RSVP : A Dreamy ‘Nutcracker’ Celebration

“We want to continue with the magic,” said gala co-chair Susan Rothenberg, as she welcomed opening-night patrons to the stage following the Joffrey Ballet’s performance of “The Nutcracker.”

As anyone who has been there can tell you, the post-performance stage is never the wonderland envisioned by an audience. Certainly Wednesday night at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the stage couldn’t match in fantasy and beauty the scenes depicted in the classic holiday season ballet.

There was no “Victorian Parlour,” no “Land of Snow”--just flats and drapes and a few scattered props, such as the giant China teapot and the big silver horse.

However, there was a large “Kingdom of the Sweets” buffet table, pretty clusters of white flowers ornamented with tinsel to recall the “Waltz of the Flowers” and seasonal cheer, voiced by carolers. The scene sustained the mood the ballet had engendered, described by Anne Miller as “a spectacular dream.”

Escorted by James Doolittle, Miller joined such guests as Malcolm and Fiorenza Lucas; Marc Friedland and his mother, Jean, and Joffrey committee members Janet Eggers, Deborah David and Sandra Wisot, who also organized a “Sugar Plum Fantasy” tea for patrons of Thursday’s matinee.

Dancers and audience mingled, sharing memories of “Nutcrackers” past. Doolittle figured that as an impresario, he has presented at least 16 interpretations of the Tchaikovsky ballet based on E.T.A. Hoffmann’s children’s story.

Rothenberg said she had danced in the “Waltz of the Flowers” when she was a member of the Colorado Ballet as a teen-ager. The Joffrey’s principal dancer, Deborah Dawn, who portrays Clara’s mother transformed into the Snow Queen in Act I, said she has pictures of herself at about age 4 in an Arabian costume, taking part in one of the Act II “Divertissements” in a long-ago production.

The Joffrey’s artistic director, Gerald Arpino, reminded the gathering, “The arts always take man upward and forward,” and then Asunta Fleming took over the mike to sing Christmas songs.