December 14 - 31, 2006 Approximate Running Time: 2 hours
"This is a Nutcracker on a grand scale . . . striking, elegant and beautiful." --- The New York Times
Audiences of all ages will marvel at the magic and wonderment of this stunning production that played to unanimous critical acclaim and sold-out audiences in its first two seasons.
San Francisco Ballet' Nutcracker promises, yet again, to be this December's hottest ticket!
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History
While Nutcracker is synonymous with Christmas, the first complete production in America was performed in 1944 by San Francisco Ballet.
In 1944, San Francisco Ballet Director Willam Christensen wrote to the Library of Congress for a copy of the complete Tchaikovsky score. For details of the original Maryinsky Theatre production, Christensen talked to two former members of the Russian Imperial Ballet, Alexandra Danilova and George Balanchine. "Ballet Russe passed through San Francisco and one evening I got Alexandra Danilova and Balanchine, then ballerina of Ballet Russe and ballet master respectively, to come to my apartment," recalls Christensen. "We had something to eat and drink, and then we got down to work with the conductor. Balanchine described the Maryinsky production: how the big doors opened on the tree, the mime of Drosselmeyer, all the details. At one point, Danilova started dancing Clara's variation, in her stocking feet and street dress. Balanchine put an end to that with his admonishment, 'No, no, Alexandra, don't try to show him the actual steps. Let him create his own choreography.' We worked all night, and that is how I got my first Nutcracker...I never intended it to become an annual production, but there you are, it is a tradition now!"
The 1944 premiere featured artist Antonio Sotomayor as the designer and Russell Hartley as costume designer. With a $1,000 budget, Company members helped out by standing in long lines to purchase fabric for costumes in 10-yard lengths, as allocated by wartime rationing. Five dollars was enough to buy all the artificial flowers, feathers and rhinestone necklaces from the Goodwill. Since it was wartime and materials were scarce, red velvet stage curtains from what had been The Cort Theater in San Francisco (where Anna Pavlova had danced her last San Francisco seasons) were purchased by Hartley from Goodwill and fashioned into soldiers' uniforms for Act I. The material was so abundant that it provided the Company a source of velvet that lasted for the next ten years.
Gisella Caccialanza Christensen, the first American Sugar Plum Fairy, danced with San Francisco Ballet while her husband, Lew Christensen, served in the army. "Onna White helped me make my costume, which was really awful. We made our own tights then too. They weren't like tights worn today. We had to sew our stockings onto little pants to make tights and, like old-style tights, they'd bag out and wouldn't bounce back and cling to your legs. We sewed pennies or nickels to the waistbands so we'd have something to grab onto to yank up the tights. You couldn't practice plies or anything before a performance or else you'd be standing there with baggy knees when the curtain came up. The zipper on my costume split while I was dancing in the dress rehearsal of Nutcracker. I remember Willam saying to me, 'Good luck, sis, and don't breathe!'"
On December 24, Nutcracker premiered at a matinee and the dancers were in a state of excitement. "All the dancers carried loads of costumes across the streets, and the morning rehearsals with the orchestra pushed us all to fever pitch," read Russell Hartley's notes from the time (courtesy of the Performing Arts Library and Museum of San Francisco). "Finally it was time, and the strains of the overture filtered backstage, and what followed seems like a dream. When you weren't dancing, you were glued to the wings, observing what was happening on stage."
Nutcracker survived and flourished, playing to delighted audiences and enthusiastic critics. In 1944, Merrill Osenbaugh of the Sacramento Union wrote prophetically: "We can't understand why a vehicle of such fantastic beauty and originality could be produced in Europe in 1892 with signal success and never be produced in its entirety in this country until 1944. Perhaps choreographers will make up for lost time from now on."
They did. In less than 50 years, the number of Nutcracker productions staged annually jumped from one to one hundred and fifty — in the United States alone.
The cast and choreography of Nutcracker are still changing as the tradition of Nutcracker continues to grow. Dancers who performed in Nutcrackers past now teach those roles to dancers who perform them today and parents who first saw Nutcracker as children now introduce their children to the ballet. Yet through the years, the fundamental spirit of Nutcracker remains the same. Nutcracker tells a Christmas story — complete with a Christmas tree and visions of sugar plums dancing — in a holiday spirit of great joy.
The War Memorial Opera House, one of the most beautiful and technologically advanced performing arts centers in the world, is a true San Francisco jewel.
Designed in the magnificent French Renaissance style by Arthur Brown Jr., architect of Coit Tower and City Hall, the War Memorial Opera House is both a local and international landmark. After opening its doors to audiences for the first time on October 15, 1932, the exquisite and stunning War Memorial Opera House also served as the birthplace of the United Nations. In fact, it was on San Francisco's very own Opera House stage where President Truman signed the United Nations charter on June 26, 1945.
Today, after a seismic retrofitting following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the Opera House boasts state-of-the-art equipment, a refurbished interior graced with decadent beaux-arts trappings, 3,200 newly re-upholstered plush velvet seats, expanded access for people with disabilities, and numerous refreshment bars for the intermission crowds.
Directions from MUNI or BART Take MUNI or BART to the Civic Center station. Exit to Grove Street/Market Street. Follow Grove Street away from Market Street (west) for three blocks. The Opera House is at the corner of Van Ness Avenue and Grove Street.
Directions from the Bay Bridge or from the Peninsula Via the Bay Bridge or 101 North, take the 9th Street / Civic Center exit. Stay to the right on 9th Street. Cross Market Street and drive 1 block to Grove Street. Turn left on Grove Street and drive 2 blocks to Van Ness Avenue. The Opera House is at the corner of Van Ness Avenue and Grove Street.
Directions from the Golden Gate Bridge After crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, take Lombard Street exit. Follow Lombard Street to Van Ness Avenue. Follow Lombard Street to Van Ness Avenue. Turn right on Van Ness. Follow Van Ness to Grove Street. The Opera House is at the corner of Van Ness Avenue and Grove Street.
Parking Areas in the Opera House Vicinity
(1) Performing Arts Garage - entrance on Grove Street
(2) Fox Plaza - entrance on Hayes between Market and Polk
(3) Carpark Self-Park lots - between Grove and Fell on Polk
(4) Carpark Self-Park - entrance on Grove at Gough
(5) Outdoor Self-Park - entrance on Hayes and Franklin
(6) Civic Center Plaza Garage - entrance on McAllister between Polk and Larkin
(7) AMPCO - entrances on 9th and 10th Streets below Market
(8) Opera Plaza Garage - entrance on Golden Gate. Valet Parking
