‘The Nutcracker’: Robert Joffrey’s Final Legacy : His lifelong dream arrives here nine months after his death

“It was Bob’s last gift to all of us, and nothing could be more appropriate,” said Gerald Arpino, reflecting on what became Robert Joffrey’s final theatrical venture.

Former associate director and resident choreographer, Arpino has been the Joffrey Ballet’s artistic director since the founder’s death in March at the age of 57. His reflections about the year-old Joffrey production of “The Nutcracker,” which receives its local premiere at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Friday, are bittersweet, filled with memories of his colleague’s energy and enthusiasm.

While Joffrey conceived this “Nutcracker” and oversaw its development as much as possible, it was a team of specialized creators who brought his vision to life. It’s history repeating itself: Marius Petipa, who outlined the detailed scenario for the original 1892 Maryinsky “Nutcracker,” fell ill and entrusted his assistant Lev Ivanov with the choreography.

Joffrey’s “Nutcracker” production, which he oversaw despite being too ill to attend rehearsals, is, like the company’s repertory, a blend of the old and the new. Ever since Joffrey first envisioned a “Nutcracker” for his company more than 10 years ago, he wanted to base it on the 1940 one-act production of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo which Joffrey saw during his formative years and in which he once appeared as the Gondola Boy when the itinerant troupe passed through his native Seattle.

That production was staged by Alexandra Fedorova, a former Russian ballerina and an influential teacher of Joffrey’s after he arrived in New York. Having danced in a very early Moscow production of the ballet that was closely related to the Maryinsky original, Fedorova provided a direct link with the past. The Joffrey version can thus make a reasonable claim to adhering in spirit to the original.

At the same time, Joffrey added a new twist: He wanted to transport the story to Victorian America, around 1850. His own fascination with Victorian prints and engravings influenced his view of the production, and objects from his own collection were the source of many design elements. Oliver Smith’s sets and John David Ridge’s costumes recall a quaint, charming and innocent historical era.

“I think its sense of period is much more strongly felt than in just about any other version I’ve been in,” says Joffrey ballerina and Los Angeles native Leslie Carothers, who has frequently guested in “Nutcracker” stagings around the country, including the Pasadena Dance Theatre’s. “All the costumes have an old-world feeling, and there is a really magical, Christmas-card look about it.”

Carothers feels Joffrey’s influence particularly in the opening party scene, in which each of the toys presented as a gift is a hand-chosen antique item. “He loved Christmas, particularly that aspect of it--toys, presents lights, decorations. He really did up his house every year,” she said.

The most contemporary aspect of the Joffrey production is the completely new choreography by Arpino for the ballet’s two celebrated set pieces: the Snowflakes scene and the Waltz of the Flowers. Joffrey asked Arpino to take on these assignments well before the production actually took shape.

“I won’t conform; I’ll do it my way,” was Arpino’s reaction. According to the choreographer, Joffrey said, “That’s exactly what I want. You do it the way you conceive it.” Arpino’s concept incorporates male dances into both of the traditionally all-female ensembles.

Joffrey was intent on having his production emphasize simplicity and purity rather than extraneous or novel elements. Arpino recalls him saying: “I want this ‘Nutcracker’ to be childlike; I don’t want any overtones of deep psychological meaning.” Joffrey also knew from the start that he wanted to include children on stage.

(The children in the Los Angeles cast come from various ballet schools in the area and will rehearse with the dancers for the first time this week after being prepared by Joseph Kerwin of the Joffrey School. In the Ballet Russe production, company members had to play the children’s roles since the extensive touring schedule made it impossible to prepare a children’s cast.)

Joffrey’s concept also included a pivotal role for Drosselmeyer, the mysterious bearer of magic who leads Clara, the young heroine, through her fantastic travels. “In planning ‘The Nutcracker,’ Bob had Drosselmeyer take Clara--and take all of us--through the entire work. He’s in every scene,” notes Arpino. “He’s a loving Drosselmeyer--and very much like Bob Joffrey; you can see a lot of him in the character. He’s whimsical, kind and gentle--also very private and mysterious.” Joffrey worked closely with Alexander Grant, the veteran British character dancer known for his many roles in Frederick Ashton’s ballets. Grant will perform the role here, as he has since the production’s premiere.

Joffrey had planned to stage major portions of “Nutcracker” himself, drawing on his memory and research on the Fedorova version, but when the initial rehearsal period approached in mid-1987, he realized his health would not allow it. He called on George Verdak, a former Ballet Russe dancer, well-known teacher, dance historian and, until recently, artistic director of the Indianapolis Ballet Theater. Verdak stepped in on short notice, traveling to Iowa City for the four-week rehearsal period.

“Joffrey had thought about the production for a very long time,” Verdak said. “When we got together, he had amassed an amazing amount of research material. He knew exactly how he wanted the toys and tree to look. He was very involved in the scenic preparation--the detail and the mise en scene. He kept in constant touch by phone.”

Verdak re-created elements from the Fedorova production--the climactic Sugar Plum Fairy pas de deux, the Snow Queen-Snow King duet at the end of Act I, several of the character dances, and much of the party scene, including the dances for the dolls. He also had to add material, because, as he explains, “in the Ballet Russe version there were quite a few cuts, and those had to be restored. There was no battle of the mice, and the long introductory sequence of Act II was cut. I restored that based on other versions I was familiar with.”

Joffrey ballet master Scott Barnard, a former student of Verdak’s, assisted with the staging. “He suggested that we think over who we are and play with that. He left it up to us to use our imaginations,” says Carothers, who performs the dual role of Clara’s Mother and the Snow Queen and also alternates as the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Although Arpino’s Snow Scene incorporates traditional sequences that Verdak mounted, it breaks with tradition in other ways. “I always heard the north wind in that music and envisioned a Jack Frost figure,” Arpino said. That figure is embodied in the Snow Prince, a mercurial virtuoso role performed by the same dancer who earlier in the ballet appears as Clara’s brother Fritz.

For the Waltz of the Flowers, Arpino wanted “real flowers, not people dancing to the waltz of the flowers.” Each woman is identified as a particular kind of flower and wears an appropriately petaled dress and headpiece. Six men are included in the ensemble to make possible Arpino’s vision of flowers being borne aloft and a bouquet breaking open. “I wanted to have the men enhance the beauty of the flowers, to give the feeling of real flowers caught in a spray of wind,” he said.

Joffrey’s “Nutcracker” cost $1.5 million to produce--$800,000 in production costs, the rest in rehearsal time and related expenses. It is the result of an unusual partnership between sponsors in three cities with which the Joffrey Ballet has close connections: New York and Los Angeles (its two home bases) and Iowa City, where it has developed a loyal following. It was the University of Iowa that got the ball rolling with a $500,000 pledge that was soon matched by Los Angeles board member David Murdock. The university hosted the premiere on Dec. 10, 1987.

The company plans annual two- or three-week runs of “The Nutcracker” in both Los Angeles and New York, and will continue to take it to Washington (where it just had its second run of performances) and Iowa City. Assuring the company of some financial stability was also part of Joffrey’s wide-ranging vision, and Arpino said the production “will help--has already helped tremendously--in earned income” and will help make other productions possible.