Oak Park Newspaper

The Joffrey Ballet is once again preparing for its annual production of Robert Joffrey’s The Nutcracker, to be performed at the Auditorium Theatre, December 9 – 27, 2011.

The Joffrey is a local treasure in the world of top notched ballet and each year the holiday season would not be complete without a viewing of their grand efforts. The music is sublime and the production is a five star event and in one of the best auditoriums in the nation. This is truly a ballet for the entire family to enjoy.

★★★★

"A fabulous show, fantastic dancing, beautiful sets, wonderful music, tremendous sets, breathtaking performances. Highly Recommended"

Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc.

Two ballets dancers from Oak Park & River Forest who will
be dancing in The Joffrey Ballet’s The Nutcracker this year.
They are Amelia Kersh (left, from River Forest) and Kyla Strickler (right, from Oak Park).
Photography by Bob Nick.

Oak Park again this year will have a great showcase for our local talent in both the dancing and the choruses from the Oak Park and River Forest Children’s Choir will perform the choral sections in the Tchaikovsky score.

At the Auditorium Theatre, December 9 – 27, 2011

review by Ed Vincent

Each year we are graced with this wonderful company of performers, dancers of the highest caliber and it is already a local tradition. These shows, through the years have had numerous young talented dancers from the suburbs and many just a short distance from the city.

The inclusive nature of the productions with tremendous talent in the ensemble make this a premiere artistic company and embracing the entire community at the same time. If that sounds too idealistic perhaps it is, but this also done without sacrificing anything from the pure art and quality at the highest levels of the profession.

We gave it four stars for many good reasons, make this a tradition for your family and or friends.

At the Auditorium Theatre, December 9 – 27, 2011

CHICAGO – November 1, 2011 – The world renowned Joffrey Ballet once again transforms the Auditorium Theatre into a winter wonderland full of magical toys and waltzing snowflakes during the annual production of Robert Joffrey’s The Nutcracker. One of Chicago’s favorite holiday traditions, Robert Joffrey’s The Nutcracker has been delighting audiences both young and old since its first Chicago performance in 1996. The Nutcracker is presented in 20 performances at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, 50 E. Congress Parkway, December 9 – 27, 2011.

The curtains rose on The Joffrey Ballet’s The Nutcracker on December 10, 1987 at the Hancher Auditorium at the University of Iowa, with the production then embarking on a national tour. Since then, The Joffrey Ballet has maintained the most Nutcracker tour dates of any major ballet company in the country, easily making it America’s #1 Nutcracker. The year marks the launch of the 25^th anniversary of Robert Joffrey’s The Nutcracker, culminating in 2012 with an official Silver Anniversary celebration.

When Robert Joffrey choreographed The Nutcracker with the help of his Co-Founder Gerald Arpino, he replaced the traditional European setting common in other Nutcracker productions with a 19^th century American home, populating it with toys from his own childhood. From there, familiar characters Clara and the mysterious Dr. Drosselmeyer embark on an adventure where toy soldiers battle legions of mice, the Snow King and Queen whisk them away to an enchanted forest, and the beautiful Sugar Plum Fairy delights them with an array of exotic confections. The Joffrey Nutcracker maintains the classical purity of Robert Joffrey’s and Gerald Arpino’s original choreography while sparkling with elegant costumes, an extravagant set by Oliver Smith and a giant Mother Ginger puppet by Kermit Love.

The full Joffrey company is joined onstage by 118 young dancers from Chicago and beyond, dancing in the opening Party Scene and later as Mounted Mice, Toy Soldiers, Dolls, Snow Tree Angels and with Mother Ginger as Polichinelles. This year saw a surge in interest from the Chicagoland community, as attendance at the Nutcracker children’s cast auditions, held September 18, rose by a double-digit percentage from last year. In addition to the young dancers, young vocalists from five different local children’s choirs will perform the choral parts from the magical Snow Scene throughout the run of The Nutcracker. They include the Barrington Children’s Choir, the British School of Chicago Choir, the Lake Bluff Middle School Choir, the Pro Musica Youth Chorus and the Providence-St. Mel School Choir. The choirs will also delight audiences with popular seasonal selections in the Auditorium Theatre's main lobby one half-hour prior to curtain and during intermissions at every performance. The Chicago Sinfonietta provides live accompaniment of the classic score by Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky for every performance.

The 2011 performance schedule for The Nutcracker at the Auditorium Theatre is as follows: Friday, Dec. 9, 7:00 pm; Saturday, Dec. 10, 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm; Sunday, Dec. 11, 2:00 pm; Thursday, Dec. 15, 7:00 pm; Friday, Dec. 16, 7:00 pm; Saturday, Dec. 17, 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm; Sunday, Dec. 18, 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm; Tuesday, Dec. 20, 7:00 pm; Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm; Thursday, Dec. 22, 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm; Friday, Dec. 23, 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm; Saturday, Dec. 24, 2:00 pm; Monday, Dec. 26, 2:00 pm; and Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2:00 pm

Single tickets, priced between $30 and $115, are available for purchase at The Joffrey Ballet’s official Box Office located in the lobby of Joffrey Tower, 10 E. Randolph Street, as well as the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University box office, all Ticketmaster Ticket Centers, by telephone at (800) 982-2787 or online at www.ticketmaster.com.

The Joffrey Ballet is grateful for the 2011-2012 Season Sponsors and Partners. With special thanks to The Nutcracker Presenting Sponsor BMO Harris Bank and Production Sponsors, the Macy’s Foundation and Lexus; Abbott Fund and NIB Foundation, co-sponsors of the New Generation Season; United Airlines, Official & Exclusive Airline; Chicago Center for Orthopedics at Weiss, Official Healthcare Provider; and AthletiCo, Official Provider of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Services. The Joffrey also acknowledges the New Generation Season Partners, UBS, Live Music Partner and Groupon.

For its winter engagement, The Joffrey Ballet presents “On the Threshold,” a mixed repertory program of three groundbreaking pieces by contemporary choreographers William Forsythe, Wayne McGregor and Christopher Wheeldon. “On the Threshold” opens with Forsythe’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, a Company Premiere for the Joffrey, originally created for the Paris Opera Ballet in 1987. With music by Thom Willems in collaboration with Leslie Stuck, In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated is a purely abstract work that combines classical ballet lines with fresh, rapid-fire virtuosity and an air of cool detachment. The program continues with the return of Wheeldon’s After the Rain, a 2010 Company Premiere for the Joffrey that received unanimous critical acclaim, set to the minimalist, classical music of Arvo Pärt. The winter engagement is completed by the U.S. Premiere of McGregor’s sumptuous work Infra, premiered by the Royal Ballet of London in 2008. The Joffrey is the first company other than the Royal to perform this work. Infra is set to an original score by Max Richter, a mix of mournful strings and calmly indifferent industrial sounds. The set includes a 59-foot LED screen suspended above the stage displaying walking pedestrian animations by British artist Julian Opie. Beneath it (“infra,” Latin meaning “below”), 12 dancers execute McGregor’s quick, intricate and hyper-articulate movement, displaying both the dancers’ strength and impressive flexibility. Made just after the London Tube bombings of ’08, the work simmers with a vibrant emotional undercurrent, conjuring a poignant sense of the constant flux and hypnotic monotony intrinsic in urban life.