'Nutcracker' review: Oakland Ballet charms
Right from the start, with a mischief-filled pantomime scene that ends in a snowball fight before the Tchaikovsky Overture is through, artistic director Graham Lustig's staging of the holiday staple at the Paramount Theatre projects a playful but determined will to succeed. Demure, quietly magnetic and budding with romantic urges, Stephanie Salts' Marie is the glowing center of attention in the "Nutcracker's" mobile party scene. Even as her cantankerous brother Fritz (a tightly wired Cole Companion) rockets around the busy room wreaking havoc, Marie and several of the other girls train their attention on Marie's older cousin Vera (Chantelle Pianetta) and her Cadet beau (Bobby Briscoe). The Nutcracker Prince becomes a flesh-and-blood, make-believe man (the charming, innocently gallant Cameron Findley) with a quick sweep of Drosselmeyer's cape (the spry, imposingly tall Damon Mahoney plays the magically inclined uncle). Designer Zack Brown supplies a giant wilting cake and outsize fractured tea cup as bunkers for the warring parties. The Rat King (Marte Madera) stabs himself in the toe with his own weapon before meeting his end when brave Marie does him in with a giant table knife. The snow scene is at once fanciful, full of floating Snowmaidens and bulbous Snowball costumes, and tangible, with the slender, bending birch trees that materialize in the backdrop. Reported by SFGate 3 days ago.
Right from the start, with a mischief-filled pantomime scene that ends in a snowball fight before the Tchaikovsky Overture is through, artistic director Graham Lustig's staging of the holiday staple at the Paramount Theatre projects a playful but determined will to succeed. Demure, quietly magnetic and budding with romantic urges, Stephanie Salts' Marie is the glowing center of attention in the "Nutcracker's" mobile party scene. Even as her cantankerous brother Fritz (a tightly wired Cole Companion) rockets around the busy room wreaking havoc, Marie and several of the other girls train their attention on Marie's older cousin Vera (Chantelle Pianetta) and her Cadet beau (Bobby Briscoe). The Nutcracker Prince becomes a flesh-and-blood, make-believe man (the charming, innocently gallant Cameron Findley) with a quick sweep of Drosselmeyer's cape (the spry, imposingly tall Damon Mahoney plays the magically inclined uncle). Designer Zack Brown supplies a giant wilting cake and outsize fractured tea cup as bunkers for the warring parties. The Rat King (Marte Madera) stabs himself in the toe with his own weapon before meeting his end when brave Marie does him in with a giant table knife. The snow scene is at once fanciful, full of floating Snowmaidens and bulbous Snowball costumes, and tangible, with the slender, bending birch trees that materialize in the backdrop. Reported by SFGate 3 days ago.
