Ballet review: 'John Ringling's Circus Nutcracker'

The Nutcracker always makes the festive holiday season seem complete. But the Sarasota Ballet’s rendition, “John Ringling’s Circus Nutcracker,” makes Sarasota’s holiday season complete.

Based loosely on the story of John and Mable Ringling and the iconic circus show they created, Sarasotans can feel connected to this production, choreographed by Matthew Hart.

The moment the nutcracker face adorning the curtain opened its mouth and cracked a giant walnut, the audience’s gasps revealed they knew they were in for a holiday treat. The Sarasota Orchestra, directed by Andrew Lane, playing the classic Tchaikovsky score, as well as the fantastic sets and costumes designed by Peter Docherty, only added to the excitement. 

The Circus Nutcracker begins at Grand Central Station in New York, where Clara and her brother, Fritz (Alex Harrison), see the Ringling Circus loading up for its winter residency in Sarasota. Clara, danced by the sprightly Jessica Cohen, is fascinated with Sugar and Prince (Kate Honea and Ricardo Graziano), but she and Fritz are quickly hauled away by their parents, the Stahlbaums (Danielle Brown and Ricardo Rhodes), to travel by train to a hotel Christmas party. 

The hotel manager, Jamie Carter, completely steals the party scene with his comedic expressions and grand movements, just like he did in the last production, in 2013. The Ringling circus cast, led by John Ringling (David Tlaiye) and his nephew, John Ringling North (Logan Learned) join the party and present Clara with a nutcracker and Fritz with a wind-up mouse, which he pertinently dislikes and uses to disrupt the party. 

Cohen dances with lovely, effortless movements as she and other party girls (students of the Sarasota Ballet School) danced with their new presents. Hart’s version of the classic party scene is probably the most engaging and amusing seen yet.

After the party ends and the clock strokes midnight, the Christmas tree turns into a giant one towering over a New York City skyline, the wind-up mouse turns into the Mouse King (Harrison) and the Nutcracker comes to life. The Nutcracker (Learned) engages into a wild battle with the Mouse King and his Gangster Mice, who dance like the zombies in Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” music video.

The Hotel Manager and Clara come up with a brilliant plan to help the Nutcracker defeat the Mouse King by using a shoe to knock the Mouse King out. Then Mable Ringling (Victoria Hulland) descends from above on a half-moon to revive the Nutcracker and turns him into John Ringling North. Mable transforms the set into the snow scene where the snowflakes led by Snow Queen (Brown) and King (Rhodes) perform a rockette-style revue complete with rotating high, leg-kick chorus lines.

Clara and the nephew run off to join the circus in Act II and are transported in a bellman luggage cart train to the Kingdom of the Circus. The entire circus cast welcomes Clara and the nephew with Trapeze Stars Sugar and Prince floating from above on their trapezes. Here John Ringling appoints his nephew as the Ringmaster to run the show under the Big Top in honor of Clara.

The show begins with Samantha Benoit as the Equestrienne leading her stable of Zebras, Sam O’Brien, Juan Gil and Alex Harrison, who flip and turn her into multiple lifts. A stunning giant elephant escorts Arabian Christine Windsor into the stable, then tows a cage full of wild cats that taunt Arabian Daniel Rodriguez. A lively crew of five male acrobats performs flips and creates human pyramids. Elizabeth Sykes, Angela Zintchenko, Sareen Tchekmedyian, Nicole Padilla and Mirella Costa Neto were adorable tightrope walkers that pranced and hopped en pointe and assisted Clara with a try on the tightrope. Sarah Monkman and Ricki Bertoni pulled a clown-car stunt with a tiny electric car delivering an entire cast of eight clowns danced by students of the Sarasota Ballet School.

The traditional waltz of the flowers was transformed into the Waltz of the Roses in honor of Mable Ringling’s rose garden. Mable (Hulland) reappeared from above and danced in and out of the rose dancers while Ringling weaved in and out among the dancers as if chasing after her.

The ballet culminated with Sugar and Prince’s pas de deux, which is based on the classic Sugar Plum Fairy pas de deux, with circus flair. Honea performed multiple fouetté rond de jambe en tournant sequences and piqué turn manèges in the coda with Graziano equally wowing with multiple double tour en l’air and grand jeté manèges.

The audience gave its resounding approval to the fantastic show with a boisterous standing ovation.