WESTBROOK – Portland Ballet’s “Victorian Nutcracker,” a family holiday event with a local twist, will make its Westbrook debut this weekend at the Westbrook Performing Arts Center.
“Victorian Nutcracker,” which is set in well-known Portland landmarks, including the Victoria Mansion and Deering Oaks, will be performed twice in Westbrook, on Saturday, Dec. 21, at 2 and 7:30 p.m.
The show opened Dec. 18 with one performance at Merrill Auditorium in Portland. The ballet features a core of professional dancers from Portland Ballet, as well as up-and-coming performers from the company’s Portland School of Ballet.
While Merrill Auditorium has been a consistent home for the company, the holiday schedule there is full of competing holiday programs, vying for a handful of time slots. In the past, Portland Ballet has also taken its holiday show to Conway, N.H.
Eugenia O’Brien, who founded Portland Ballet in 1980 and continues to serve as its artistic and executive director, said on Monday that the annual show, which features a cast of more than 100, will benefit from the state-of-the-art Westbrook facility.
“The Performing Arts Center is a spot that can really embrace dance,” she said.
O’Brien said that the large stage and superb lighting provides a great base for the dancers to “not feel pinned-in and contained.”
Jamie Grant, manager of the Westbrook Performing Arts Center, said Tuesday that his longstanding relationship with Portland Ballet paved the way for the holiday show to appear at the center, and he said that interest in these productions among Westbrook residents seems to be growing.
“They provide a great mix of performances, including shows aimed at children,” he said. “I think a lot of people are excited about it.”
Both Grant and O’Brien commented that events like these might become holiday traditions for local families.
“The holidays are full of so many different traditions,” Grant said. “This is one that people could start for themselves.”
Grant added that ticket sales are doing well, especially for Saturday’s matinee.
The “Victorian Nutcracker,” set in Portland’s landmark Victoria Mansion, puts local flavor into the production, says O’Brien. She said that characters throughout the play come from actual figures in Portland politics and society dating back to the Victorian era. She added that all the names were cleared through the Victoria Mansion to confirm accuracy.
“It kind of works in that buy-local motif,” she said. “It has a different spin on an old story.”
While Portland Ballet has brought multiple productions to the Performing Arts Center following its opening in 2010, including “Giselle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” this will be its first performance of “Nutcracker” in Westbrook.
“We wanted to extend our holiday offering, and allow more people the chance to see a professional production,” O’Brien said. “When you work for three months on something, you want to share it.”
Principal dancers in the show include Ellie Sato of Gorham as Olivia Higgins, and Megan Buckley of St. Louis, Mo., and Adam Sterr of Green Bay, Wisc., as the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Cavalier, respectively.
Arabian attendants follow Jennifer Jones, far right in the Portland Ballet Company’s “Victorian Nutcracker,” which will be performed Saturday at the Performing Arts Center in Westbrook.Courtesy photo Send questions/comments to the editors.
