google or YouTube a Nutcracker production. Instead, we’ll share what had us in awe.

We were actually glad that the production was housed in a more intimate theatre. That simply meant: better logistics, easy in, easy out, less push and shove, and less craziness especially since it is during the holidays. The lobby area had a couple of life-sized Nutcracker soldiers for photo-ops and plenty of smaller ones to take home as gifts or souvenirs. During the show, of course we had already mentioned that we loved the sets and the wardrobe. However, the irrefutable timing and the sheer athleticism had our eyes glued to the stage when not through our camera. The actors, characters, dancers, everyone on stage should really be known as athletes because of the way they have to move and perform. We also loved the usage of actors in essential their supposed age brackets since it adds a bit of realism to the production. Aside from the dancing and the the “art-in-motion” we witnessed; the most memorable scene was the battle sequence. Enter the Mouse King. Then enter the Nutcracker Soldier. The selected color and design painted a colorful and festive image that was hard to forget: The Mouse King with a large head versus the Nutcracker Soldier with his. Plus, the choreography didn’t miss a beat. This was a “can’t miss” sequence and it was the scene that the entire audience waited for.

The audience reaction was pleasant and positive. Everyone longed for more as they didn’t seem to want to leave their seats; hoping for just an encore scene that was somehow not in the storyline. If anyone needs to feel festive, or feel like Christmas; this production can make that happen. If a ballet theatre group can handle “The Nutcracker”; they can handle any other production. We’re looking forward to FBT’s future productions throughout the year.

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For more information, visit: https://www.festivalballet.org/the-nutcracker-2019/