Lighting, staging, and choreography all shine in the holiday production
By Lee Juillerat for Ashland.news
It’s not often that a play’s set, staging, lighting and other technical aspects outshine other aspects of an excellent production, but that’s the case at the Oregon Cabaret Theater’s “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.”
From its opening moments to its final bows, “Nutcracker” dazzles with its vibrant, colorfully creative and mood-setting staging. Using often jaw-droppingly creative lighting, magical shadows, and precisely coordinated choreography, the Cabaret production helps elevate the play beyond its script.
It also features a cast that dazzles. with all briefly disappearing and – Presto! – reemerging in different roles. While all six actors sparkle, Andrea Hochkeppel provides some of the most memorable moments as the hyperactive Fritz, a young boy full of bubbly bounce and vigor.
The stellar cast includes Chris Mixon, whose main role is as Christian Drosselmeyer, Brooklyn Williams featured as Marie, and, in their principal roles, Alex Boyles as Papa, Juliana Wheeler as Mama, and Nick Ferrucci as the Nutcracker. Like Hochkeppel, they all take on multiple personas.
Directed by Rick Robinson, the Cabaret’s managing director, “Nutcracker” fascinates even before it begins with the glowing set created by scenic designer Spencer Funk and lighting designer Chris Wood. For the next two hours the play sparkles, enhanced by its deftly coordinated choreography designed by Valerie Rachelle.
It’s important to know this is not “The Nutcracker,” the famous ballet. The Cabaret’s version is a world premiere based on “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” a literary fairy tale by E.T.A. Hoffmann.
Set in Victorian England, the play opens on young Marie and her family celebrating the night before Christmas by opening gifts. Marie immediately swoons over her present, a wooden nutcracker. But when Fritz breaks the nutcracker’s leg, a nightmarish series of mysterious things happen. Is it a dream, or does Marie really venture to a distant candy land plagued by the sinister, snarling Mouse King in a desperate effort to repair her beloved nutcracker?
What follows is what director Robinson describes as an “epic and heartwarming story, playing valiant heroes, dastardly villains, and everything in between in this very funny and highly theatrical holiday celebration for audiences of all ages.”
The Cabaret’s production of Natasha Harris’s “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” is the latest addition to the history of a story originally published in 1816 in German in a volume called “Kinder-Marchen” (Children’s Stories). It was later republished in the first volume of Hoffman’s story collection, “The Serapion Brethen.” The story’s historic journey includes an English version published in 1833, a full children’s version in Britain in 1892, and a series of translations by Alexander Ewing, along with illustrated children’s editions.
The Cabaret’s “Nutcracker and the Mouse King” creates another chapter in the history of the 100-plus year-old tale. It’s a production that sparkles and twinkles, not only because of its fairy tale story that comes alive by the play’s multi-dimensional cast, but because of its see-it-to-believe-it mesmerizing staging that enhances and, remarkably, upstages the story.
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“The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” runs through Wednesday December 31. Thursday, Saturday and Sunday matinees begin at 1 p.m., with evening performances at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, and select Tuesday nights.
Reservations are required for preshow dinner or brunch. Appetizers, cocktails, beverages, and desserts are available without reservations. Tickets range from $32 to $54. The Cabaret offers a 15% ticket discount for groups of 12 or more for select ticket types and performances. Student rush tickets for $15 can be purchased 30 minutes before curtain with a valid student ID, subject to availability.
If it were a movie, “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” would be rated PG for onstage fighting and some scary imagery that might frighten very young attendees.
For more information, or to purchase tickets, call the Oregon Cabaret Theatre box office at 541-488-2902 or visit oregoncabaret.com.
Email freelance writer Lee Juillerat at [email protected].
