A 'Nutcracker' with a wild, witty shell
Nut/Cracked
David Parker & the Bang Group at the Theatre Offensive’s ‘‘Out on the Edge’’ Festival
At: Boston Center for the Arts’ Roberts Studio, Saturday (repeats tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday
Forget the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Mouse King. The only traditional thread in David Parker & the Bang Group's warped take on the beloved "Nutcracker" ballet is Tchaikovsky's music. But even that takes a turn off center, as portions of the original score are juxtaposed with off-beat arrangements by Duke Ellington, the Raymond Scott Quintette, the Westminster Handbell Choir, Glenn Miller, and Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians. The 65-minute "Nut/Cracked" is a hugely entertaining vaudeville-inspired send-up that is not only funny and clever, but driven by some very substantial choreography and first-rate performances.
The New York-based Parker, a Lynnfield native, casts his dancers in athletic gear for the most part, and the props are minimal. The focus is on the dancing and contextual humor. A group dance of sunglassed punks showcased Parker's movement aesthetic in a nutshell (excuse the pun) -- modern dance is combined with jazz, ballet, and Broadway-style hoofing, complemented by a vigorous rhythmic component -- shuffle kicks, stomps, and spins that sent dancers crashing to the floor. Another group dance on pointe featured slaps and claps. It is called the Bang Group after all, reflecting Parker's continuing fascination with the percussive possibilities of the dancing body.
The immensely talented Zack Winokur, a senior at Concord Academy, traded what would have been the Sugar Plum Fairy's moment into a delicate tap dance. The twist was that he tapped on the tips of his pointe shoes while balancing completely on his toes, and this little show was illuminated by his hand-held flashlight. Winokur also danced a dazzling tarantella that highlighted his superb ballet training. Amber Sloan and Jeffrey Kazin's "Chinese Tea" was an explosion of isolations, accelerating to the point that their limbs seemed to have a life beyond their control.
Sloan performed a riotous solo with a sheet of bubble wrap. The anticipation was palpable as she moved her flexible frame beside, around, and over a 3-by-5-foot sheet of bubble wrap, avoiding contact by mere fractions of an inch. But thankfully, she gave into temptation, launching an all-out offensive to pop every bubble, building from a delicate soft-shoe to full-body assault. Parker challenged her with a flamenco-style number on his own tiny piece, before resorting to tantrum mode.
The intricate partnering and complicated lifts of the climactic Grand Pas de Deux were accompanied by partnered thumb sucking that was impressively executed, but squeamishly suggestive and undoubtedly uncomfortable for the germ-phobic. The striking patterns of lyrical leaps and turns in "Waltz of the Flowers" were leavened by a comic flurry of sneezing and inelegant nose wiping.
Yes, there actually was a Christmas tree that grows, but I won't spoil the sight gag here -- it's perhaps the single funniest moment in the show. And there actually were dancing snowflakes, but these were wearing knit hats and undershirts. Their balletic cavorting was interspersed with break-dance moves and the kind of wild slip-sliding one always dreads to consider when watching the falling snow of a more traditional "Nutcracker." No fake snow here, but that didn't stop the crew from lying on their backs to simulate making snow angels.
