Charleston area ballet companies take their own crack at holiday classic ‘The Nutcracker’

Jonathan Tabbert has been deftly dancing around “The Nutcracker” for years.

The artistic director and resident choreographer of Palmetto City Ballet knows well that the crowd-pleasing appeal of the 1892 two-act ballet with a score by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky would be a seasonal shoo-in. Its promise of an irresistible confection called the Sugar Plum Fairy and a marauding menace Rat King is time-tested Christmas catnip.

That, in a nutshell, is the “The Nutcracker,” the perennial holiday happy pill, the go-to recital piece for aspiring ballerinas that has also offered sufficient interpretive fodder for contemporary choreographers to reinvent it in splashy new versions.

Tabbert has begged off mounting the show at Palmetto City Ballet for more than a decade, with the company instead offering winter-weather fare in “The Snow Queen,” which is based on the tale by Hans Christian Andersen.

“I tend to naturally not gravitate towards the big classics, just personally,” Tabbert said.

That is, until this year, when the company decided it was high time to crack “The Nutcracker.”

During the month of December, Charleston devotees of both the ballet and its score can indulge in a wide array of productions.

There are full-on ballets that span traditional takes and imaginative spins. There are showcases for burgeoning ballet dancers certain to attract their bouquet-toting families and toddling youngers siblings to storied local aisles. There are jazz-powered musical forays into Tchaikovsky’s score, too.

Gaillard goes big

Charleston Gaillard Center in and of itself will present multiple productions inspired by ‘The Nutcracker.” Lissa Frenkel, the Gaillard’s president and chief executive officer, noted it delights audiences, while also capturing the imaginations of artists.

It’s also mission-specific for the Gaillard, which aims to play an integral role in the greater Charleston community.

“It also offers opportunities for collaborations among various community organizations and artists.”

On Dec. 9, the Gaillard’s “Dueling Nutcrackers” program pairs two prominent musical artists, Grammy Award-winning Charlton Singleton of Ranky Tanky and Charleston Symphony associate conductor Kellen Gray. The two demonstrate the versatility of the work by having Tchaikovsky’s original score face off with Duke Ellington’s musical interpretation of it.

There’s something for burgeoning Tchaikovsky enthusiasts, too. The Gaillard’s Education & Community program has partnered with Dance Conservatory of Charleston and Charleston Symphony Youth Orchestra to present “Scenes From ‘The Nutcracker,’ ” performed by students for their own peers, on Dec. 10 and 11.

There’s action on the Gaillard lawn, as well. “Even our family-friendly ‘Cracked Nuts!’ Spiegeltent performances will draw upon elements from ‘The Nutcracker’ alongside other holiday themes,” Frenkel said of the production, which will be a featured production in the festive tent on the Gaillard lawn throughout the month of December.

Tickets to Gaillard events are available at gaillardcenter.org.

Sottile sets the scene

A few blocks away, the College of Charleston Sottile Theatre is primed for a couple of productions, too.

First, the Mount Pleasant Performing Arts Company has a go on the Sottile stage, carrying on its tradition of presenting the work during the holidays. A training ground for the classical ballet company, which resides at the school that serves as the company’s training ground, its performances take place Dec. 2, 3 and 4. For more information, visit mtpballet.com

That will be followed by the Palmetto City Ballet premiere, with performances on Dec. 16, 17 and 18.

The new production draws from Charleston’s own story, in particular the city’s history starting the first public orphanage and its iconic City Market. In this version, Clara is reimagined as a young orphan girl who visits a whimsical marketplace to delight in a variety of vendors, among them a hatter, a toymaker and a florist selling luxurious wares that she would never have seen at the orphanage.

When Tabbert embraces classics, he aims to bring something new to the works.

“I definitely want to have them be original takes on classics,” he said.

The Charleston-related production debuts new sets and costumes, and includes more than 100 children from the greater Charleston community. It also features a few cameos by local personalities.

“It’s going very well and the dancers are looking fantastic,” he said.

For information and tickets, visit palmettocityballet.org.

More still

On Dec. 17, Clara also alights on a Summerville stage, too, for a show by students of Classical Ballet Center at Summers Corner Performing Arts Centre. This production has already sold out.

And, as the big day draws near, on Dec. 22 a traveling production, “Nutcracker! Magical Christmas Ballet” lands at North Charleston Performing Arts Center. Featuring stars of Ukraine Ballet, it promises outsize puppets, acrobatics and lavish costumes.

The production boasts local representation, too, as young students from the Ballet Academy of Charleston will dance alongside the international professional cast. For more information, visit northcharlestoncoliseumpac.com.

With all this abundance of “The Nutcracker,” it’s hard not to wonder if there is artistic fatigue with the well-trod score, along with its repetition at rehearsals.

Tabbert said not at all.

“There were selections of the ballet — even just musically outside of the studio any normal day — that would probably give me a little eye twitch because I’ve heard it so many times,” he said.

But this year, those moments of fatigue have been transformed by the company’s fresh take.

“I really haven’t had any of that because everything has such a newness to it,” he said. “It’s been really great for the dancers, too, artistically, because everything is different enough that it feels like a new ballet to them, too.”