BALLET REVIEW : San Francisco Ballet Shows Its Strength in ‘Nutcracker’

Two Sunday casts for the San Francisco Ballet “Nutcracker” at the Orange County Performing Arts Center confirmed the excellence of the company as a whole.

At the matinee, Jim Sohm gave Drosselmeyer more of an air of mystery than Val Caniparoli, his Saturday predecessor. But Caniparoli looked fine in the Arabian Dance, breezing through the partnering hazards opposite a pliant Virginia Long. The new Clara, Aria Rosenberg, effectively emphasized vivacity and wonder.

Although the snow scene needed better performances than those of the brittle Wendy Van Dyck and the labored Mikko Nissinen, Tina LeBlanc and David Palmer made the Sugar Plum pas de deux a memorable occasion with their instinctual rapport, fine technique and enlightened musicality. Indeed, LeBlanc was the only Sugar Plum Fairy of the weekend to physicalize the overwhelming sense of yearning in the score. Denis de Coteau again conducted.

On Sunday evening, Emil de Cou conducted with a greater sense of emotion and dynamic contrasts. Leslie Young and Benjamin Pierce went for maximum sharpness and flash in the snow pas de deux--she proving promising if undeveloped, he the master of a spectacular jump.

Anthony Randazzo danced unevenly in the grand pas de deux, but Evelyn Cisneros exuded her customary warmth and security, with her high-speed pyrotechnics in the coda especially distinctive.

Among the divertissement highlights, Ming-Hai Wu again displayed phenomenal jumps--this time in the Cossack trio, and Katita Waldo with Richard McLeod) brought unexpected delicacy to the Arabian Dance. Kristin Long seemed to have the time of her life in “Waltz of the Flowers,” and her enjoyment was contagious.

* San Francisco Ballet will dance a program of mixed repertory, today through Thursday at 8 p.m., then return to “Nutcracker” Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m., in the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. $18 to $55. (714) 556-2787.