It’s a Bowl of mixed Sweets from Joffrey

Although “The Nutcracker” begins as a Christmas ballet, there’s no Christmas in Act 2 (set in the Kingdom of Sweets). So the Joffrey Ballet committed no sin against the natural order of things by dancing that act during a midsummer heat wave in the Hollywood Bowl on Friday.

The new Bowl stage gave the company a 20- by 60-foot space in front of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra: much deeper than the narrow margin of floor previously available for dancing. The projection screens also helped, though too many changes of camera angle -- and too many shots that cut the dancers’ feet out of frame -- fragmented the coherence of the dancing.

Joffrey artistic director Gerald Arpino did need to make some adjustments for his company’s Bowl debut. For instance, in the finale, little Clara could no longer wave goodbye from an ascending hot-air balloon but had to settle for a pose atop the horse she normally rides in Act 1.

On Friday, Jennifer Goodman dithered girlishly in the role but couldn’t begin to eclipse the sweetly serene, technically secure (if occasionally overcautious) Maia Wilkins as the Sugar Plum Fairy. Willy Shives partnered her capably, but his mime, attempts at elevation and sense of princely bearing needed additional practice.

Calvin Kitten’s buoyancy made the Chinese dance a highlight, and fine jumps also distinguished Valerie Robin’s performance of the Spanish solo. The Arabian duet had technical skill, intense concentration but little sensuality as executed by Emily Patterson and Peter Kozak.

The flamboyant Russians and enormous Mother Ginger puppet looked great in the Bowl, but ill-timed unisons kept some of the ensembles underpowered, and the Flutes trio stayed hopelessly soggy.

As usual, the introductory remarks by conductor John Mauceri provided intriguing historical data -- though he neglected to mention that the Joffrey “Nutcracker” yanks brief passages of music from Act 1 and sticks them between the Act 2 divertissements to allow the Drosselmeyer character more time to swirl his cape. In the past, this barbarism could be explained if not justified when the role belonged to the great Royal Ballet master of mime (and menace) Alexander Grant. But when cast with Joffrey assistant artistic director Adam Sklute, the pretext, and magic, is long gone.

Mauceri proved on his best behavior as a Tchaikovsky conductor, though the Bowl sound system imposed weird orchestral imbalances -- including individual instruments suddenly and ruinously made dominant. However, Franz Waxman’s “Ride of the Cossacks” from his 1962 film score “Taras Bulba” tended to plod instead of race.

Finally, the muscular and slightly shortened Leopold Stokowski version of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” lost any sense of momentum and bogged down in details before interest shifted to the flamboyant -- and noisy -- pyrotechnic spectacle staged by Sousa Fireworks.