DANCE REVIEW : Pasadena ‘Nutcracker’ Offers Many Pluses

What’s a notch below regional ballet? Most dancing-school “Nutcracker” productions seen every year in Southern California. However, the familiar Pasadena Dance Theatre edition offers too many pluses to be dismissed so easily.

For starters, it appears in a storybook playhouse: antique, atmospheric San Gabriel Civic Auditorium. Moreover, Cynthia Young’s staging is based on the first full-length American “Nutcracker,” the one choreographed by Willam Christensen 51 years ago.

There’s a close family resemblance to the current, grandiose San Francisco Ballet “Nutcracker” (partly staged and choreographed by Christensen and recently presented in Costa Mesa). But Pasadena’s version seemed fresher and warmer in the performance given Sunday.

Clearly, Charles Maple’s company liked retelling the story, worked hard to make the ballet a Christmas party for the audience and even harder to meet professional standards of classical dancing. Guest San Francisco Ballet principals Tina LeBlanc and David Palmer brought special refinement to the grand pas de deux--with the virtuosic Palmer reveling in a solo that’s cut up north. But resident ballerina Gilma Bustillo also exuded technical authority as the Snow Queen and other members of the home team did Pasadena proud.

The honor roll Sunday included Stella Abrera and Michael DeQuattro (Arabian dance); Xavier Roncalli (Chinese dance); Emily Halprin and Richard Cardenas (Waltz of the Flowers); Claire Readhead (Clara); Nick Cornell (the Nephew); and, of course, the show-stopping trepak trio: Badri Esatia, Temur Koridze and Armen Sevada.

Liz Stillwell’s lighting proved resourceful in enhancing the charm of Keith Brumly’s fanciful sets. Although taped Tchaikovsky accompanied the dancing, no music was cut, added or re-sequenced. How many “Nutcracker” stagings can make that claim?

* Pasadena Dance Theatre performs “The Nutcracker” Friday (7:30 p.m.), Saturday (2 and 7:30 p.m.), Sunday (2 and 7 p.m.), Dec. 22 and 23 (2 and 7:30 p.m.) and Dec. 24 (11 a.m.). Performances take place in San Gabriel Civic Auditorium, 320 Mission Drive; (818) 308-2868. Tickets: $10 (children), $18-$30. LeBlanc and Palmer are replaced in the final week by Bustillo and Oliver Wehe.