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LAS VEGAS — Utah's Ballet West will rise to new heights during the 2017 holiday season with the help of a charitable organization and a stage production company in Las Vegas.
With thousands of productions of "The Nutcracker" being performed around the world each year, Ballet West has bragging rights. Its founder, William F. Christensen, known as Mr. C, created the choreography of "The Nutcracker" in Utah first.
Now the beloved ballet is getting a much-needed enhancement.
This year, audiences will experience stunning new surprises thanks to a $2 million donation from the George S. and Delores Doré Eccles Foundation. The financial gift means new sets, new costumes, a refresh of the choreography, and a big surprise finish.
"What the audience will see there will be something that they probably have never seen before,” said Dana Bartholomew, vice president of operations for Las Vegas-based Fly by Foy.
For decades, Salt Lake City audiences have watched Clara's sled slowly exit the stage in the big finale, but now the sled is going airborne.
"They completely understood where I was going with it," said Adam Sklute, Ballet West's artistic director. "I wanted to completely keep it within the context of Mr. C’s ‘Nutcracker.'"
KSL recently traveled with Sklute and his artistic staff to a warehouse in Las Vegas where they worked with technicians at Fly by Foy. The company was created over six decades ago by Peter Foy, a British RAF navigator and entertainer who mastered flying systems for stage, screen and television.
"The name is iconic in the business," Bartholomew said. "Peter Foy sort of invented the whole 'performer flying' in the United States back in 1954, and we've been involved with thousands of productions across the country and across the globe."
Fly by Foy technicians designed and built the new sled and created the specific flying track for the 2017 production.
“They’ve completely tailor-made the whole rigging to fit for the Capitol Theatre stage,” Sklute said. “But (they) also designed it so that it could tour anywhere. If we went back to the Kennedy Center, or anywhere, it could fit those stages as well.”
During our visit, ballerina Betsy Lucas, of Nevada Ballet Theatre, took on the role of Clara for the day. She partnered with Ballet West soloist Alex MacFarlan, who played the prince — in this case, the flying prince. They spent the afternoon recreating the production's final scene.
With MacFarlan in a harness and the sled attached to cables, the dancers worked on perfecting their flight through the afternoon. MacFarlan, Lucas and the sled went up and down — first without music, then the familiar strains of Tchaikovsky filled the warehouse and away they went.
"You have a little bit of nerves because you're quite high off the ground. But, it's exciting and it's fun; it's just different kind of experience," MacFarlan said.
Sklute feels good about the decision to change things up.
"I didn't want to overwhelm it with too many special effects, but I did want to add just enough that would help bring the production into the 21st century," he said. “I wanted a simple-but-surprising and spectacular effect for the very end of the ballet."
"When you look at all of the things that you can do to this 'Nutcracker' to keep its integrity in Mr. C's way, but also bring something that's new and exciting," MacFarlan said. "This is kind of the perfect ending."
"Anytime we're involved, we bring a great deal of passion to it and expertise — and the results are usually pretty fantastic,” Bartholomew said.
It's history in the making, the artistic staff said, that they believe Mr. C, with his flair for the dramatic, would love.
"For people to see someone fly on stage — it's been happening for years and years, but it's still amazing,“ Bartholomew said. “ It still gives them something to remember from the production."
In 2017, Ballet West's "The Nutcracker" will have an added measure of magic. Tickets to the show are available now for those who wish to purchase season tickets; they go on sale to the rest of the public Sept. 21.
