The enduring joys of the San Francisco Ballet’s "Nutcracker"

The Ballet's version of Tchaikovsky's beloved classic is the glittering star atop the city's cultural Christmas tree.

When my brother and sister and I were kids, our uncle David always gave each of us the same Christmas present: a pink tin of Almond Roca, containing an unfathomably large number of gold foil-wrapped pieces of sinfully delicious toffee. That present was as happily essential a part of Christmas as the morning walk taken by the old man in the fawn bowler in Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales, who every 25^th of December would “take his constitutional to the white bowling green and back, as he would take it wet or fire on Christmas Day or Doomsday.”

The San Francisco Ballet’s annual Nutcracker, now in its 20^th season, is like that box of Almond Roca. It’s guaranteed to bring the same joy, year after year. With the lamented end last year of the long run of ACT’s superb version of A Christmas Carol, the Nutcracker is now the high point of the city’s seasonal cheer, the star atop its cultural Christmas tree. And what a glittering star it is.

There are so many reasons to love this Nutcracker. The first is the story, or lack thereof. With music as ravishing as Tchaikovsky’s, the company’s superb dancing and Helgi Tomasson’s lovely choreography, anything but the most rudimentary narrative would be superfluous. A little girl has a dream on Christmas Eve, witnesses many wonders, and wakes up happily —we don’t want or need any more than that. At its best, dance is a medium that reveals moments of perfection, moments so glorious in their paradoxical fusion of the corporeal and the transcendent that they create an eternal now, a now without past or present. “Soft! Did not the world just become perfect?” says Nietzsche’s Zarathustra in wonder at the happiness that came to him, and the words could be the motto of dance itself. And the fact that the Nutcracker is a Christmas tale heightens its purely celebratory quality even more. During the two hours that we are watching it, we are transported to a world in which ladies and gentlemen in gay apparel greet their friends on gaslit, snow-covered streets, every child gets everything they wanted, and Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year.

Our sense of childlike wonder is immeasurably heightened by the truly spectacular scenery and stage effects created by scenic designer Michael Yeargan. I’ve probably gone to this Nutcracker a dozen times, but every time, the great transformation scene when little Clara falls asleep and the fireplace, Christmas tree, boxes of presents and everything else in the room becomes enormous, setting the stage for the fantastic adventures to come, is jaw-dropping. And the scene when the Nutcracker Prince appears to take Clara away on a sled pulled by dancers with crystalline horse heads, while a blizzard of snow almost whites out the entire stage, is another moment so sublime that you can feel the entire audience catch its breath before breaking out in spontaneous applause.

But above all, of course, there’s the music and the dancing. Tchaikovsky’s score is one of the most enchanting, creative, varied and just plain fun pieces of work in the 19^th century classical repertory, a treasure trove of evocative, stirring and beautiful melodies. And Tomasson’s choreography and the SF Ballet’s first-rate dancers do full justice to the Russian composer’s work. From its always-strong corps to its principal dancers, the company brings artistic refinement, athleticism, and grace to every number.

I could single out any one of the set pieces for praise. From a purely dance perspective, the finest piece was the final Grand Pas de Deux, beautifully performed the night I went by Frances Chung and Fernando Carratala Coloma. But as it is every year, the highlight for me was the Waltz of the Flowers. It helps that this is the most beautiful waltz ever written (sorry, Johann Strauss, Bill Evans and Rodgers and Hammerstein: “The Blue Danube,” “Waltz For Debbie” and “My Favorite Things” are great, but Tchaikovsky’s still the champion.) The music’s slow buildup creates a delicious sense of anticipation, as does the elegant ensemble dancing of the Waltzing Flowers. And when Tchaikovsky brings in the strings, the music soars as if lifted by angels above a thousand Viennese ballrooms and the Sugar Plum Fairy (in a fine performance by Nikisha Fogo) dances triumphantly onto the stage, her twirls and leaps gloriously juxtaposing with the controlled movement of the Flowers, it’s heaven in ¾ time—something even non-believers can believe in.

Nutcracker runs at the San Francisco Ballet through Dec. 29. For schedule, tickets and information, click here.