Palmetto City Ballet brings a reimagined take on The Nutcracker to life this holiday season. The two-act ballet is a holiday classic which was adapted from E. T. A. Hoffmann’s 1816 short story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.
While revisiting the time-tested tale, the artistic director at Palmetto City Ballet, Jonathan Tabbert, was undaunted by the fact that The Nutcracker is now 130 years old, and the underlying story is even older.
“I don’t tend to gravitate towards classics but when I do, I always have to have my own personal stamp on them,” Tabbert said. “It is what inspires me as a choreographer and it’s also what I think makes Palmetto City Ballet so special. It takes a certain amount of bravery, or maybe confidence is a better word, to ‘tamper with tradition,’ but I think originality is always welcome, and, in my opinion, essential in having a thriving arts community.”
Tabbert, who is Palmetto City Ballet’s co-founder, told the City Paper that he has been gathering inspirational tidbits for this new production for about two years.
“The work has seen numerous iterations and interpretations in my mind throughout that time. I tend to work either from a minute detail and expand outward or an extremely broad idea and have to fine tune to pinpoint a cohesive throughline,” Tabbert said.
Tabbert came across the little-known history of The Charleston Orphan House while doing research, which may be the first public orphanage in the United States. “That immediately inspired the root of my story as Clara being a child at an orphanage instead of coming from a well-to-do family,” he said.
Another unique twist in Tabbert’s adventurous adaptation is having the Sugar Plum Fairy as an integral part of the plot from the beginning of the ballet.
“Traditionally, she only first appears in Act II,” Tabbert said, “but I felt that since she should be the ‘maker of the magic,’ having her be a catalyst of the story was appropriate.”
Additionally, in Tabbert’s second act, Clara is whisked away by horse and carriage to a familiar-feeling town market as a nod to Charleston, instead of to the “land of sweets.”
“All of the shopkeepers show her the finest of things making up the traditional divertissements of the act. Clara is impressed and entertained, but none of them can live up to her holiday wish of having a family.”
That’s about as much of the production details as Tabbert is willing to give away, though. “You’ll have to come to see how the story ends,” he said.
“I really hope to share the love and tradition of The Nutcracker with the greater Charleston community in an original and heartfelt way,” Tabbert added. “It may seem cliché, but I would like all of our audience members to leave the theater with an enhanced sense of hope, gratitude and giving as I feel this production truly embodies the spirit of the holiday season.”
Palmetto City Ballet’s The Nutcracker will play four shows at the historic Sottile Theatre from Dec. 16-18.
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