Get Nutcracking
Round House Theatre's The Nutcracker isn't a ballet but a compelling, poignant contemporary play with music
“It’s fun to play with dolls!”
Actress Erin Weaver makes that exclamation toward the end of The Nutcracker, shouting the line in the most snide way imaginable, making the word “dolls” two, singsong syllables.
Other lines tossed off throughout this show at Round House Theatre in Bethesda will delight the little kid inside many a grownup, especially ones who prefer language that’s a little cheeky. “Every self-respecting nutcracker must have a beard,” Uncle Drosselmeyer (Lawrence Redmond) tells Clara, causing some of us to wink. “It’s time to put your nuts where your mouth is!” Clara tells this show’s real-life nutcracker.
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Obviously, The Nutcracker at Round House isn’t quite the same Nutcracker on stages elsewhere around town. Both appeal to patrons of all ages, but there’s little that’s sinister about this production compared with the ballet featuring Tchaikovsky’s score. In fact, Round House’s new production isn’t a ballet at all. While the source material for the tale remains the same — E.T.A. Hoffmann’s story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King — Jake Minton and Phillip Klapperich have concocted a contemporary play that offers a more compelling and poignant reason for Clara to be playing with dolls brought to life.
The tale starts with Clara’s family preparing to celebrate Christmas — until a soldier comes to the door and literally blows the tree down, bearing a folded American flag and a sword to signify that Clara’s brother Fritz has died at war. Everything to this point unfolds in almost wordless fashion, as the show’s director and choreographer Joe Calarco has his actors move in charming but eccentric fashion. Lauren Williams’s portrayal of Clara reads as slightly autistic, which certainly serves to help her parents as they try to understand what she describes as nighttime adventures with real-life dolls. One of them, of course, is the Nutcracker, which in Minton and Klapperich’s tale becomes Fritz, Clara’s brother, a magnetic Vincent Kempski. The writers take great delight in this setup, with clever wordplay about what’s weird and what’s real, from magic to shrimp chips. “The toys are talking, Fritz,” Clara says to her brother after we first meet the real-life Monkey (Will Gartshore), Hugo (Evan Casey) and Phoebe (Weaver). “Your big brother is a nutcracker, Clara,” Fritz retorts.
The Nutcracker isn’t the first time Erin Weaver all but steals a show by portraying a wry, exceedingly funny character. It’s not even the first time Weaver has done it at Round House — she did so earlier this year, portraying the droll Deb in the winsome production of Adam Gwon’s musical Ordinary Days. Here, as Phoebe, a pull of her string provokes a series of hilarious sayings, often perfectly capturing the particular moment — from “ah-oh” to “I’m afraid of the dark” to “Please change my dress.”
But it’s not just Weaver. The whole cast and creative team gets to ham it up with this show, which is enhanced by Helen Huang’s fantastical costumes and elements of puppetry. Designer Daniel MacLean Wagner also wows with his magic-inducing lights and projected images, often working in tandem with sound designer Matthew M. Nielson, such as the brief strobe-lit interlude in which a fight turns into an all-out rave. Who cares if it only lasts 15 seconds or so? That little bit of stagecraft all by itself is one of the most entertaining things I’ve seen all year.
Did I forget to mention fighting? Well, of course the fights are stirred up by the show’s rats, here played by the same fine actors who portray the forlorn parents, Mitchell Hebert and Sherri L. Edelen. I also forgot to mention that this is a musical — the show’s full title is The Nutracker: A New Holiday Musical — in part because you’ll likely forget it too. Edelen is one of Washington’s greatest musical theater actors, but even she only sings fleetingly here. Kevin O’Donnell wrote just nine full songs, with lyrics by Minton. The music, performed by a four-man orchestral band, is light and airy, with references to Tchaikovsky, and mostly just fades into the background and your memory.
What you’ll remember instead is the funny dialogue and the fun the actors have on stage, but also the tears you’ll no doubt shed. This Nutcracker is a reminder, especially in our current state of seemingly eternal wartime, that Christmas isn’t usually as good or ideal as we remember or dream it to be, but there is still a reason for the season — to share time and memories with loved ones, both present and past.
The Nutcracker: A New Holiday Musical (
) runs to Dec. 28 at Round House Theatre, 4545 East-West Highway, Bethesda. Tickets are $10 to $45. Call 240-644-1100 or visit roundhousetheatre.org.
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