Familiar magic, misfires return in ‘Nutcracker’

Each of the two acts of the familiar American Ballet Theatre “Nutcracker” -- through Sunday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center -- opens magically. Choreographer Kevin McKenzie last year added several white-clad, winged Sylphs to the Godfather Drosselmeyer workshop scene, presented during the Overture, immediately establishing a sense of another dimension beyond the everyday.

So when the trunk loaded with holiday dolls followed Drosselmeyer with a wave of his hand, to the delight of many children in the audience when the production opened Wednesday in Costa Mesa, it was less a party trick than the magic continuing.

The same thing was true as Clara and her brother, Fritz, cast hand-shadow images upon a curtain that would soon part to reveal the Christmas tree in the family living room. And at the start of Act 2, images of lovely pastel flowers projected on a scrim evoked a world of spring and innocence.

In both acts, however, the magic drained away rapidly. The problems of this production, created in 2000 to a libretto by Wendy Wasserstein, are well known. They include cuts in the score; a Christmas tree that simply rises to reveal a larger one behind it, instead of growing marvelously; a Drosselmeyer stripped of ambiguity and menace; a minimized role for the Sugar Plum Fairy; and a rendering of the story line that’s almost incoherent.

As usual, the company rose admirably to the challenges Wednesday. Paloma Herrera and Marcelo Gomes proved models of gravity-defying elegance as the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier.

ABT casts principal dancers in the roles of Clara and the Nutcracker Prince. Xiomara Reyes made a sweet and secure Clara. Transformed from doll to prince after the battle with the mice, Herman Cornejo looked wondrously liberated.

In the first act, Renata Pavam was the delicate Sugar Plum Doll, Marian Butler the gentle Unicorn Doll and Carlos Lopez the crisp, clear Toy Soldier Doll.

In the Divertissement, Stella Abrera and Sascha Radetsky looked effortful in the weakly choreographed Arabian dance. Abrera also had been the speedy Snow Queen.

The corps, for their part, did convey some sense of magic in John Meehan’s choreography for the Waltz of the Flowers, but Victor Barbee had little chance to display his excellent acting abilities in the production’s limited conception of Drosselmeyer.

At less than two hours (with intermission), “Nutcracker” is already the shortest by far of Tchaikovsky’s three ballet scores. McKenzie, though, cut it even more, snipping repeats in the First Act and jettisoning the Flutes, Mother Ginger and the presto close of the Sugar Plum Fairy’s solo. Except for the last, those decisions seem to have been more budget-based than artistic.

Charles Barker conducted an underpowered Pacific Symphony on Wednesday. It seemed he wanted to sustain the delicate sound world of the Overture through the whole ballet. But that was at the cost of minimizing Tchaikovsky’s astonishing emotional climaxes, which ultimately generate all the magic.

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American Ballet Theatre

Where: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

When: Tonight, 7:30; Saturday and Sunday, 2 and 7:30 p.m.

Price: $20-$80

Contact: (714) 740-7878